Can I use a used oil cooler for something else?
 

Base question:
Can I use a use oil cooler as a transmission cooler or as a power steering cooler?
What do you recommend I use to clean it out, and maybe more importantly, what about the rinsing out of the cleaner? I assume the residue of let's say Simple Green is much more harmful than a tablespoon of left over motor oil



Background:
So... I have 3 oil coolers. 2-25 rows, and 1-19 row.
The 25 rows are used and the 19 is new.

I'm thinking using selling the 19 row as a diff cooler (maybe one of the used 25s), buying a used 19 row to use as a power steering cooler, using a 25 row as a transmission cooler, and a 25 or 34 for an oil cooler.


As far as overcooling. It looks like with my thermostatic plate I should be ok with the oil, and it doesn't look like much else will get OVERcooled. And I've got the Stillen front bumper, so I have more open space to play with.


YES, it's ALLLLLL overkill, but I like a bit of overkill.

What I would do to clean the inside of the used oil cooler. Pour some gas in it and shake it around a couple of times and drain. Repeat that a couple of times until you think it's clean. Now if you are going to use it for the power steering cooler or tranny cooler. Pour some tranny fluid into it, shake and drain a couple of times. For the diff cooler, use the gear lube you was planning on using. ;)

Why GAS of all things?

Gas is a pretty strong solvent and when it evaporates it leaves things pretty clean

That leaves a pretty crappy residue

More like it seems like it's a bitch to get everything to evaporate

Would make a really cool waffle grill.

Or how about a moonshine still?

get a gallon of mek to flush them from the hardware store just try not to spill it on the coolers paint.

vodka:tup:

MEK is illegal in some states. LOL

Gasoline is made from dino piss, just like gear lube, and some tranny fluids. So it's close to the stuff you want to use in the coolers. If you use another type of cleaner. You may end up with something you don't want as a byproduct. ;)

really? **** damn nanny governments mek is the good **** for this job(it is/was used as the main component in parts washer solvent for DECADES but i guess my grandfather dieing at 87 after spending 60 years as a mechanic just isn't long enough of a life span so they bans it, totally unrelated heart failure by the way), next best is lacquer thinner, if that's illegal too then settle for the lacquer film producing gasoline and yes gasoline will leave a lacquer in the cooler it probably wont hurt anything but its not the best(if you spill gas on your clothes they will still reek of gas even after all of it evaporates, that's lacquer), and good luck trying to flush it with anything thicker than gas, tranny fluid and gear oil will get it dirtier than when you started.

oh and acetone that will work awesome unless that's banned too

Edit: Making MEK illegal is so frikken over kill the epa even says it is very unlikely to cause real harm http://www.epa.gov/chemfact/f_mek.txt it also is nolonger an HAP they delisted it in 2005, it was only on the list in the first place because they didn't really know if it was or not.

I used to take baths in MEK back in the '70's and '80's. LOL At work. Before we use any new product. We have to find out if it has MEK and a couple of other chemicals in it. If it does, we can't use it. :icon14:

Using gasoline ain't going to hurt it. Anything left behind will be absorb by the tranny fluid or gear lube. As it is almost the same chemical make-up.

IT IS USED TO STERILIZE SURGICAL EQUIPMENT FOR GODS SAKE, are you sure it's illegal for general sale, or is just illegal for use in your industry? It is a VOC so if you work in interior paint or something where all VOC's are getting banned then i can see it being illegal in your application.

I mean really it's negative side effects are dry skin, irritated eyes, and diziness, last i checked every petroleum based solvent has at least that for symptoms if not more :rolleyes:

I worked in a fab shop in the '70's. Where we took baths in the stuff. In the '80's, I worked in another shop and they took MEK off of us. Now working in a power plant. Because of the VOC's and other stuff. Any businesses that have an air permit for emissions. Have some type of Fed and state rules on it.

As long as the old and new fluids are not incompatible all you need is a good flush/rinse. Flush/rinse well with the new fluid you will be using - no solvent is needed. It will help if you warm everything up so that the fluids flow more freely. If you want to engage in some overkill, use the triple rinse method.

Just to be on the safe side, you may want to drain and refill the system after a few hours of use.

Or ... steam clean the cooler and bake for a few days until dry. Edit: Purging with dry air or Nitrogen will greatly hasten the process.

^holy hell now that is complicated, i like the go to lowes, ace, HD pick up a solvent pour some in shake and drain method, especially considering it will be like new when done. also a gallon of mek at lowes is $22 and will flush A LOT of cores, running the car and changing all the fluids later is going to cost you a hell of a lot more considering how much one quart of decent oil costs and you'll be throwing out 5, then there's the diff, drain and fill on powers steering, the trans, its gonna cost a couple hundred dollars to flush all those systems.