Deleting oil cooler

[Joe]

My 230SL has a 280SL engine it, and the engine had an oil cooler at one time. The previous owner connected the hoses that used to go to the cooler, and they keep coming apart. Long story, but I'm tired of my oil pressure suddenly going to zero.
Can I cut off the pipes and crimp and solder them shut, or must they be connected?
Thanks,
Joe

[Cees Klumper]

The oil cooler is probably a good engine-saving device. Why not just get new hoses?

[Benz Dr.]

I agree with Cees but where are you mounting the oil cooler? Or are you simply joining the hoses together?

[ejboyd5]

  Go to a decent hydraulic repair shop and have them make up a new hose to bypass the spot where the oil cooler would have been in the 280 SL configuration.  If you are lucky, the fittings on your engine will be the type that comes apart and all you will need will be the hose itself.  What did the PO do to connect the hoses together so poorly that the keep being detached?
  By the way, bypassing the oil cooler on the 300 SL is a very common modification to get the oil temperature up to a point where there is at least a chance of boiling off some of the gasoline leakage which otherwise would only dilute the lubricating oil.  In day to day driving, a 300 SL with a functioning oil cooler rarely gets warm enough to address the dilution problem.  Interestingly, an option available for the 300 SL was a pair of covers mounted on a roller similar to a window shade and activated by a pull chain within the cockpit that could be raised to cover the radiator or oil cooler or both in colder weather to increase the operating temperature of the engine.  This option is very rarely seen.

[Joe]

The engine came from a car that had the oil cooler next to the radiator. I think this was done on some of the later 280SLs. Here is a link to a video showing this arrangement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EMgBY5ZAxPc
SLS has a nice drawing here, showing the piping: https://www.niemoeller.de/w113-en/B044-182.html
The previous owner transplanted this engine into a 1965 230SL. I doubt that the radiator would have fit. Regardless, the oil cooler is history, and he attached the hoses together, doing a shoddy job with 3/8" ID hose. He cut the original pipes that carried the oil to the radiator, and used this hose to connect them. Well, kinda. The hose has an ID of .375 and the pipes to which it are attached are about .450, so it is not possible to slip the hose far enough onto the pipes to make the clamping secure.
Twice the hose has slipped off the pipe is was attached to. I've been unable to find metric hose that would be the correct size. (NAPA and Grainger don't carry it.) I'm sure I can find some on the Internet.
Regardless, the line carries so much pressure that it really does need screw connectors of some sort.
I did take the parts to a hydraulic shop and they, too, don't have metric hose or fittings. The guy there said he could weld SAE fittings onto the pipes and fabricate a hose with fittings on the ends, and then all parts could screw together.
This adds clutter to my engine bay, and I'd like to avoid that. That is why I asked if I could crimp and solder the pipes that come out of the filter housing - that would be a cleaner fix. The cleanest would be to replace the filter housing with one that is not set up for an external oil cooler. (Assuming one could simply swap them out.)
I'm afraid that cutting and crimping would choke off the oil flow, but I don't know how the ports in the filter housing are arranged. I do know there is a lot of pressure there.
Thanks,
Joe
1965 230SL, white, stick, with 280SL engine
1965 230SL, horizon blue, stick
1965 230SL, carcase
1967 230SL, red, auto, 250SL engine
1967 250SL, red, stick, 280SE engine
1971 280SL, red, auto
1959 Nash Metropolitan, convertible
1979 Mini
1989 2CV Charleston
About 60 Cushmans
Many issues....

[ctaylor738]

I believe that all of M127-129-130 engines have the same pattern where the filter housing attaches to the block.  The PN for the gasket is the same, 1211840180.  So a housing off a non-cooler engine would be a good solution.

If you decide to plug yours, I dimly recall a warning that if there is a thermostat in the housing, it needs to be removed.

Cheers,

CT

[ja17]

Yes, changing the upper filter housing would make sense.  Yes the, connection pattern at the block is the same.  Your filter would go to vertical instead of angled in most cases. Some carbureted M130 engines in the  MB 250C (US delivery only) cars of the era had an angular filter housing with no oil cooler or lines. Chuck, I do not recall any thermostatically controlled  by-pass but I am not 100% sure? 

[ctaylor738]

Like I said, it was a dim memory, possibly from the 114 manual, but I thought I would mention it.

[Joe]

SLS shows different upper filter housings for 230, 250 and 280sl. The only 280SL one they show is like mine, with the radiator-mounted cooler.
Only the one for a 230SL is available (at a mere 60 euros!). Would that work?
I found some 12mm oil hose at Bap-Geon, but in replacing the oil filter canister, I found the upper seal is missing. Guess my oil has not been filtered.
Joe

[ctaylor738]

I believe the 230SL model will work just fine.