Thread: Do oil coolers wear out?

Might seem ike a silly question, but I told a mechanic friend on Saturday that I wondered if my oil cooler was wearing out after 18 years and he insisted it should not rust being full of oil and, as long as it wasn't leaking or rattling, it should be working just fine. That seemed a bit odd to me since I assumed the internals would eventually break down just like a radiator. What do you think? Reason I ask is we're heading for the Simpson later in the year and I want to make sure its working fine over all those sandhills. Anyone have any experience about this?

Thanks for that. Its a standard 300Tdi oil cooler in a D1. It looks fine, hasn't had much beach work and there are no obvious problems. Maybe I'm just over-analyzing, but I'd rather do that now than in the middle of the desert.