Wet oil cooler connection

Hi everyone,

I was about to do an oil change and after removing the right fairing I've noticed that one of the connections on the oil cooler is a bit wet.



Not sure how normal this is, whether is something I can just tighten up or need to replace. The inner fairing is clean and dry so no drippings yet.

I'm assuming that if I do the oil change now and later need to replace the hose, I will have to replace the oil once again.

Bike is a K9 with 10k on the clock. Oil was last changed about 3300 miles ago so it could stay in for a while if I need to order some replacement parts.

As always, I appreciate any thoughts.Thanks!

I had this on my K3, i removed the oil cooler to make sure everything was ok and it just needed tightening up, all is good now.

I'll try my local dealer to get some replacement washers. Shall I take the whole radiator off or can I just retighten the leaking hose in place?

you can tighten the leaking hose in place, But i think i would be tempted to take oil cooler completely off and give a thorough check over.

[MJC-DEV]

If you are doing an oil change, I would remove the hoses, bolts and washers, anneal the washers and then refit, tightening to the correct torque. It's unlikely to be the oil cooler from the photo, just anneal washers and re-tighten. It would be worth checking the hose as very rusty ones have been known to weep oil slightly.
PS. I'm about to put a cleaned and re-sprayed oil cooler on Ebay if you have any doubts about the cooler,

I went to the dealer and funny enough, they had to place a special order for them. They should be here next week and I think I'll wait for them first before taking the cooler off just in case.

On the bright side, I washed it last night and after a 50 mile ride today it's still looking dry so it doesn't seem dangerous for now.

Thanks for all the advice!

I managed to get the washer gaskets and replaced them today while I cleaned the oil cooler and did the oil change.

To my disappointment, both connections are now dripping oil. I did torque them to 16.5 lb-ft although I must say that it didn't feel like enough force to tighten them properly.

I removed, inspected and refitted them without draining the new oil out. Basically I did my best but the washers were covered in oil when refitted the 2nd time. Now one of the connections stopped leaking while the other is leaking even more between the radiator and top part of the connection.

How do I go about this? Do I need to drain the system completely before attempting to refit them? Do I need to torque them more? Can I reuse any of these washes, I now have 8 of them and they take 3-4 days to order new ones

Please help!

[MJC-DEV]

1. You can re-use the washers - Soften then (anneal) first and then they are good as new. (To anneal: Dob with washing up liquid or soap, heat in gas flame until soap goes black, allow to cool).
2. Leave oil in engine, but collect what comes out of cooler when you un-do hoses.
3. Re-assemble making sure all mating surfaces (hose banjo, washers and cooler) are clean with no grit or surface damage (nicks, etc).
4. Re-torque to 16.5 to 20, re-fill. You can over-torque slightly to stop a weep, but this assumes no surface damage.
5. Check it's not the hose banjo to pipe that is weeping, if it is, new hose time.

Thanks mate for the reply! I did this morning drain the whole system, and inspected everything again, cleaned the banjo's and all surfaces etc. I did anneal the best 4 washers I could select and refitted all together, torqued to about 16.5 - 20.

The little bugger is still leaking (although not as much, maybe a drop a minute) and is definitely between the radiator and banjo. At this point I'm only suspecting the reused washers which had some fine marks on them and may not seal properly.

I will try some local garages that may be opened on Sunday to see if I can find some M14x20x1.5 sealing washers although my hopes are not that high. Really disappointed that I had to cancel the trip today

mine did that so i tightened them a bit more