Eliminate the oil cooler on 2005 Chrysler Pacifica

Asked by brian Apr 27, 2023 at 08:06 PM about the 2005 Chrysler Pacifica FWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

my 2005 Pacifica developed a leak of oil into the water cooling system. Research led me to a faulty oil cooler that is designed to fit in between the engine block and the oil filter, It has coolant water running thru it, and that coolant water was contaminated with engine oil. I replaced the oil cooler, and everything seemed OK for about a year.

Then the problem reappeared,...oil in the coolant water.  Many folks claimed that I likely had a bad head gasket or such. But my engine was running just great,...with no bad signs at the tail pipe, nor rough running that might accompany a head gasket issue. Could it possible be another oil cooler leak?...didn't want to believe that as the replacement had only been in there for a year!!  

I decided to 'by-pass' the oil cooler by disconnecting the water lines from the cooler body and just connecting them together.  The after a week or so I began to leak oil out of the cooler bodies' open ports where the water use to go in and out. Obviously that new oil cooler was leaking oil again
!!...confirmed today by a knowledgeable repair shop.

I've been told that I can purchase some sort of an adapter that fills that space between the block and the screw on filter,....thus eliminating that oil cooler device altogether. But I am having trouble discovering the name of such a part, and where to buyer it??

(I don't really see a sense for an oil cooler on such a small engine that is that being used in racing conditions)

2 Answers

I have since found that there is NO such adapter piece that I could use in place of the oil cooler,...to fill that space between the engine block and the oil filter, where the oil cooler was. So I made a second attempt to very thoroughly block off those water ports on the oil cooler. i am now getting small oil leakage from what appears to be the oil cooler again? Can anyone lead me to an illustration that would show construction of the oil cooler fixture itself? Could it be so poorly constructed that it would be leaking again ,....(both of my now used ones that I have experimented with fixing) Here is my latest fix,... Those are solid metal plugs so no oil leaking there!!

I have since found that there is NO such adapter piece that I could use in place of the oil cooler,...to fill that space between the engine block and the oil filter, where the oil cooler was. So I made a second attempt to very thoroughly block off those water ports on the oil cooler. i am now getting small oil leakage from what appears to be the oil cooler again? Can anyone lead me to an illustration that would show construction of the oil cooler fixture itself? Could it be so poorly constructed that it would be leaking again ,....(both of my now used ones that I have experimented with fixing) Here is my latest fix,... Those are solid metal plugs so no oil leaking there!!

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