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FYI: "Bogus" Re-Cored Continental Oil Coolers

Be Wary of the "Saturday Night Special" of Oil Coolers

Pictured at left is something that owners and operators of TCM 470 and 520 series engines should watch out for: low quality re-cored front-mount type oil coolers.

At best, these oil coolers are just poor performing alternatives to the "real thing". At worst, they are a catastrophic in-flight failure waiting to occur.

We've seen numerous  examples of these oil coolers, in both congealing and non-congealing types - but they all share these same attributes:

1) Congealing type oil cooler has a base that is too thick. The as-designed base thickness of a congealing oil cooler is 3/8".  The "bogus" units typically have a base that is thicker than that - some as thick as 1/2". The thicker base reduces the number of bolt threads available for securing the cooler to the adaptor plate. This could result in the oil cooler separating from the adaptor plate during engine operation (resulting in a sudden and complete loss of oil pressure - as well as an oil covered windshield).

2) Gap beneath divider bar allows oil to bypass the cooler's core. This divider bar is supposed to be welded to the core in order to prevent oil from by-passing the oil cooler completely (by traveling beneath the divider bar). On "bogus" oil coolers, not only is the divider bar not welded - there's also a sizeable amount of space between the bar and he cooler's core (a business card will easily slide between the bar and the oil cooler core). This is a blatant departure from the approved design of the part - and one that can seriously decrease the oil cooler's efficiency.

3) Highly irregular and/or warped gasket surface. This is a prime example of the extremely poor quality control process in use by the manufacturer of these oil coolers. The result is a leaky, oily mess that was totally avoidable and completely unnecessary.

4) Suspicious welding. Could be evidence of  un-skilled labor having been used in the manufacture and assembly of these oil coolers.

Factory New FAA-PMA Oil Coolers For Continental Powered Aircraft
The Legitimate Alternative to the Saturday Night Special

For a price that is no higher than what the competition charges for their re-cored oil coolers, Pacific Oil Cooler Service offers Factory New FAA-PMA oil coolers manufactured by AERO-Classics, Inc.

Every AERO-Classics oil cooler comes with full FAA-PMA documentation which includes an FAA Form 8130-3 - and complete FAA-PMA Eligibility clearly labeled on the cooler's data tag.