As I am sure everyone is aware by now the Pentastar engines come with a terrible plastic oil cooler that leaks. There are a lot of videos on YouTube on how to replace it, but I wanted to just share some thoughts after doing the job myself.
1. The $61 aluminum cooler on Amazon fit perfectly and looks to be very well made. No issues after a few hundred miles. Unlike the Dorman you don't have to assemble it when you get it and it comes with the sensors already installed. A whole lot cheaper too.
2. You do not need to remove the EGR when removing the upper manifold. Some videos I watched showed this being removed, but you can leave it on and only loosed the top EGR clamp. I would suggest removing it after you have the manifold out and cleaning it.
3. I did not drain the coolant completely. I suctioned all of the coolant out of the reservoir and then I had a shop vac running as I removed the old oil cooler. This sucked up the coolant before it could get into the oil passages. I would still recommend an oil change after to be on the safe side.
4. You do not have to remove the fuel injectors. Leave them in the lower manifold
5. You do not have to remove the fuel line. Just sit lower manifold to the side with the fuel line still connected.
Hope this helps someone. I would say the overall time for me was about 4 hours. It is very doable by someone who is used to DIY auto projects.
1. The $61 aluminum cooler on Amazon fit perfectly and looks to be very well made. No issues after a few hundred miles. Unlike the Dorman you don't have to assemble it when you get it and it comes with the sensors already installed. A whole lot cheaper too.
2. You do not need to remove the EGR when removing the upper manifold. Some videos I watched showed this being removed, but you can leave it on and only loosed the top EGR clamp. I would suggest removing it after you have the manifold out and cleaning it.
3. I did not drain the coolant completely. I suctioned all of the coolant out of the reservoir and then I had a shop vac running as I removed the old oil cooler. This sucked up the coolant before it could get into the oil passages. I would still recommend an oil change after to be on the safe side.
4. You do not have to remove the fuel injectors. Leave them in the lower manifold
5. You do not have to remove the fuel line. Just sit lower manifold to the side with the fuel line still connected.
Hope this helps someone. I would say the overall time for me was about 4 hours. It is very doable by someone who is used to DIY auto projects.
