The Mustang Forum for Track & Racing Enthusiasts

Taking your Mustang to an open track/HPDE event for the first time? Do you race competitively? This forum is for you! Log in to remove most ads.

  • Welcome to the Ford Mustang forum built for owners of the Mustang GT350, BOSS 302, GT500, and all other S550, S197, SN95, Fox Body and older Mustangs set up for open track days, road racing, and/or autocross. Join our forum, interact with others, share your build, and help us strengthen this community!

Boss 302 Oil Cooler Leaks

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

Who's had them? This past weekend another member was at Sonoma and his started leaking during his first session. The leak developed at the upper hoses where they connect to the large radiator hose. it appears the hose leaked where it's crimped to the elbow visible in the photo below. Looking at the whole cooler there looks like lots of opportunities for other places to leak too. I'm trying to determine if this is going to be a relatively high maintenance item that might need to be replace every two years so you don't ruin a track day. Please post up if you've had a leak.

IMG_3186_zpsabb334e2.jpg

m6642mb_4957.jpg
 

ArizonaBOSS

Because racecar.
Moderator
8,730
2,734
Arizona, USA
Mine leaked from the metal hard-lines leaving the cooler block itself. Not sure how it happened but I can only assume some sort of corrosion. Was replaced under warranty.
 
367
1
The heck?!
Thanks for bringing this up.
Yet another thing to add to the list of pre/post track inspections :)
 

steveespo

Lord knows I'm a Voodoo Child
Moderator
4,008
1,924
Exp. Type
W2W Racing
Exp. Level
10-20 Years
Cookeville TN
I chose to eliminate mine, increase air to oil heat exchanger plate size and add thermostatic plate in the oil cooler circuit to allow warm up prior to flow through the heat exchanger. There are too many potential coolant leak points on the stock setup for track use to keep it.
Will have a slightly used setup for sale in the classifieds shortly.
Steve
 
When I added the FRPP Air/Oil Cooler this summer, I noticed that the flange on one of the outlets from the Air/Water cooler was indented from contact with the front sway bar. Rotating the lower hose slightly increased the clearance, but it is still very close. I'm going the same way as Steve this winter -- removing the stock cooler and increasing the size of the air/oil cooler. I agree this is better for durability, and I'm hoping for lower CHT as both oil and the coolant will be getting primary cooling.
 

Grant 302

basic and well known psychic
the2finger said:
Great, one more thing to worry about

Ugh. And I put one on the GT this summer. :(

When I was putting it in, I was a little concerned about the plastic diverter part in the lower radiator hose. Looks like it has a few other potential failure points.
 

BLAZN BOSS

NFSBOSS said:
Who said the sky is falling? It's not much fun to go to a track and have this ruin your day not to mention wasting hundreds of dollars.

Of the thousands of things that can happen a .000625% failure of a 1 part is nothing to worry about. Theres probably a better chance of the driver getting the flu than a part failing. It's many people on here are dying to find something to biznitch about instead of accepting the car for what it is.....a car. If the car is that much of a let down theres other makes and models out there.
 

Grant 302

basic and well known psychic
BLAZN BOSS said:
Of the thousands of things that can happen a .000625% failure of a 1 part is nothing to worry about. Theres probably a better chance of the driver getting the flu than a part failing. It's many people on here are dying to find something to biznitch about instead of accepting the car for what it is.....a car. If the car is that much of a let down theres other makes and models out there.

You're looking at this the wrong way. Nobody is looking for something to biznitch about. To a track rat, this is a big deal. A lost day is time, money and opportunity lost. And your math is all wrong. This many failures in such a small sampling of guys who run their cars at the track means: I BETTER TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY since I track my cars.

For me, it probably means that I'll be taking the old GT hose as a spare for the track and should probably keep a spare kit on hand in the garage as cheap insurance...or change it out like a few others did for something more reliable.
 
Grant 302 said:
You're looking at this the wrong way. Nobody is looking for something to biznitch about. To a track rat, this is a big deal. A lost day is time, money and opportunity lost. And your math is all wrong. This many failures in such a small sampling of guys who run their cars at the track means: I BETTER TAKE THIS SERIOUSLY since I track my cars.

For me, it probably means that I'll be taking the old GT hose as a spare for the track and should probably keep a spare kit on hand in the garage as cheap insurance...or change it out like a few others did for something more reliable.
A friend of mine did something else and gave me his as a spare. It rides in my trailer with a few other susceptible parts ;-)
 

TMO Supporting Vendors

Top