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Home > Maintenance & Mods (L322) > Leaking Oil Cooler Pipes - Lucky escape.

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Blubberman

Member Since: 11 Nov 2010
Location: South Wales
Posts: 39

2005 Range Rover Vogue 4.4 V8 Java Black

Leaking Oil Cooler Pipes - Lucky escape.

I just thought I would share my repair with you, I hope it is useful to someone.

As I was getting out of my 4.4 V8 petrol a fortnight ago I noticed a line of oily drips on the wet road behind me.

I checked all the fluid levels under the bonnet, all looked ok. I ran the engine but could see nothing leaking , but when moving slowly along the road, I could see the same line of drips coming from somewhere near the oil drain plug.

When I put her up on the ramps I found that oil cooler feed and return pipes were leaking from the ZF gearbox.

Where the pipes were secured to the bracket, they had trapped water and rusted through, causing the oil leak.

I priced up some new pipes , part numbers as follows

UBP 000161 ( tube with banjo fitting) £113 + Vat
UBP 000180 ( tube without banjo) £95 + Vat
PYX100230 seal
UYF000010 washer
UBU100180

Now, I had recently spent a small fortune having 4 new Pirelli P Zero tyres, 2 new front suspension arms and a rear rose bush fitted , so after deciding that I didn't want to fork out for any more garage repairs, I would get dirty doing it myself.

I removed both pipes , quite a difficult task getting the "Quick Release " flexi couplings off the heat exchanger in the radiator but after lots of tugging , wd40 and swearing, after about 2 hours they came off.

Click image to enlarge

Then it was time to tackle the connections onto the gearbox. The first one was a compression fitting and quite easy to remove.

The other one is a banjo fitting on the side of the gearbox , and tricky to get to because the front prop shaft is in the way and an exhaust pipe the size of a dustbin. Managed to spanner it out, and worry about how to get it back in later !

Ok, so with both pipes removed from the Rangie, it was off to the garage to get brave with a hacksaw to clean and chop them up !

After a good clean up with a dremel , it was plain to see that the mild steel tubing had thinned out so much that it was leaking. The wall thickness was only 1mm , so over 13 years salt and water had taken its toll, you can see the thinning in the photo below. I measured the tube at somewhere between 11.72mm and 12.18mm . The other pipe received the same treatment and measuring. Making a careful note of how the pipe was orientated, I made the first cut

The ends of the pipes were deburred and cleaned to remove any oil that may affect the repair. I ordered some mild steel pipe from an online auction site which had a slightly larger inside diameter than the outside diameter of the orinal pipe, and cut a peice of pipe as a sleeve.

After degreasing and fluxing, I brazed the pipes together ( and before everybody asks "why not weld ? ? ) with a wall thickness of 1mm and down to paper thin in places , I did not want to risk blowing holes in the tubes . I my experience a properly prepared and brazed joint is better than a welded one because the braze will be drawn into the gaps by capillairy action an make an excellent seal, as long as a neutral flame is used. I use a small Bernzomatic Torch which uses Mapp gas (not acetalyene) and oxygen. Both pipes were completed and checked for alignment.

After filling both pipes with meths and leaving for an hour to test for leaks , they were rubbed down and sprayed with primer, top coat and laquer, refitted with a big cable tie to secure them instead of the water trapping bracket and the gearbox refilled with 6 litres of Lt 71141 transmission fluid ( which was 2 1/2 litres more than was drained out, so I was lucky not to have blown the gearbox up.)

Incidentally , the strange noise that I was havng on start up and acceleration when cold has now gone , which must have been the oil level in the gearbox going low.

I have been checking the pipes for leaks for the past week , and all looks good. No leaks

Click image to enlarge

Oh, and getting the Banjo fitting back into the side of the gearbox- I was right, it was absolute nightmare

Sorry some of the photos are on their sides , not sure how to rotate them , they look ok before being uploaded . Its big , its black and we call it THE BEAST !

14th Feb 2018 6:51pm

rar110

Member Since: 09 Aug 2014
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Posts: 1119

2008 Range Rover Vogue TDV8 Atacama Sand

Good wright up. Is yours the bmw/5 speed or jag/6 speed? I’m guessing the 5 speed.

Thanks. ______________________________
Vogue tdv8 08MY poverty pack - wow

14th Feb 2018 8:40pm

p38arover

Member Since: 16 Dec 2015
Location: Western Sydney
Posts: 1544

As Pete said, a good write up. I like tech posts with pix.

But, Jeez, look at all that rust! I'm glad we don't have snow and salt.

You can see that British car manufacturers had it right in the old days when they designed cars to leak oil. They did design them that way, didn't they? Ron B. VK2OTC
2003 L322 V8 Auto
2007 Yamaha XJR1300
Previous: 1983, 1986 RRC; 1995, 1996 P38A; 1995 Disco1; 1984 V8 County 110; Series IIA

14th Feb 2018 8:47pm

DaveK

Member Since: 18 Oct 2013
Location: StHelens
Posts: 791

Those bill oddie plastic clips that hold the pipes on to the heat exchanger. My old V8 RR needed a new heat exchanger because I was getting the famous overheating meaning it was holding a lower gear. Off course you take all the care in the world trying to unclip the pipes but the plastic had become so brittle they just disintegrate. Result... you have to buy the two pipes as well as the heat exchanger.

14th Feb 2018 8:51pm

Grofus

Member Since: 24 Mar 2017
Location: Co Clare
Posts: 577

2007 Range Rover Vogue TDV8 Zermatt Silver

Nice work.. I'd forgotten the art of brazing. 2007 Vogue TDV8 in Zermatt Silver with Charcoal

14th Feb 2018 8:51pm

Blubberman

Member Since: 11 Nov 2010
Location: South Wales
Posts: 39

Thanks Guys,

mine is the 5 speed ZF gearbox .

Cars only last an average of 13.5 years in the UK , the amount of salt used takes a terrible toll on the metalwork. A few years ago I sandblasted , treated and repainted the rear axle and suspension to stop it rusting but now it is as bad as ever, so other than slavering everything with oil, nothing really helps, which makes it a nightmare when working on the suspension compnents because everything gets seized solid

Cheers

Nigel Its big , its black and we call it THE BEAST !

14th Feb 2018 8:53pm

p38arover

Member Since: 16 Dec 2015
Location: Western Sydney
Posts: 1544

Re rusty suspension, here's a pic of mine taken a couple of weeks back when replacing the rear bushes.

Ron B. VK2OTC
2003 L322 V8 Auto
2007 Yamaha XJR1300
Previous: 1983, 1986 RRC; 1995, 1996 P38A; 1995 Disco1; 1984 V8 County 110; Series IIA

14th Feb 2018 9:34pm

Blubberman

Member Since: 11 Nov 2010
Location: South Wales
Posts: 39

Looks good, that is one of the jobs on my list to do soon.

How difficult was it ? Its big , its black and we call it THE BEAST !

15th Feb 2018 4:30pm

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