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

[robispec]

Ran a ten lap wheel 2 wheel today in 117 degree heat
No issues no deacrease in power. Fastest lap was next to last.

Robi

[swift996]

Originally Posted by Dave-ROR

Actually I wouldn't be surprised at the ECU pulling timing based on various parameters, including oil temp. That should be easy to find in the ECU for those who can look. Oil temps most likely aren't the only thing increasing so I agree with the others that it's difficult to make that direct correlation as the sole cause of timing being pulled, etc.

This wouldn't be the first car to pull timing based on coolant and oil temp sensors though, assuming that's all the car does is just pull timing. I haz no idea.

Either way I just prefer my oil to run cooler and pull heat out of the rest of the components in the engine.

I looked through my logs. I'm running unichip which might cause a discrepancy on the measured values or the behavior but my timing doesn't look to be pulled back at all through the session.

[mtimney]

UPDATE- Mocal laminar flow oil/water cooler system-- I installed the cooler and so far it seems to be working great. (More later)

FITTING- I spliced the unit into the cool water hose out of the radiator (on the driver's side) and used an oil sandwich plate to feed the oil down to the cooler. It was a VERY tight fit with the medium size Mocal cooler (7" plus the length of the water fittings), and what's left of the original hose now only serves to link the cooler to the engine and the radiator-- acting more like couplers than anything else. The fit overall is nearly perfect, but it took me a while to get it just right. The trick was to cut the hose to allow for a short 90-degree link to the engine and a very, very short piece of hose with a 45-degree angle out of the radiator. I ordered the cooler with 1.5" slip-on water fittings and AN10 oil line fittings.

TESTING- I had noticed oil temps over 230-degrees before installation when running the car hard. In addition, on a 80-degree day I had temps of 218 while on the interstate. While I have not been to an auto-x since install, I've tried to simulate one and did repeated hard pulls in first and second gear, several high RPM runs and the oil temp never went over 212f. For interstate driving on a 90-degree day the car didn't go over 208! Even better, the oil temp seems to come down much faster than before once you stopped running the car hard. Within one mile of driving after a hard pull it went from 212 to 204f.

I saved anywhere from $100 to $150 over the installation of most of the oil/air coolers designed for the car, still have plenty of room for an intercooler if I ever go FI, and may well have a superior setup for auto-x and DD as I don't have to worry about the oil never being too cool or too hot.

[ATL BRZ]

Originally Posted by mtimney

UPDATE- Mocal laminar flow oil/water cooler system-- I installed the cooler and so far it seems to be working great. (More later)

Pics of it installed would be great

[wootwoot]

Originally Posted by ATL BRZ

Pics of it installed would be great

Yes please! I have been researching this for a long time.

What size cooler did you get, small or medium? And what size barbs for the coolant hose? What size oil cooler lines?

[mtimney]

[QUOTE=What size cooler did you get, small or medium? And what size barbs for the coolant hose? What size oil cooler lines?[/QUOTE]

If you read my last post you'll see I answered all your questions there.

I'll try to get a photo up in the next couple days.

[wootwoot]

Where are those pics at yo?

[mtimney]

LAMINOVA OIL COOLER

Sorry for the delay...thought I'd have my header in by now and take pictures from under the car too. BUT..it's not here, so you'll have to settle for these shots. See info on what/how I did this in my earlier posts on this thread.

[mtimney]

Any thoughts on how often (and then how long) I would want the oil to get above 212 to cook off any water contamination in the oil?

[Dave-ROR]

My cooler started leaking tonight.. the core itself. Need to look into it tomorrow. Fun times.

[wootwoot]

Originally Posted by mtimney

Any thoughts on how often (and then how long) I would want the oil to get above 212 to cook off any water contamination in the oil?

Bump for a great question.

[ft_sjo]

Originally Posted by wootwoot

Bump for a great question.

As much as possible!

[mtimney]

I've been reading a lot about oil temperatures and the variations in oil temp throughout an engine. In some applications, the oil is 50-degrees hotter at the pistons than the reading at the sensor (usually a sensor in the bottom of the oil pan).

From what I've read, the location of the temp sensor on the BRZ next to the filter is reportedly a good one in that it gives you an idea of oil temp before it goes into the engine.

So, If I'm getting oil temps above 200-degrees by the filter, then it seem likely that the oil is getting hotter inside the major, working parts of the engine. Soooooo....I'm guessing that the oil does go above 212-degrees on a fairly regular basis, which means that water is probably being boiled off.

Any thoughts from someone with a mechanical or engineering background?

[ft_sjo]

Originally Posted by mtimney

Any thoughts from someone with a mechanical or engineering background?

The evaporation mainly occurs in the crank case, and goes out through the breather system.