Fickert

iTrader: (6)

So this will be my first write up and diy for a set of oil cooler lines/fittings that me and my buddy got from our good friend at Bennettbuilt. He is actually starting to be my go to guy for some replacement parts, great service and always gives a good deal. Anyway I This replaces the stock, complicated oil lines to just three main lines as you can see. And at 395 shipped, it is a great alternative to other kits that are much more expensive.

I would like to apologize in advance, my buddy and I should have taken more pics, but are missing some good ones to help point the reader into a better direction. I will try to describe my best.

Removal:
To point out the obvious of this install, you will need to put your car on jack stands and drain the oil. And don't worry, if you think you did a good job and didn't get a drop of oil anywhere while draining, congratulations, because you will soon have a swimming pool of oil all over your floor if you do no have an abundance of dirty rags laying around. I used 4 towels, large amounts of socks and my oil pan. Oil is everywhere, beware.

So for the install, we need to start by taking out the battery, battery tray, intake, and intake tray. (note, we did not take the intake tray out due to an amp being mounted on it, and I did't feel like messing with a bunch of wiring so it was left on for my install, but it will be much easier with it removed.)

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSCN4198.jpg

Next step is to remove the ignition. You need to remove the mount with the coils and put them to the side. To do this, you need a 10mm socket and a small ratchet, I used 1/4 ratchet, and remove the mounting tray with the three bolts, one bolt closest to the engine block and two right about the ac compressor. All said and done, you should have nothing but the wire plugs hanging. (For help, I marked each coil, I,II,III,IIII and wire I,II,III,IIII just to make sure I corrected the right ones later on.

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSCN4197.jpg

Next step, if your car is done draining oil, put the plug back in, and scoot the oil pan over to the passenger cooler and loosen the bolts. You will need to remove your front wheels and splash shields to do so, lucky my friend didn't have splash shields (lucky for me at least haha). I believe the bolts were 22mm? I cannot exactly remember, but I know using an impact worked perfectly. Start to let any excess oil drain. Now, this was done so you can work on removing the AC compressor. You need a 12mm ratchet and socket, and an open end wrench for this.

Take off the belt first. You need to loosen the belt tensioner.

You can loosen the first two up top but leave them both in. Now craw under your car and find the two bolts from the bottom. This will take some time as there is very little room to work, use whatever you can to loosen the bolts. I used a small ratchet for the one closest to the front of the car and an open end on the further back bolt. It will be a while. Now, once those are loose, go ahead and loosen the top ones all the way. Pull the compressor up and loosen the two compressor lines. WAIT!!! Before yanking off those compressor lines, unscrew your H line cap, and release the ac liquid by pushing down the pin. Now pull off the lines and tuck them away and set the compressor to the side.

You want a nice open area to work.
http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSCN4206.jpg

Now, loosen the oil line that you gained access to from removing the ac compressor. There will be a mount on the front of the engine block holding the line, so be sure to remove this as well.

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSCN4207.jpg

Now start draining the lines on the driver side. I recommend placing a towel underneath the other oil cooler just to catch any last drips.

Start to unbolt the oil cooler line mounts in each wheel well by each cooler. The bolts might break, no problem, you won't use them anyway.

Go back into the engine bay and un-mount the oil coolers running above the radiator fans. There should be two mounts.

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSCN4205.jpg

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSCN4204.jpg

We are about to remove the front set of oil cooler lines, but first, it will help if you disconnect all of the quick disconnects on the lines. There are five total: two for each cooler, and one that is right in the middle of the lines that run on top of the radiator fans. You can easily detach them with a flat head screw driver and some patience. The locks should look like this, and the parts should just slide apart.

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSCN4203.jpg

Next, you need to wiggle the front set of lines and pull them out from either side of the car. Now this becomes a serious hassle, and if you were in the situation I was in (replacing oil cooler lines due to rusted through and leaking), then you can just cut the rubber hoses and pull it out by pieces. My prefered method .

Now, you have one line left, and it is... wait for it! Of course, underneath the upper intake manifold.

So now, you need to remove the upper intake manifold. First start by getting the five 10mm or 12mm (I am sorry doing this off of memory, please help if you can!) bolts off the top of the intake manifold. (pointer finger is pointing to the three up front, and my thumb and pinky are pointing to the other two.)

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSCN4208.jpg

Next, unplug any plugs, vacuum lines and the fuel line mount from the intake.

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSCN4211.jpg

There are two more bolts that are by your dipstick, make sure to unscrew these as well.

(It is that round plastic part by the dipstick)
http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSCN4209.jpg

(off, and last oil cooler line to unbolt)
http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSCN4215.jpg

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSCN4212.jpg

(plug intake holes with clean wrags before continuing...)
Now begin to lift the intake manifold up from the side closest to the windshield wiper reservoir, and you will see three solenoids. Unplug all three hoses and plugs, besure to remember which one goes where!

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSCN4213.jpg

Now, with everything disconnected off of the intake manifold, pick it up and set it to the side as well. If you cannot get the fuel line clip apart, feel free to swing it to the side like I did.

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSCN4214.jpg

You should now have clearance to see the last oil cooler line right by your oil filter. I stuffed a rag into that opening before unbolting to prevent oil from dripping everywhere.

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSCN4215.jpg

After you unbolt this last line, pull it through and toss it out. Now all the old junk is out of there!

Install:

And long behold, the new set of oil lines.

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSCN4216.jpg

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSCN4217.jpg
The longest line go to the rear of the engine block by the oil filter, to the passenger oil cooler, then a connector line goes from the passenger cooler to the drivers, then the shortest line goes back into the front of the engine block, right underneath the ac compressor (Which you have to take off later).

The lines from Bennett cam well packaged and instructions that were easy to follow. (same as racing beat instructions) Thank you Bennett!

To start, install all of the blue fittings with the brass seals to the oil coolers, and engine block.

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...DSCN4221-1.jpg

After installing all of those, begin to screw on all of the oil lines, I started with the furthest one at the rear of the engine block. Run this line out to the radiator fans, and begin to feed it to the passenger side oil cooler.

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSCN4220.jpg

Now connect the shortest line to the front of the block and run this line to the driver side cooler.

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...DSCN4225-1.jpg

http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...DSCN4227-1.jpg

Now install the cross line, and run it through over the radiator fans to the other oil cooler.

(As you can see I had some excess hose, so I just wound it around and hooked it up to lose some of the slack.)
http://i1209.photobucket.com/albums/...s/DSCN4229.jpg

Go back into your engine bay and look at the oil coolers running underneath the main cross bar. Mounting is up to you at this point, my friend and I just used metal pip clamps to secure them and it worked out well. Just make sure there is clearance from the fan blades.

After all the running and mounting is done, go around and tighten all the fittings and lines. You want them pretty tight to make sure there are no leaks.

Fill the car with oil (at least 6 quarts to start).

Start assembling the car back together but I recommend keeping it on the jacks.

To get oil pumped and circulated, unplug the crank position sensor, make sure your oil cap is off and start cranking the car for about 10 seconds. Repeat 3-4 times.

Plug back in the sensor and try starting the car. If it doesn't start check your connections and everything is put together right. It should start right up.

Let the car run until it is warm. Continually check for oil leaks. If no leaks form, try revving the engine at about 6k for maybe 20-30 seconds, try to build up some oil pressure. If it is all good, give her hell a few times just to be safe. Finally after all checks are through, set her on the ground, check oil levels, and go have fun!

I hope this write-up helps somebody. And please if you have any info to correct me on, chime in. I did this over a week ago, can't remember everything ha.

Cheers!

nycgps

iTrader: (1)

instead of keeping the pics at photobucket, it might be better if you just upload all the pics to this server instead, start couple of post and use it for storing pics.

bump

fc2se

iTrader: (2)

I just finished this job by following the Racing Beat instructions. Here are a few additional tips:

Remove the washer fluid bottle to improve access to the bolt on the back side of the upper intake manifold near the passenger side firewall. It is still a pain, but a short 1/4" socket wrench and a short open ended wrench (10 mm) can get it out. I would seriously consider buying a flex extension before doing this job. For example:

Sears.com

The metal oil line that runs under the A/C compressor can be removed without taking the A/C unit off the engine block. To do it, use a hacksaw (or dremel or rotary cutting tool) to cut the top of the S shaped metal line as close as possible to the A/C unit. Then cut the hose of the other end toward the front of the car. Then bend the part under the A/C unit into a tighter U shape by inserting a long screwdriver into the tube and pushing it up and toward the back of the car. Then the piece will clear the front brace under the air filter tray and slip out.

akersjp

Fickert, I can't give you enough thanks for the amount of time you saved me with this detailed write-up. It amazes me to this day that people take time to document their DIY to share with the community. I decided to take this work on myself when my dealer wanted about $3K for the job (they said they'd most likely have to replace oil coolers as well). My RX8 is 10 years old, so it wasn't worth putting that much money into it.

Car started up just fine using your guide. It was a lot of work, but having a tablet in the garage with your write-up permanently opened, I was able to figure everything out.

Thanks again!

Fickert

iTrader: (6)

Glad I could help. I never thought of removing the windshield wiper fluid resivor, and it wouldn't let me upload them at the time so I chose the photobucket approach.

TheRedRotor

quick question, once the retaining clip is removed do the oil cooler lines separate by just pulling or are they quick release like an air hose coupler?

trackjunkie

i would like to know this also.

9krpmrx8

iTrader: (46)

Just pull.

Diego B

Hey all,

I've followed it through but just noticed I did not unplug the crank position sensor, tried 5 to 6 times and yet no compression. Is that a critical step of the process or just a "good to have"?