2000BSME

Looking through the front grill of this showroom vehicle, I noticed that a stacked plate cooler of some type was mounted upside down, so that both the inlet and the outlet were facing the ground. All plates were horizontal. How could this happen on a brand new vehicle of this caliber?

RX-Ben

Does it come with a bleeder screw(s) on top or is there a factory procedure for bleeding the system to ensure no air hangs out on top?

2000BSME

Interesting thought... I did not notice one, but even it there were one, wouldn't that configuration allow hot oil to bypass a majority of the cooling fins?

The car was immaculate race version new Viper,... I couldn't believe it when I saw it.

RX-Ben

I have never seen anything that suggested it was a good idea to mount both inlet and outlet on the bottom. But OEMs tend to be smart, or at least test things, so they may have found a different result in practice.

Painrace

Depends on the internals of the cooler. I bet it is right!

Jim

FruiTay

Wish you took a pic...

froggy47

I agree it would look weird, but to my simple mind, as long as it's filled with moving oil, why would it not cool the oil?

sperkins

My external oil cooler has been mounted that way for years with no problem.

RC000E

Well, the car does have panel gap that you can watch tv through so, is it possible they let it slip through...absolutely.

Han Solo

I imagine the oil pressure will feed the oil to the top of the end tank before it gets dispersed across the plates. As long as the combined plate area is similar to the tank volume it will be fine.

jlutherva

If there's sufficient oil flow, this position might be better since you might be able to drain more oil out during an oil change. I have an ARE system w/ dual oil coolers w/ a total capacity of 12 qts. If I just drain it and change the filter, I only get 8 - 9 qts out. The remaining oil is trapped in the lines and coolers. I need to figure out how to blow that excessive oil out.

Jim

geerookie

As long as the "oil system" has no way of exceeding ambient pressure when "off" and even if it completely drains, the system when charged better be able to create enough oil pressure to displace any air that is in the plate cooler when the motor is running/oil pump working.

2000BSME

Yeah, I hear all the responses basically defending it, but to me from an engineering standpoint, it seems kinda like using 4 lug nuts on a wheel that has 5 lug holes. You can do it, and nothing is going to blow up, but it's just not right.

That's how I see it anyway.

You must push oil into the bottom, and allow it to flow up through to the top. That is the way to getting maximum cooling efficiency.

Maybe I'm wrong though. It has happened a time or two before.