dfkruger

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 .

ImprovedRacing

What year is your Z51? They usually do come with oil coolers.

dfkruger

My car is a 2016 Z51 3LT .

VADanno

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.

ImprovedRacing

^ Exactly. The water-to-oil cooler is that blocky looking thing on the side of the oil pan.

Kracka

It also doubles as an oil heater for quicker warm-up and cold temp operation.

*edit*
Already stated above, missed it at first.

RichieRichZ06

FWIW, ideally you want your oil temps above 200 degrees when driving so what you're seeing is on the low side of normal.

As other stated, there is an oil cooler on your car.

Bill Dearborn

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

Pacembellum

Haha the c7 oil heater, not an oil cooler.

BlueDevilZ51

Like everyone said all Z51 C7s come with an engine oil cooler.
Heres a picture of it so you'll know what it looks like.

Pacembellum

lol thats an oil warmer. Chevy engineering dept leaves me scratching my head once again

Kracka

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.

jvp

You there. With the facts. Stop that. They aren't permitted here. Cease and desist this moment.

SBC_and_a_stick

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).