Question for the A-team:Mark DTM Calib & Contourbs

[caterashaker]

...and anyone of you experienced guys. Here's the deal: just had my oil cooler changed. I picked up the Cat today. The mechanic who, by the way, is very competent, showed me the old one. It looks identical to the pics that DKM posted as does the coolant resevoir. As part of the repair job, they changed the oil, oil filter and coolant. Drove it around and it smokes like a chimney especially after being on the freeway and then stopping for the light at the end of the exit ramp or just slowing down to city street speed. My initial thought was that they probably spilled some oil on the exhaust manifold or exhaust pipes or catalytic converter. I looked under the car and indeed there's oil being cooked on the c/converter on the driver's side. Opened the hood and it doesn't appear to be smoking from the valve cover (although I'm by no means ruling that out) but the real source of the smoke SEEMS to be coming from the fire wall area(how appropriate). I took it back to the mech and had him drive around with me for about 10 minutes combined freeway & city street driving. Then the smoke diminished considerably as we approached his shop. Funny how cars tend to make a liar out of you when you've got the mechanic on board. Left again and I've been driving it around for about 3 hours. Everytime I slow down, it smokes like it's on fire. Called the mech back & he suggested taking it to a carwash & hosing it down with a high pressure hose & engine degreaser. I'll have to do that tomorrow as it's about 28 degrees out right now but it supposed to be sunny & 45 to 48 tomorrow. Any thoughts guys? Perhaps a valve cover replacent now? Any and all help, opinions ect. are greatly appreciated.

[Marks DTM Calib]

Did he bend the oil cooler pipes to fit it.......if he did (naughty naughty, bit of a bodge!) then the cahnces are teh blcok unions are loose and spraying high pressure oil out......and this is on the drivers side!

Have a look around this area for wet oil.....

[caterashaker]

Gracias for the reply Mark. You know, I knew how important not bending the pipes was/is so I specifically told him not to do that. I even downloaded the pictures & instuctions that were on the Vauxhall Forum and printed them for him. Now, I wasn't there so I can't swear to anything but before I even started the car yesterday, one of the guys who assisted made a comment about what a real bugger it was to disconnect the oil lines from the back of the engine. As a matter of fact, they told me that they had it up on hydraulic lifts and had to remove part of the exhaust system to get to those oil lines and the actually broke a stud near the c/converter just to make sure that they didn't break or bend the lines. So getting back to your diagnosis, where exactly should I look and worse case scenario, what's the cure?

[contourbs]

keep an eye on your oil level. but also have him pressure test your coolant cause most of the time when the oil cooler goes bad it starts eating parts away like your radiator and hoses

[Marks DTM Calib]

Well,as always in such scenarios, you need to re-trace their steps...

Check for oil around the oil filter section of the block, if its oily here then its likely the pipe unions need tightening, its pretty easy with the oil filter/housing (dependent on year) removed, no need to remove the front pipe at all (I never have!). Easiest way to remove/tighten them is with a 19mm (remember, its all metric!) crows foot spanner.

Did they use a torque wrench on the oil cooler pipe to cooler banjo bolts and were new metal washers used?

[caterashaker]

Oh my Lord, you must be psychic! I forgot to mention that the radiator idiot light came on as well yesterday. The resevoir is low but I thought that they perhaps forgot to, "burp," the system. Truth be told, however, I was filling the resevoir EVERY day before this repair. My much,much better half just talked to him while I've been on line. He said he'd do a valve cover gasket replacement for FREE. I'll run it into him directly but I will ask him to pressure test it as well. One other thing Mark, is the Haynes Vauxhall Omega Repair Manual worth purchasing? Specifically, is it easy to follow and sensible. Is it written in The Queen's English/ If so, that's A-OK with me because my fisrt car was an MG so I got used to the, "slight," differences in the language.

[Marks DTM Calib]

The haynes manual has its uses.....it will certainly make you look 25mm (1 inch) taller!

We call it the book of lies but, in reality its a useful reference when backed up with first hand advice.

Of course 'queens english' is the original and best.....not 'modifed' by others

If doing a camcover gasket replacement, look here:

http://www.omegaowners.com/forum/YaBB.pl?num=1152564281

And yes, that is my grubby mits in the photo.....and only use genuine gaskets as they will leak shortly after otherwise...and dont forget to clean the breathers

To remove the air from the system, we run the engine with the heater on full hot and the coolant tank cap removed until the stat opens.

[caterashaker]

Okay guys, part II: got the oil cooler AND valve cover gaskets changed. I picked up the car yesterday, jumped on the freeway, hit 60mph, the car shuttered,lost power and then the, "check engine and TC ," light came on. I pulled over on the shoulder of the freeway, a risky thing because yesterday was the coldest and snowiest day this winter. Looked underneath the hood (that's the,"bonnet," for our U.K. amigos) and it was still smoking although not as bad. Took it right back to the shop. Head guy put the scan tool on it and much to all of our surprise, NO CODE! He cleared the code that wasn't there and sent me on my way. It drove great the rest of the day; however, (there's always a , "however," with these things) as I was driving it to work this morning, the radiator idiot light came on. It was not overheating. Checked and the resevoir was low. Put almost an entire gallon in it this evening (sorry Mark; too tired to do the metric equivilant). Contourbs, they did NOT pressure check the system. Is that my next course of action? I'm off this weekend so I'll take it and pressure wash off what I'm hoping is residual oil & crap providing the temp gets above FREEZING! What next guys? Suggestions? One last thing; they used a Fel-Pro gasket set and said that they checked their first repair on the cooler and said it looked great. Help....?

[Marks DTM Calib]

Non gen cam cover gasket.......I will give it 3 weeks tops.....if its not leaking already...

Any oil on the plug leads.....yet!

[caterashaker]

NEWSFLASH! Contoursbs was right. My wife is back at the shop, they just pressure tested it and it's leaking like Niagra Falls (not really that bad but you get themessage.) and Mark, I think he misunderstood me; I was to pick up the genuine GM parts (gasket set) from the stealership so he'll have to do it again in a few months or so when it goes bad. Thank both you gentleman for your continued help.