My bad on my previous post about the V-8 and V-10 having different oil filter/cooler setups. I was thinking of the car applications that don't have a cooler, just a small adaptor at the left front of the block where the lower rad hose and the oil filter mount. Those are prone to oil leaks from the gasket or oil pressure sensor. As for the cooler portion on your V-10, the only time I can say that we replaced these was on a vehicle that suffered from catastophic engine failure. We replace them to try to eliminate any trapped debris from getting into a new engine.
As for the taping mentioned above, I don't think that is a good solution.
I just looked at a core engine that I have here in our shop, and here is how the oil cooler is assembled to the adaptor. The threaded 'bung' that the filter attaches to is really a long bolt that holds the oil cooler onto the adaptor. There is a gasket between the adaptor and the oil cooler that is held into place as you tighten up the long bolt. Only thing is, the long bolt has no provisions to put a wrench on, as it has an internal hex in it for a large allen wrench. The only thing I can find in the service manual is that the long bolt gets tightened to 43 lb-ft and the filter gets tightened to 12 lb-ft.There is nothing that lists what size allen wrench would fit it. I guess this is where the light bulb went out, eh Ford? Another indicator of pure genius is the gasket that is between the oil cooler and the adaptor is not serviced seperately. Maybe the handy hardware man or your local parts guru can come up with a gasket that will work.
And when you tighten down the long bolt to retain the oil cooler, don't pull on it too hard as the oil cooler itself is an aluminum piece that will crush under too much force.
Good luck on finding the root cause of this oil leak. I hope that I was able to shed some light on this for you.

 

Thanks for the info Paul!

As for the V8 oil filter adapters, I kinda figured you were talking about the passenger car applications...

 

you guys talking about this type set up?

Ed

 

That's the one Ed

 

On one of my previous 460 motors I replaced the gasket between the cooler and the block, it was just big O ring that I found a tractor dealer. I also chased that oil leak before I found it.

Denny

 

Hey guys, I got an idea from one of my techs today. If you have to tighten down the long treaded bolt/insert that retains the oil cooler to the adaptor but don't have a allen hex big enough to fit into the insert, put an appropriately sized nut on the threads where the oil filter normally mounts. Put an o-ring under it or you not get it off. Then you can tighten the bolt/insert to 43 lb-ft. Take off the nut and o-ring and you are done. Sounds like it would work to me.
If anyone tries this, please contact my lawyer if it screws up!!

 

looks like i get an chance to try it...wondering if i can get a good sized bolt head to fit in the place for the allen head??

 

I had mine apart just a couple weeks ago... it was either 12 mm or 14 mm.... I'm leaning towards 14 mm but am far from positive.

My motorcycles use a lot of big internal hex fasteners. What I did years ago was buy 10, 12, and 14 mm hex wrenches and cut a couple 2" lengths out of each. Slide the stub into a standard socket and you have a wrench. Very inexpensive!
I used an abrasive cut off and frequent cooling to cut them without softening the steel.

Short of that, yes, a longish bolt with the proper head size will work. Put a double nut on the end so you can attach a socket and torque wrench.

 

Oh, and there is an O-ring to seal the top.

If re-torquing doesn't do it, I have a known good spare if you want to see if a new cooler would fix it.

 

9/16" worked fine...just had to use a blow-dryer to heat the coolant hoses...its 15 deg outside here..trucks up and running...

 

Yes mine rotted out, this thread confirms it happens, Found an oil cooler on Ebay for $159.00.

Tried a quick fix by lathering the whole thing with the black permatex gasket maker. Only slowed it down, so I have to buy the part. I kind of figured with all the pressure in there it wouldn't hold but had to give it a shot.

Good thing I caught it before I ran it out of oil, that would have been not cool.