Failed oil cooler line

[Steve 00RT/10]

Has anyone had an oil cooler line fail for no apparent reason? No rubbing or chafing anywhere. It broke down in the middle of the line. Threw out several quarts of oil on the way to an xcross event. I stopped to blow up the tires before the event and noticed the RF wheel full of oil. A little more inspecting showed steady leakage from underneath the car in the right front wheel well area. My oil pressure had remained where it always does at 60 MPH---65 pounds. I had the car flat bedded 100 miles back home to my dealer. It was an extended warranty item. Actually, they replaced both lines just for GP. I have almost 38,000 on the car. I have never had an oil line fail before on any vehicle. Seems odd to me. When they ordered the lines, I guess Detroit had quite a few in stock. Makes one wonder if others are having a similar problem...or is that line used for several models? Could have been disastrous in undetected for much longer....either fire or blown engine. Not something you think will ever happen.

Steve

 

[Doug Supercharged Vipers]

Dear Steve -

The oil cooler line did not just "go bad." You have a bad ground cable. Either check the ground connection at the engine or battery ASAP or it will happen again.

Regards,
Doug Levin

 

[AviP]

Sorry to sound like an idiot, but what is the connection between an oil leak and a bad ground.

 

[99 R/T 10]

Sorry to sound like an idiot, but what is the connection between an oil leak and a bad ground.

I am curious too, perhaps the ground wire rubed somewhere on the oil line?

 

[Steve 00RT/10]

Thanks a lot Doug.

I will start at the battery itself and move forward. Is there a bonding jumper from the engine to the frame? If so where is it?

If the battery post itself were dirty or corroded I would think I could have some charging problems. In effect, your saying my oil cooler line is completing the path to the battery due to a deteriorated factory path.

Thanks again for the info.

Steve

 

[RedGTS]

Sorry to sound like an idiot, but what is the connection between an oil leak and a bad ground.

I don't know how stray current affects a car specifically, but generally speaking stray electrical current can definitely cause metal pipelines and such to corrode.

 

[Doug Supercharged Vipers]

Thanks a lot Doug.

I will start at the battery itself and move forward. Is there a bonding jumper from the engine to the frame? If so where is it?

If the battery post itself were dirty or corroded I would think I could have some charging problems. In effect, your saying my oil cooler line is completing the path to the battery due to a deteriorated factory path.

Thanks again for the info.

Steve

Your welcome Steve!

There is an engine ground that runs under the alternator connecting to the frame, adjacent to the oil dipstick.

When the engine loses the proper ground it finds the path of least resistance, hence, the steel braided oil cooler lines double as a "crude" ground typically arcing & zapping a hole at the place the braided line contacts the frame. If you had the bad line present in your hand you can see where it looks like it burned a hole about midway in the line.


Another consideration Steve ... Your vehicle may be properly grounded now. However, can you think of anytime when you may have had a cranking issue or a battery disconnected and you tried to turn the engine over? That will indeed cause the same occurrence.

Hope this helps,
Doug

 

[Doug Supercharged Vipers]

Sorry to sound like an idiot, but what is the connection between an oil leak and a bad ground.

I don't know how stray current affects a car specifically, but generally speaking stray electrical current can definitely cause metal pipelines and such to corrode.

Hi Ronnie -

In this circumstance it's not a corrosion issue, consequently It acts just like heli-arc and in less than a tenth of a second the oil line has a hole burned through it.

Regards,
Doug

 

[Ron]

Great advice Doug, Thanks!

 

[Steve 00RT/10]

When the engine loses the proper ground it finds the path of least resistance, hence, the steel braided oil cooler lines double as a "crude" ground typically arcing & zapping a hole at the place the braided line contacts the frame. If you had the bad line present in your hand you can see where it looks like it burned a hole about midway in the line.

Another consideration Steve ... Your vehicle may be properly grounded now. However, can you think of anytime when you may have had a cranking issue or a battery disconnected and you tried to turn the engine over? That will indeed cause the same occurrence.

Hope this helps,
Doug

A little follow up on this potentially dangerous situation. I had all the ground connections cleaned and reconnected. They were visually all OK upon initial inspection. The mechanic also did a before and after voltage potential test while cranking the engine. This test basically checks the current path from the engine to the chassis by measuring any difference in voltage potential while cranking the engine. Anything over .4 or .5 volts could possibly indicate that the electricity could/would take a path of lesser resistance if it was available....as in brake lines/oil cooler lines etc. He came up with a static reading of .110V and a spike reading of .160V. The starter draw was 120 amps static and 155 amps peak. There was 0 volts from the battery post to the chassis. After redoing all the connections, he did the same test and the static voltage dropped to .85volts/spike .12Volts. According to the mechanic, even the initial results were within spec for these tests. This leaves my oil line failure still a little mystery although Doug's second thought above may have occurred a few thousand miles ago when the computer locked up and I couldn't get in the car from the outside. Resetting the fob did nothing. I did open the car from the inside and tried to start it....nothing. The security overide also produced no results.
Disconnecting the battery for a few minutes put me back in business. This alternate ground path may have somehow happened then, producing a weak spot which later manifested itself into a hole.

Sinc Doug posted this about the alternate ground path, I have heard of a truck which started on fire when a brake line became the ground path due to corroded connections in the normal ground path.

Thanks again to Doug for his excellent information on this subject. I am much more at ease having had the above work done and voltage potentials checked.

Steve

 

[Janni]

Good stuff.

I think as our cars age, we all ought to check the grounding points. Because the body is not metal, we have fewer points to use and they MUST be in working order.

Running a new ground on my 1996 fixed an erratic idle / really running crappy problem....