I was driving and I rolled into boost then heard a pop. There was a large could of steam and the coolant on the road caused my right rear tire to lose traction and make the car dart to the right. Pulling off, I could see that the coolant had come from somewhere on the intake side and that there was little to no coolant left.
Frustrated, I parked the car for a couple of months. I decided to take a look at it today so i poured some water in the radiator and It seems to be coming out of the OEM oil cooler. Has anyone seen this before? I have never heard of one of these failing. Maybe I overtightened the nut holding it down?

Thanks in advance for your insight.
-Wes

 

You'd probably be leaking lots of oil.

It's probably a blown/broken rubber line or a bad clamp. They turn hard and crack often.

 

Good thinking. On that same train of thought, the oil does not look milky at all. I would think that there would be coolant in the oil if the cooler was blown. I will need to get a better look at it. However, I wonder if there is a possibility that only a coolant passage blew and the oil passages are intact.

 

your OEM oil cooler is not a weak link in either the oil or coolant systems. Something else would have gone first - it is likely a rubber coolant line. The OEM oil cooler is an extremely sturdy unit (and for a list price of over $200, it had better be!!) as far as the "oil passage or water passage blown", the passage for one goes through the medium of the other. [oil|metal|coolant] it is not possible for the coolant "passage" to fail without the oil passage not failing, or vice versa.

If someone told me that the stock unit held 200psi of either fluid, I would have no reason to not believe them.

 

Sounds great, this is good news for me. I will get down there and check out the hoses.

 

So, upon further (daytime) inspection, It's actually the freeze plug above the oil filter that has blown out. Does anyone have experience replacing this freeze plug with the engine in the car?

 

That's in a miserable area to work. I'd probably just pull the intake manifold off if it were me and do it that way to make sure it seats itself right.

 

Agreed if you take the intake manifold off you will have a chance at getting a new on in with the IM on your chances of it going in straight are slim to none. I would also sugest checking your motor for a blown head gasket because freeze plugs don't ormally just pop out. Just a thought not saying it could not happen but they are a total pain to put in and get out so I don't see on just falling out.

 

The one I put on the front thermostat hole was fairly easy. I think I had a brass rod that fit perfectly inside, then used a 5-10lb sledge to put it in. Would not budge with a regular hammer.

 

Well, I put the freeze plugs in myself and I remember having issues with that specific one. I will, however, do a compression test.