why no oil cooler ?
Thread Starter
Advanced
Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 50
Likes: 18
why no oil cooler ?
My z51 is a masterpiece of automotive tec . Trans cooler , Dif cooler , Oil cooler, no, no oil cooler. I moved the licence plate off the grille and replaced the grille with the Z06 . Now runs at 185 degrees at highway speeds but in slow traffic the oil temp is at 200 degrees . Why no oil cooler . df.kruger@gmail.com . with respect always .
Supporting Vendor
Joined: Jun 2014
Posts: 553
Likes: 277
From: Orlando FL - USA
My z51 is a masterpiece of automotive tec . Trans cooler , Dif cooler , Oil cooler, no, no oil cooler. I moved the licence plate off the grille and replaced the grille with the Z06 . Now runs at 185 degrees at highway speeds but in slow traffic the oil temp is at 200 degrees . Why no oil cooler . df.kruger@gmail.com . with respect always .
Thread Starter
Advanced
Joined: Mar 2017
Posts: 50
Likes: 18
Where is the oil cooler on my 2016 lt3 z51 .
My z51 is a masterpiece of automotive tec . Trans cooler , Dif cooler , Oil cooler, no, no oil cooler. I moved the licence plate off the grille and replaced the grille with the Z06 . Now runs at 185 degrees at highway speeds but in slow traffic the oil temp is at 200 degrees . Why no oil cooler . df.kruger@gmail.com . with respect always .
Instructor
Joined: Dec 2012
Posts: 152
Likes: 3
From: Austin Texas
The C7 has an oil to water heat transfer system, which uses the radiator to cool both the oil and the water. This system allows faster warmup for the oil, but actually reduces the effectiveness of the radiator when you are using all the engine performance. The radiator has to cool the extra heat from the oil, in addition to the engine heat transferred to the coolant. I, like you, would prefer for the oil system to have a separate oil to air cooler for improved cooling of the oil for track use. I haven't seen the details on the ZR1, but I would expect it now has an oil to air radiator up in one of those new bumper openings.
Race Director
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 14,554
Likes: 1,549
From: Supporting the Corvette Community at Abel Chevrolet in Rio Vista, CA 707-374-6317 Ext.123
St. Jude Donor '08
My z51 is a masterpiece of automotive tec . Trans cooler , Dif cooler , Oil cooler, no, no oil cooler. I moved the licence plate off the grille and replaced the grille with the Z06 . Now runs at 185 degrees at highway speeds but in slow traffic the oil temp is at 200 degrees . Why no oil cooler . df.kruger@gmail.com . with respect always .
As other stated, there is an oil cooler on your car.
Tech Contributor
Joined: Oct 1999
Posts: 41,066
Likes: 9,829
From: Charlotte, NC (formerly Endicott, NY)
If you take the car to the track a lot you can add the GMPP Secondary Radiator which will drop about the oil temp about 14 degrees. They are now standard on all M7 cars.
Bill
Bill
Corvette Stories
The Best of Corvette for Corvette Enthusiasts
5 Best & 5 Worst Corvette Daily Drivers
Joe Kucinski
The Headlights of Every Corvette Generation Explained
Joe Kucinski
5 Best & 5 Most Overrated Corvette Track Packages of All Time!
Joe Kucinski
Every 2027 Corvette Engine Explained
Joe Kucinski
Designer Imagines A Corvette That Looks More Like a Corvette Than the Corvette
Verdad Gallardo
10 Ugly Corvettes That We Still Kinda Love
Joe Kucinski
Top 10 Most Expensive Corvettes Ever Sold on Bring A Trailer
Brett Foote
10 Things Every Corvette Owner Needs (2026 Edition)
Michael S. Palmer
8 Most "Only Corvette Owners Understand" Quirks and Problems
Pouria Savadkouei
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 2016
Posts: 3,109
Likes: 697
From: CA
Race Director
Joined: Jan 2014
Posts: 10,709
Likes: 7,102
From: Fulshear, TX
It warms and cools the oil both, depending on conditions which really is the best of both worlds. Engine coolant comes to temp faster than oil does, then once the oil is warmed up, this keeps it around the same temp as the engine coolant. Colder isn't better when it comes to an oil's ability to protect. My 2014 Z51 typically keeps the oil in the 190F's during normal driving, then 210-240 during hard aggressive driving; all of this is well within Mobil 1's effective range. External air/oil coolers can often times over-cool the oil which is why proper systems need to use a thermostat bypass, but you're still left with longer warm-up times (something the dry-sump already struggles with) without having the engine coolant to help bring it up to temp.
Last edited by Kracka; Mar 15, 2018 at 10:00 AM.
Tech Contributor
Joined: Mar 1999
Posts: 10,448
Likes: 4,405
From: Northern VA
"Ask Tadge" Producer
Safety Car
Joined: Nov 2012
Posts: 4,737
Likes: 551
From: North California
A better way to ask the question is "why doesn't the C7 have a dedicated liquid-to-air heat exchanger?"
Otherwise, Tadge will simply tell you that they have an oil cooler, which is that brick that everyone likes to refer to as an oil cooler. He will also tell you it is there for quickly heating up the oil but also cools the oil blah blah blah, which is not what you want him to rant about.
At the end of the day whether you have a dedicated oil HE is not really as important as having sufficient liquid-to-air heat exchangers (whether coolant or oil pass through them) and how well they work given the aero treatment around them. You have to cool both the water and the oil and you can only do so if you can pass enough of the heat to the atmosphere (air).
Otherwise, Tadge will simply tell you that they have an oil cooler, which is that brick that everyone likes to refer to as an oil cooler. He will also tell you it is there for quickly heating up the oil but also cools the oil blah blah blah, which is not what you want him to rant about.
At the end of the day whether you have a dedicated oil HE is not really as important as having sufficient liquid-to-air heat exchangers (whether coolant or oil pass through them) and how well they work given the aero treatment around them. You have to cool both the water and the oil and you can only do so if you can pass enough of the heat to the atmosphere (air).