cole3

I've been noticing in my 2006 stock Z06 that the coolant warms up much faster than the oil does.
the difference I made record of was oil temp at 64° while coolant was at 189°. I noticed in my base model that the coolant was most always 20°-30° higher than oil but never a 120° difference.
just curious as to what causes this or if it's even normal! lol

ttx350z

It's normal. With ambient temps in the single digits, my coolant temp can be 180* while my oil temp still sits in the 20's. I don't even want to see how long it takes for the oil temp to warm up in double digit negatives ambient.

We have a larger oil capacity combined with it being a dry sump. So the cooled oil in the resevoir can even absorb more heat.

Heck it'll take like over 20 minutes to get a B-52's oil temp warmed up to 40*c in the winter here just sitting at idle.

Hib Halverson

The early Z06 EOC is a higher-capacity unit than what was used on base cars w. Z51, that's part of what you observe. The other part is the early EOC is oil-to-air and doesn't have a thermostat so at light loads, in cool or cold weather, the oil temp is going to run quite a bit lower than ECT.

LMBTom

Solutions to this include removing/bypassing the external oil cooler (during cold months for daily driving) or getting a new radiator that has the oil cooler built in.

Road machine

The water is controlled by a thermostat which recirculates the water until it reaches operating temp....the oil flows through the engine and the cooler and into the oil can without a thermostat, so it takes much longer.

rio95

Yup sounds totally normal. My oil took forever to get up to temp as winter approached.

cray1801

It's a good thing that most Vettes enjoy nights in the garage and often not driven during the cold months. There is a huge difference in 20 deg. oil and 50 deg. You ever tried to pour oil that was at 20 deg.'s? I don't get too bent out of shape if oil temp.'s are at 100 or more when it's time to jump on it a little.

C6z06man

Normal for me too. It's a combo of the dry sump and the nearly double capacity(in your model year) than your standard wet sump system.

Too-Fast

The external water to oil cooler was added in later (newer) Z's to combat this issue and the oil warms much more quickly.

cray1801

It's a good thing that most Vettes enjoy nights in the garage and often not driven during the cold months. There is a huge difference in 20 deg. oil and 50 deg. You ever tried to pour oil that was at 20 deg.'s? I don't get too bent out of shape if oil temp.'s are at 100 or more when it's time to jump on it a little.

rockinSeat

What does the owners manual say about this? Is there any warning about operation before oil warms up? What are the consequences of driving the car with cold oil?

cole3

makes sense! I was actually unaware they had an oil cooler. just learned about the diff cooler lol. I'm adjusting from having a base model for a year and a half to finally entering the Z world!

as far as driving it with cold oil, personally I just try to keep the rpm below 3-4k until it reaches 160°. when the oil is cold it's more viscous. when it's more viscous, it doesn't reach all of the places it needs to be as well as it should - mainly the valve train I believe!
feel free to correct that if it's wrong.

Unreal

That sounds correct. The large air oil cooler makes it take forever to warm up. 160F is a good place. Sadly on a stock car in cool weather that can take 30-45 minutes, and if it is really cool, even longer.

MTPZ06

I'm most likely going to add one of these t-stats when I get my heads addressed as well. http://www.improvedracing.com/cooler...80f-p-209.html Just need to adapt the stock lines to the AN fittings on the t-stat.

Was going to go the Dewitts with integrated oil cooler and the C5Z51 lines, but decided I don't really need the better radiator. My only concern is if the t-stat can void my GMPP in the event of something happening...but I would like to think they would need to prove that it is the cause of the failure.

Unreal

Problem is adapting stock lines isn't cheap or easy since they are built into the oil block. Cheaper/easier to run all new lines, problem with that is clearance/heat.

When I priced it all out, adding the t-stat cooler block was going to be an easy $500 all said and done installing it myself. $15 on the block off was a better choice since I don't have oil temp issues.

Chris Bert

Where did you get the oil block from? Dealership?

Unreal

Yep, any dealer. Part Number 12577903

Even amazon and ebay have them. Get the gasket too. It is just the part off a GTO.

383

what about putting this in the rubber line portion of the stock setup?
http://www.improvedracing.com/thermo...85f-p-212.html
Do you guys think barbs ends and hose clamps would be enough for oil pressure?
EDIT: Ill probably do what the guy did in post #13 here with the IR inline Tstat

oicw

That is exactly what I did. Well, not that exact same t-stat, but something similar at the rubber lines.

Surprisingly, it didn't help with warm-up all that much. It helped for sure, but not a night and day difference. This tells us the hardest part is getting all that mass of oil warmed up in the first place, and not the heat dissipated by the cooler during the warm-up process.

Where it does help is cruising in cold weather. Before, if I'm at a 60 mph slow cruise in 40 degree weather, the oil temp refuses to go above 135 degrees. Now, the lowest it gets to, once warmed up, is 165. Below that the t-stat starts closing.

383

Do you have any pictures or links to what you used? I may try to do this before my exhaust shows up