Potential oil cooler failure - Aug 2017 shadow edition

[Robbie]

Thought I would create a thread to document my upcoming ‘journey’ with what seems to be an oil cooler failure.

I’m keen to gather some tips and advice that may steer me in the right direction from people that have had a similar experience.

Bit on the car, it’s an 18reg. Picked it up end of August just before 68reg from peoples in Edinburgh (made me register it a week off 68 to meet their targets). Couldn’t find one I wanted local to me in Berks so done the paperwork over the phone and flew up to collect it. Had a nice drive down through the Lake District etc. Since then I’ve totalled 4000miles.
Done a few bits to the car- engine wise 18 intake/ mmr lockouts/ Lund ngauge/ Roush intake/ kooks off road long tubes/ Borla touring cat back. Had it rolling roaded at every step from 412bhp standard up to 486bhp with the above (not as much as some have seen but Lund assures me the tune looks good) dyno graphs seem okay to my novice eye. I always warm it up, keeping an eye on temps and have run it on momentum/optimax from day one.

Took the car out for a little drive in the nice weather we’ve been having, drove from Reading down to a site meeting in Salisbury. Run back up to Reading/Windsor for a survey, sat at a set of lights and a puff of smoke came past the drivers window....
pulled over straight away, temp gauge normal, ngauge coolant temp 95’c. No lights on dash or abnormal noise/feeling.

Oil everywhere!!!!! All down the drivers side of the car, in the arch liner, over the road, dripping off the subframe etc

Opened the bonnet (or popped the hood’ if your authentic), much of the same, oil everywhere. Reservoir bottle clearly black and oil coming from the overflow. Called the AA who’s uninterested “technician” confirmed it would need recovering but couldn’t tell me why or what was wrong. I got him to check the oil for me which was just about/negligently on the very bottom of the dipstick.

I got a taxi home and left the car to be collected by the AA recovery. The vehicle has now made it to a recommended dealer (from users of this site). After 2 days they have told me they have been allocated a time of 17/04/19 to investigate the car but hope to get tools to it sooner.

That’s where we stand today folks.

Cheers Rob

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[v8hgt]

Interesting... If your build date is really Aug 17 then your car should have been built well after the oil cooler issue was resolved, regardless of which TSB you believe (one stated aug16 the other Feb 17) as the fixed date.

This leads me to believe even more that there is no fix date as such.

From looking at everyone’s description of the failure it would appear that most seem to go after a similar mileage to yours. I don’t recall any going bang if they managed to do a big mileage, which would suggest it’s a bit of a lottery as to if your cooler has any internal flaws or not.

Has anyone who has experienced the failure managed to get more than 5 k miles out of it pre failure?


How many miles since last dyno run? Big power runs mean high rpm and high oil pressure. Could high oil pressure be a contributing factor to weakening a sub par coolers internals? I seem to recall I think it was Gibbos went pop not too long after he published dyno graphs.

 

[hinch]

its a shame and surprising but i'm more interested in something else. how did you get the 17 engine cover to fit onto the 18 mani i've got the mani sat in my garage and yet to fit it as i've been looking for a solution to re-fit my 17 cover.

 

[Manders Mustang]

Think it's intake (air) not Intake manifold? I saw some guides to make a 18 mani fit a 15-17 cover, but need to look at them in the flesh and see if there's a possibility to create new pins and use them, or mounting some studs and bolts to it.

its a shame and surprising but i'm more interested in something else. how did you get the 17 engine cover to fit onto the 18 mani i've got the mani sat in my garage and yet to fit it as i've been looking for a solution to re-fit my 17 cover.

 

[Robbie]

its a shame and surprising but i'm more interested in something else. how did you get the 17 engine cover to fit onto the 18 mani i've got the mani sat in my garage and yet to fit it as i've been looking for a solution to re-fit my 17 cover.

I had an engineering shop make up some brackets. I used a hacksaw and belt sander to remove the bracket at the back of the 18mani. They charged me about £60 if you want me to pass you their number?

 

[Robbie]

Interesting... If your build date is really Aug 17 then your car should have been built well after the oil cooler issue was resolved, regardless of which TSB you believe (one stated aug16 the other Feb 17) as the fixed date.

This leads me to believe even more that there is no fix date as such.

From looking at everyone’s description of the failure it would appear that most seem to go after a similar mileage to yours. I don’t recall any going bang if they managed to do a big mileage, which would suggest it’s a bit of a lottery as to if your cooler has any internal flaws or not.

Has anyone who has experienced the failure managed to get more than 5 k miles out of it pre failure?


How many miles since last dyno run? Big power runs mean high rpm and high oil pressure. Could high oil pressure be a contributing factor to weakening a sub par coolers internals? I seem to recall I think it was Gibbos went pop not too long after he published dyno graphs.

Probably around 500miles since the last dyno run. The run from reading-Salisbury-Windsor is the most driving I’d done in a short amount of time bar collection from Edinburgh

 

[v8hgt]

On the run when it went bang, did you either spend a long while in stationary traffic or use high (7000) rpm by any chance?

 

[Spider]

Probably around 500miles since the last dyno run. The run from reading-Salisbury-Windsor is the most driving I’d done in a short amount of time bar collection from Edinburgh

What kind of driving do you do. Drive in traffic stopping and starting? More long runs? Like to stick your foot down or just cruise?

I’ve done 12k and tend to step on it a bit up to the limit of course mainly short runs not in traffic.

 

[Adam83]

Fingers crossed they don’t try pin the issue on any of your engine mods then. Most technicians will just find the issue and order the parts needed, they don’t care what else you have fitted to the car.

 

[Robbie]

On the run when it went bang, did you either spend a long while in stationary traffic or use high (7000) rpm by any chance?

I was a mile from the M4 exit, I’d done a 75mile journey averaging “70”mph but not excessive, the last section must be a good 10-15miles of 50mph, within a mile of that after 3 sets of what I would call regular traffic light stops it went.

 

[GT 550]

Sorry to hear what happened Rob. Might be worth asking the dealer folk to go and have a cursory glance now so they can get on with ordering the new engine in advance, instead of you having to wait until 17/4 to be told what's obvious and then wait even longer for an engine while the car sits around. Shouldn't be too much of a stretch for them.

 

[Manders Mustang]

I had an engineering shop make up some brackets. I used a hacksaw and belt sander to remove the bracket at the back of the 18mani. They charged me about £60 if you want me to pass you their number?

Can u get some pics/send ur the info, got a few people in Unleashed who want to do it.

 

[Pilgrim/uk]

Mines a 17 plate delivered late May done nearly 20k now no issues with oil cooler (no engine mods either tho ) hope it gets sorted for you with the least hassle possible from the dealer
Good luck mate

 

[slowhand99]

I got a taxi home and left the car to be collected by the AA recovery. The vehicle has now made it to a recommended dealer (from users of this site). After 2 days they have told me they have been allocated a time of 17/04/19 to investigate the car but hope to get tools to it sooner.

That’s where we stand today folks.

Cheers Rob

So sorry to see this.

If it's at Hungerford you will be in good hands. Paul is the go to Mustang guy there.

Good luck.

 

[Alfa Male]

If you get past 10k miles does that mean your probably ‘safe’ from the oil cooler failure issue ?

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