I smell a poll. General right?

 

they are making excuses to lower the zinc content in oils etc. these types of elements help with lubrication and creating a film on your bearings etc. 30 yrs ago we told the government what to do, now they are telling us what to do? my point is we don't need any of those garbage add ons if we quit following and start leading again. the internal combustion engine has been around over 100 yrs. you would think by now it would be somewhat perfected and it is,yet the older the technology gets the more we need. it don't make sense. stop wasting your money and start being heard!
you may say it is for the environment and mother earth, but i say we are just giving back what we took in the first place

 

That's right, you can't cool an engine down by cooling the oil. With that said, we do offer a very nice EOC for anyone that wants one. You can't have it if you have an automatic because there is no room for two coolers. The photo below shows the (3) three plate that GM offered and our (7) seven plate aluminum.

 

I for one also have hi running water temps and it wasnt until I installed some digital guages that included oil temp did I realize how hot my oil got. When my water temp spiked up in the 220-230 range my oil could reach as hi as 250. I dont know if there is a relationship there but I think so. Whether its inverse and I can lower my water temps by lowering my oil temps I dont know. Mr Dewitt says no so I defer to his smarts. I have however been contemplating an external oil cooler of some sort to see if it helps. I dont like the idea of removing the spare so placement is a problem. I'd like to move my external tranny cooler to a better location also.
ESU

 

I think it is just fad. I monitor oil temperature and never find it getting over 200. It seems to follow the water temp but 20 degrees lower. Most of the time on the open road it sits at 170-180 but in stop and go it will creep towards the 200 but quickly falls once you get oil flowing over the pan.

 

Perhaps what people need rather than an oil cooler is a better COOLING SYSTEM as in radiator/fans, or a different viscosity of oil.

Some oil facts:

Viscosity is a measure of the "flowability" of an oil. More specifically, it is the property of an oil to develop and maintain a certain amount of shearing stress dependent on flow, and then to offer continued resistance to flow. Thicker oils generally have a higher viscosity, and thinner oils a lower viscosity. This is the most important property for an engine. An oil with too low a viscosity can shear and lose film strength at high temperatures. An oil with too high a viscosity may not pump to the proper parts at low temperatures and the film may tear at high rpm.

Multi viscosity oils are one of the great improvements in oils, but they should be chosen wisely. Always use a multi grade with the narrowest span of viscosity that is appropriate for the temperatures you are going to encounter. In the winter base your decision on the lowest temperature you will encounter, in the summer, the highest temperature you expect. The polymers can shear and burn forming deposits that can cause ring sticking and other problems. 10W-40 and 5W-30 require a lot of polymers (synthetics excluded) to achieve that range. This has caused problems in diesel engines, but fewer polymers are better for all engines. The wide viscosity range oils, in general, are more prone to viscosity and thermal breakdown due to the high polymer content. It is the oil that lubricates, not the additives. Oils that can do their job with the fewest additives are the best.

Flash point is the temperature at which an oil gives off vapors that can be ignited with a flame held over the oil. The lower the flash point the greater tendency for the oil to suffer vaporization loss at high temperatures and to burn off on hot cylinder walls and pistons. The flash point can be an indicator of the quality of the base stock used. The higher the flash point the better. 400 F is the minimum to prevent possible high consumption.

Go here to see the specs for different oil flashpoints and viscosities.

http://www.repairfaq.org/filipg/AUTO/F_oil_facts.html

Dep

 

All the things DJ said are some of the reasons synthetics are superior to petro. based oils . Although I have no problems with either. I used to work for a company that had a synthetic oil unit . We made feedstock for Mobil , Red Line , etc. They each had their own additive package once they received their shipment . You would not believe how it is brewed .

 

Do Tell.

 

I have lived north of dallas since 1978 never had an oil cooler on
cars or pickups never had an engine fail yet while living here.
I will admit I don't have any 775 hp, 358 cube engine turning
8900 rpm for two hours at the daytona 500. if your going with an
engine oil cooler on a street car may as well put a cooler on
your manual trans and one on the rearend, that way with a
condom on everything you will be well protected. have fun
if you just want an oil cooler.

 

Durango Boy started a another thread with a poll, which was good to see the responses that are there. At this time I think I will likely wait to see how the vette does this summer in the blazing sun in traffic if i don't have any issues then no oil cooler. I don't think I will , but was looking at easy options to fix a potential issue and thought it was going to be an interesting topic......

Thanks to all for your comments!

 

Darin... Are you going to go to AER this year? Ed

 

I gotta believe that if Norval doesn't see a need for an OC with the engine set up he is running; then there are very, very few people on this forum who would require one. Those that do are probably running on the track.

 

It can't hurt right? So long as the oil gets up to temp like it's supposed to, is there any harm?

 

Its your money DB

 

Not just rhetorical...does it actually hurt anything?

I have already bought the donut. I already have the cooler. I would really hate to install everything, get to driving, and find the oil temps a little high for my taste. Then, it's back under the car where it's now harder to work and install when it could have been done from the start.

It is my money, and I'm not saying anyone is wrong or that I'm right...I'm just curious if there really are any dangers to running an oil cooler aside from extending the time it takes to get the oil to operating temp.

 

That is a nice hood I had to make mine. Also you live in my area and I have had many people think they saw me in my vette when I think it must have been you.
I don't think the oil cooler is needed here but if it makes you feel better fine. A better oil might be a better way to spend you money though, somthing with a good heat dispersante (I am not talking about mobil 1 or others that spend more $$ on ads than R&D)

 

This is not always true, lots of engines have piston squirters, they cool the pistons. The heat would otherwise be transferred into (mostly) the top ring and dispersed via the cyl wall into the coolant. If you don't have the squirters you don't loose this heat just like that.

 

When I was researching block fill, I came across an arguement about block filling. A guy with an s-10 with a tall fill and a big turbo, he uses a big oil cooler, and drives just happily on the street.

 

There is a loss to the engine. Its in the form or oil pressure drop across the cooler, plumbing, and hardware or unfiltered oil.

1st place oil goes after leaving the oil pump is to the filter, then to the oil galleys within the block.

Most add-on type oil coolers intecept the flow of oil after it leaves the filter and before it goes to the oil galleys.

The oil pressure at the galleys is lower coming from an add-on cooler than if no cooler were installed unless the oil filter bypass valve is opening.

Installing one of these add-on type oil coolers could cause some or all the oil to bypass the filter and cooler by opening or partially opening the bypass valve.

If this is going on, you'll never see the pressure drop on your oil gauge and you'll be running unfiltered oil through the engine.

 

actually, I think only a small portion of the oil passes thru the filter. Most of it just re-circulates without going thru the filter.