HELP, mechanic says I need a new engine...

[darknight]

I have read your other threads and it is good to see that you did a bunch of legwork prior to getting to this point. If you are questioning the health of your oil cooler, then you should probably remove it and have it pressure tested. If it checks-out ok, then you probably do have something else going on that will ultimately require the engine to come out for repair/replacement. Not something anyone wants to come to grips with.

As for your mechanic, I do agree that as a customer, he should have done as you asked. But keep in mind, the service tech has probably seen thousands of cars, that someone else has attempted to fix. Often, the person who attempted the repair is the same person giving the tech advice on what should be done to sort-it-out and repair it.

I do a different kind of service work for a living and it does get old when the person who hires me, after attempting to fix it by them self, give me directives on how they want a particular repair performed when he or she does not have the experience and insight that I may have into the problem.