Is this oil cooler kit too much for a NA?

[ZDan]

Originally Posted by Ashikabi

The 2013s certainly had oiling issues. But guys were losing engines left and right without tracking their cars. So writing of all engine failures as "poor oiling because it's probably 2013" is silly.

Most failures were more related to DI injectors and tuning that caused detonation, no? I never said *all* engine failures were "Poor oiling because it's probably 2013", just noted that nearly every failure related to oiling seem to me to have been 2013, maybe 2014? And that's excluding all the failures due to tune and DI injectors causing detonation.

It has obvious problems and should therefore be excluded from any sample. There have certainly been failures in later models.

Definitely interested to read about those, particularly '15 or '17+, but reports seem to be few and far between? Maybe I haven't looked hard enough, which is why I said I've been "studying" (in quotes) this since 2018.

As for the Corvette limp mode as 320 degrees, maybe their bearings are made of different material. Might have something to do with engine architecture also. For example, Corvettes don't have variable cams to my knowledge.

Could be, but I still haven't seen anything to give me the impression that our cars are more particularly susceptible to failures due to oil temps that other manufacturers (not just Corvette) consider in the "normal" range. Do our cars have bearing failures possibly related to oil delivery issues? Certainly some earlier ones seemed to me to have such issues...

[ZDan]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

I have always just attributed it to them being older and on the road longer.

When I started specifically searching for bearing failures early 2018, there still was to my mind massive overrepresentation of 2013 models, maybe 1 or 2 2014s, and I don't recall any such failures on 2015+. Even accounting for 2013s having been on the road longer, they seemed overrepresented for these issues considering at time of search '14s were 4 years old and '15s 3 years old. But again, this was not really an exhaustive search on my part, just a looksie to get an idea how often bearing failures occurred.

I haven't seen rod bearing issues isolated to the 13's. They do seem more common but I think there is a higher probability of an assembly procedure issue in the early cars then a machining error. The timing cover was superseded twice, so there could be something there. I was rather surprised that the rod bearings have never changed and are the same as the WRX, mains have been superseded once.

Yeah, assembly procedure error seems equally plausible to machining error to me. I would bet they didn't change the bearings themselves because it doesn't seem like the problem would be with them specifically, but rather poor oil delivery to them.

[NoHaveMSG]

Originally Posted by ZDan

Yeah, assembly procedure error seems equally plausible to machining error to me. I would bet they didn't change the bearings themselves because it doesn't seem like the problem would be with them specifically, but rather poor oil delivery to them.

It's just my speculation. There could be some changes from where the pickup feeds to the oil pump, or the oil pump to the block that we can't see, but I suspect not. Crank shafts are the same for all years with no superseded number so the lubrication holes there are not going to be different. I know others have messed with changing the oiling hole on the crank and the bearings on their own. I think a lot of that is moot with the cavitation issues with the stock pump and the way the pump is fed. I will be resealing the timing cover on my 13' soon so I will get to inspect the factory sealing job.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by ZDan

Could be, but I still haven't seen anything to give me the impression that our cars are more particularly susceptible to failures due to oil temps that other manufacturers (not just Corvette) consider in the "normal" range. Do our cars have bearing failures possibly related to oil delivery issues? Certainly some earlier ones seemed to me to have such issues...

More speculation from me in agreement. I don't think these engines are particularly sensitive to heat. I've also held the opinion that the early spun bearings were due primarily to poor build (assembly) quality. Flow/pressure issues revealed the weak link in the oiling system.

[Rabrooks]

You could put the cooler on the car. Make a short bypass hose to run from one port to the other port on the sandwich plate. Cap the lines to the cooler. Hook them up when headed to the track. I haven't done this but it seems reasonable to me.

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by Rabrooks

You could put the cooler on the car. Make a short bypass hose to run from one port to the other port on the sandwich plate. Cap the lines to the cooler. Hook them up when headed to the track. I haven't done this but it seems reasonable to me.

Or just hang the adapter plate in a bag off to the side.