Oil Cooler Removal

Can this be removed without draining down the oil?

Need to gain access to one of the exhaust nuts which has rounded off and is a pig for access in this job.

With rad out of the way I should be able to get a good go at hammering an 11 socket on it to release the bugger.

 

After I posted I read up a bit more and you canna really take the oil cooler off without draining down. Pain as only changed the oil Saturday.

 

What I didn't mention was on the L/H side both exhaust studs came out as the threads and nuts were so rusty! The reason I decide to do a 5 minute job and change them.....................................................................2 days later......................................................................... Had some studding floating around here and replaced the ones that came out and loctited them in.

I have a theory that spraying WD 40 on a thread and nut causes the nut to be slippery and you don't get a good grip on the nut and this results, in this case, a rounded exhaust nut.

Don't get me wrong it I think the stuff is good but it's not the first time I thought this when it comes to removing difficult nuts/bolts etc.

 

IT WORKED!! Had to drain down the oil and loosen the oil pipes to be able to shift the cooler around and successfully rammed a 12mm [the right size] long socket onto the worn nut, luckily wasn't totally rounded off and came away easily.
Thanks to those who answered my query.

 

Sounds like a good idea there. Had any problem with slippery nuts [ooh er misses] when you use it?

Actually I am a fan of WD-40 but the same issue comes up when I use it so I've stopped using it as a disseizer. Only used it to lube the extremely rusty threads on the exhaust studs

I was flicking through the Haynes manual last night and according to the text they had the rusty exhaust nut threads problem I encountered. IE: it will unscrew the thread rather than the nut only.

It happened on 3 of the 4 studs.