That new seal held for about 10 minutes before it started leaking again

Spent last Friday on a right engine oil cooler swap on a 737. Got everything torqued to spec, ran the pressure test, and it was fine. Went to lunch and came back to a puddle of oil on the hangar floor. Turns out the gasket surface had a hairline crack I missed in the dim lighting. Now I gotta pull the whole thing off again tomorrow morning. Anyone else had a part come back to haunt them after you thought you were done?

2 comments

2 Comments

logan_schmidt1d ago

Yeah that cracked gasket surface is a brutal one to catch... especially when the lighting is bad and you're just trying to get the job done. Seems like those tiny cracks always show up right when you think you're finished. A lesson I've learned the hard way is to run a fingernail over the whole mating surface before installing anything new, even if it feels smooth to the touch.

mitchell.shane1d ago

That fingernail trick is solid. I started taking a bright shop light and a mirror to check every corner of the mating surface before reassembly after a head gasket job came back weeping on me. Saved my ass more than once, @logan_schmidt.