I have 161k miles on my 2013 Sonic LT, 1.8 engine, 5 speed manual transmission. Recently I noticed a puff of smoke coming out of the engine compartment coupled with slight smell of burnt oil. I cannot see any oil drips below the car when parked. I cannot see any oil leaks but i assume that a few drops of oil are leaking onto hot exhaust manifold while driving. Recently I have not seen any more smoke and no oil leaks either. Is it a good idea to replace the oil cooler at this stage along with associated piping and seals? The cooler probably deteriorates with age and miles and I would like to avoid a catastrophic failure as it may lead to engine damage. Is it necessary to remove the exhaust manifold to replace the oil cooler? Even removing the manifold sheet metal cover is not that easy as you must pull out the dipstick tube and remove the oxiygen sensor.
Oil cooler leak
- Thread starter Z71
- Start date
thelittlemugatu
New member
I have a 2015 auto 1.8 with only 68k and I just had to have the oil cooler and its three pipes/tubes replaced when I brought it in to simply change out the recovery tank and heater & radiator hoses (proactively) after chasing a couple coolant leaks over the past six months.
I thought that the smoke I had been seeing was from the tank leak, but I wasn't losing enough coolant to make it overheat, and it turned out that the coolant was dripping onto the manifold and steaming/burning up right away. So I'd say yes, definitely swap it out before it gets worse.
I don't have access to a garage to do bigger jobs, but the shop I trust did indeed remove the exhaust manifold in order to access everything easily (and I believe that's what the book specifies) and they replaced the gasket afterward.
winter Sonic
New member
It's usually just the 2 gaskets between the oil cooler and engine block that leak. It shouldn't need a new cooler. .one has 177,000 miles and the gaskets fixed the oil leak.
thelittlemugatu
New member
Well that depends if it's leaking oil, coolant or both...so OP will have to inspect everything thoroughly.
In my case, it was both the cooler assembly itself and the inlet pipe that were seeping (coolant), so I opted to replace everything because I didn't want to worry about paying the labor charge again anytime soon
I have a 2016 Chevy Sonic when I feel the coolant tank up where the antifreeze go in at it be gone at the end of the day so I'm thinking I got a leak somewhere because it ain't supposed to be going out that fast in a day. But I'll look everywhere for leaks and didn't see no antifreeze leaking from anywhere so I'm trying to see where will it be leaking from.
brainpause
Member
Is there an upgraded oil cooler available, similar to the water pump and overflow reservoir upgrades?
Also, does anyone recommend changing the manifold/cat converter since it has to come off anyway? I'm at 133k miles.
Also, does anyone recommend changing the manifold/cat converter since it has to come off anyway? I'm at 133k miles.
I replaced the oil cooler gaskets and two of the metal pipes and associated O rings. I also replaced the exhaust manifold metal gaskets. Then I flushed the radiator and refilled with new coolant. No oil leaks into coolant anymore. The entire repair cost me about $ 100 in parts. I used all GM genuine parts. A GM dealer wanted $1500 for labor alone to this job. Another GM dealer wanted about $ 2300 for labor alone. These days they charge over $200/hour for labor.