Oil cooler pipe water pipes rusting
 

Hello,
Question for those that have encountered the issue of these pipes rusting. See photos attached.
I'm afraid to even touch these pipes at this point as they may crumble.

The pipe that goes from the back of the engine block to the oil cooler (Photo A), this one looks like a PITA to remove from the engine block. I was thinking about cutting it where the rust stop and just getting a new longer curved hose (will be a pain to source one but probably doable)

The pipe that goes from the oil cooler to the thermostat housing (Photo B) I can't even find anywhere. The only one I found was on amazon and Ebay for like $315.00. I am not paying over $300 for a piece of metal pipe. That's a rip-off.

What is everyone doing to replace these 2 pipes?

Photo A
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/maxima....b98c79651c.jpg
Photo B
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/maxima....0b85b29ddf.jpg

If it ain't broke, don't fix it. It's likely surface rust anyway. I'd lightly remove all the flakey rust, then spray it with some rust prohibitor.

How's your coolant mix? 50/50? Too much water and not enough coolant encourages rust.

If it was me I would just clean up the rust with sandpaper and if nothing is rusted through or close to rusted through, get a small paintbrush and paint on POR-15 after cleaning it up ol

It may very well be surface rust but last time this scenario happened, I poked a hole through so I'm not removing any flakes or even sanding. That's looking for trouble. I was hoping someone was able to source at least one of the pipes from somewhere and not for $300.

Thanks for your responses.

Nah, they rot to nothing in the rust belt. I've replaced these for people a decade ago. I've seen pics of big holes through em lol

Exactly. I'm trying to be proactive by seeing what options I have. Don't want to get stranded out there.
Now, that I also recall, It happened with the oil pan also. I sanded down the pan as I thought it was surface rust. Next thing you know, a pinhole surfaced and there went my oil. A forced oil change

I deleted my oil cooler when I did my swap to simplify things under the hood. I still have the rear oil cooler tube on the block which is still in the garage and it has no rust, Florida car. if your interested just pay for the shipping and it's yours. the rest of the stuff already got picked up by the scrap metal man..


https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/maxima....a83c06b850.jpg

yea i had this go on me in the past, its common in rust belt, i think the shop ended up replacing it with silicone, done. i remember buying the correct part for a shop to replace, they said it wasn't correct and then replaced it with silicone which in hindsight the better thing to do. i can take a pic but yea, very odd design if you ask me, because IIRC that little bit of metal tube just goes into silicone anyway.

These are a common failure point. Every 02+ I have worked on has needed them replaced. Either bypass them or replace them ASAP. They will crumble if you touch them in any way.

The A33 doesn't seem to have a cheaper aftermarket replacement like all the other chassis. I tried the Dorman for other FWD 3.5 vehicles; doesn't fit, different shape.

Holy ****... maybe get another forum person to sell you one that isn't in rust hell.
There are still allot of 5th gens in the yard.

If i were you or in a rust hell i would epoxy paint every single piece of steel under the head.
all suspension **** even.

Thanks for your response, i wouldn't mind seeing a pic of it, thanks.

As jsutter said, the second you touch it, it may crumble, so I'm not going near it!!

On that note, I have plans to try to paint every other tube that's not rusted on the engine. Will take some time

I heard that the oil cooler can cause coolant to contaminate the oil, which is why I deleted it completely..

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/maxima....9f4dfe7231.jpg

They actually do sell an oil cooler delete kit that I just saw. They state the main worry is not high revving engine while oil is cold which is what the oil cooler does, bring oil to temp. But, I wonder, how hot does oil eventually get as you drive on the interstate for a long while. Will it heat up too much breaking down oil prematurely? I mean, i don't race or rev it for long periods of time anyway.

I think a good quality synthetic oil will do just fine without an oil cooler. from what I read online, synthetic oil doesn't start to break down until it reaches 450 degrees fahrenheit. this is how my oil is looking at 4,700 miles with no oil cooler. I'll be doing an oil change in a few days..

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/maxima....aba177b65e.jpg

That looks good after 4,700. I do run Synthetic blend. It seems to help with Oil burning vs having to add oil more between oil changes. If I do delete the oil cooler, hopefully, the blend will still work ok.

when my original engine was consuming a lot of oil I was using the cheapest full synthetic on walmart's shelf to keep the dipstick topped off. the cost of oil i've added between oil changes in the past 10 years probably equaled the amount I paid for the 2014 engine lol...

Same. I was burning 1qt per tank. After about 3 months of that I bought a 2nd gen engine.

Holy shyyt. One quart per tank?? Wow, I thought mine was bad. I used to burn a quart with full synthetic every 600 or so miles. Now, it's closer to 1000 miles per quart which I'm fine with considering the engine has close to 200K miles and it's literally a key turn engine, knock on wood.

Yep. The one thing I asked the guy when I bought it. "Does it burn oil?" No. Didn't care about the collapsed engine mounts, dead misfire, cam timing faults, or the interior water leak.

That was a lie. Doesn't matter as going 2nd Gen was the best thing I ever did with this car. The rest of the stuff was simple too.

i picked up up 02 6 speed needing mounts and new rotors and the throw out bearing went out like 3 or 4 weeks later but I love this car 😁😁😁


https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/maxima....7d5bba7fec.jpg

@slvr2KSE5, thats crazy. Everthing else seemed like a one-time fix it kind of a thing. Oil burn is more like ongoing and expensive.

Uptown, that really is a clean looking car. I love the newer style wheels on this Max. And the rear wheel wheel wells aren't rusted or is that a mirage? lol
My rears are rusted, fixed it once and came back. So I guess not all maximas of this gen suffered from the rear quarters?

Mine is also completely rust free. It's a location thing. Minimal salt here so no rust to speak of.

I live in Florida so the car is rust free. that pic is before the accident. the wheels are 350Z touring wheels, 18x8 with 245/40-18..

this is a recent video clip

Delete it before it leaves you stranded on the side of the road. Nisformance sells a kit:

https://www.nisformance.com/product-...olerdelete.htm

i didn't know they made a kit! sweet, and super affordable., it may be out of stock though...

thanks for the link. I did check with them and it's out of stock for a few weeks. I did get some info from uptown and what I need so we'll see. Still trying to decide if delete or not. Sometimes, although I don't beat on it, sometimes I'm on the go and just get in it and start driving.

Sweet ride. Yeah, those wheels look hot on the Max uptown, thanks for the vid