What's the verdict on the need of oil cooler?

[orthojoe]

^^ Great info. What kind of temps were you getting before the oil cooler was installed?

[BatStig]

Unfortunately I didn't have anything to monitor temps before I got the oil cooler. The cooler and a Scangauge were part of the parts-pile that was growing while the car hibernated over the winter.

[smbstyle]

Originally Posted by orthojoe

^^ Great info. What kind of temps were you getting before the oil cooler was installed?

if someone wants to donate an oil cooler i'd be glad to log before/after temps

[Dave-ROR]

Originally Posted by smbstyle

if someone wants to donate an oil cooler i'd be glad to log before/after temps

Or we can just look at my car

The max I've seen at Sebring with the cooler have been 235.

Edit, err 239F.. 115 celsius.

[smbstyle]

Originally Posted by Dave-ROR

Or we can just look at my car

The max I've seen at Sebring with the cooler have been 235.

Edit, err 239F.. 115 celsius.

I'd rather get a free oil cooler, thanks, lol.

What did you see before you had the oil cooler? And what kind of ambient temps were you in when you were seeing a high of 239*?


Also, kind of getting to the root of the issue; where is everyone getting the arbitrary numbers of "anything over 2xx*f is dangerous"? I know over 230* people claim the engine pulls timing, which is no big deal as its going to be a tad slower for the sake of reliability, it looks like even with an oil cooler we'd hit that on track down here in FL. But where are people getting the fact that over 2xx* it's dangerous? I know cooler temps are ideal, and it never hurts to run an oil cooler, but where's the science to show that having 300*f oil temps is detrimental? Reading into the new synthetic oils, they're claiming to protect up to 500*f, so it doesn't seem like the oil will "fail" or break down at 300*f.

[brillo]

I believe someone asked one of the gt86 engineers the question about oil temps and the response back was 260 was the maximum safe temp. I'm not sure what the specific issue was with temps over 260. I know other cars can handle near 300+ oil temps without issue from poking around on bobistheoilguy's forum. I'm sure those temps reduce the oil life, but a lot of folks change their oil after a track weekend.

[WolfpackS2k]

If the car's factory engineers claim that 260 is the maximum safe temperature they why didn't they include an oil cooler from the factory? Seems to me that this car was built specifically for people to have fun with it, DRIVING IT HARD, be it on mountain roads or on a race track. So why develop it with an inherent flaw like this?

[RAWR BRZ]

Originally Posted by WolfpackS2k

If the car's factory engineers claim that 260 is the maximum safe temperature they why didn't they include an oil cooler from the factory? Seems to me that this car was built specifically for people to have fun with it, DRIVING IT HARD, be it on mountain roads or on a race track. So why develop it with an inherent flaw like this?

So they can sell the car cheaper for more people. Given majority are drive around show car types. Small amount will canyon and an even smaller percent will push it hard in the canyons an most will crash if they do. Then a really really really small amount will go track their car compared to overall sales.

[Hanakuso]

How do you get the oil removed from the cooler when you do an oil change? I'm planning on doing 0W-20 for streets and 0W-30 for track so I don't really want to mix them up.

[CSG Mike]

Originally Posted by Hanakuso

How do you get the oil removed from the cooler when you do an oil change? I'm planning on doing 0W-20 for streets and 0W-30 for track so I don't really want to mix them up.

Pull off a line and drain it... or just mix the old with the new.

[RAWR BRZ]

Originally Posted by Hanakuso

How do you get the oil removed from the cooler when you do an oil change? I'm planning on doing 0W-20 for streets and 0W-30 for track so I don't really want to mix them up.

I believe it will be a pita so just use 0w30. It will be much easier. Why 0w20 for street? Better fuel economy? Then remember that if you use 0w30 once then swapping it out for 0w20 youre wasting an oil change... You can use the same oil for at least 3 track days granted that its quality oil.

[robispec]

I take off a line at the take off plate add my custom an blowpipe adaptor and us air to push the fluids back into the engine gets about 90% of the oil out...depends on the coolers height and orientation..or if the fittings are on the bottom just drain the cooler directly (messy...usually)

[Hanakuso]

Originally Posted by CSG Mike

Pull off a line and drain it... or just mix the old with the new.

Yeah I would probably want to pull the line but it might get messy. I know with computer watercooling they have quick disconnects that make draining simple, but not sure if it's a safe idea in a car.

Originally Posted by RAWR BRZ

I believe it will be a pita so just use 0w30. It will be much easier. Why 0w20 for street? Better fuel economy? Then remember that if you use 0w30 once then swapping it out for 0w20 youre wasting an oil change... You can use the same oil for at least 3 track days granted that its quality oil.

I just want to use 0W-20 for the street because a lot of times I only drive short distances and I probably don't get it warmed up enough. Then again maybe it doesn't matter because I rarely go over 4-5k

[CSG Mike]

Water cooling? Like... computer water cooling?

Just use whatever you'd use on track. The MPG hit will cost you less than the oil change cost.