Oil cooler

[marki]

Hi All

 how come I see so many 4a’s with oil coolers fitted ? Personally I’m not a fan as I would think not getting the oil up to temp isn’t good.

 Cheers Mark

[tim hunt]

Use in conjunction with an in line thermostat. From memory this opens at 74 degs C so will not over cool oil from a cold start.

Tim

[trchris]

I think it’s another modification that’s drifted from the competition cars onto road cars that’s not really needed but that’s only my opinion 

Chris

[marki]

Thanks for the replies, I’ve just taken one off the car I have just bought. There was no stat fitted so probably over cooled the oil

 cheers Mark

[monty]

Haven’t had much luck with an oil cooler on a TR! Had one on my TR4 fitted by the previous owner & on one of its first runs with me a stone or something punctured it & I lost all the oil over Witney shopping arcade during a classic car run! 

[TR4Tony VC]

Hi all

My experience is that oil coolers are only really needed if you are using a lot of revs for a sustained period …. So some fast road, long motorway driving at upwards of 4000 rpm, rallying, racing etc where you’re running the oil hot to its limits. Otherwise, why would you ? I’m sure many who use their cars gently don’t need them. 

Adding to the above, I’ve learnt that running oil temperatures that are too cool actually starves the rear of the engine of oil … with serious consequences, so again use in cold temperatures ie winter driving means No Cooler! The optimal engine oil temperature window in the 4 cyl wet liner engine is pretty narrow and too cold is as bad as too hot in my experience.

Worth thinking about what how your car is used perhaps.

Regards

Tony 

[PodOne]

9 hours ago, TR4Tony VC said:

Hi all

My experience is that oil coolers are only really needed if you are using a lot of revs for a sustained period …. So some fast road, long motorway driving at upwards of 4000 rpm, rallying, racing etc where you’re running the oil hot to its limits. Otherwise, why would you ? I’m sure many who use their cars gently don’t need them. 

Adding to the above, I’ve learnt that running oil temperatures that are too cool actually starves the rear of the engine of oil … with serious consequences, so again use in cold temperatures ie winter driving means No Cooler! The optimal engine oil temperature window in the 4 cyl wet liner engine is pretty narrow and too cold is as bad as too hot in my experience.

Worth thinking about what how your car is used perhaps.

Regards

Tony 

+1

[phil Dean]

Is there not an argument to fit an oil cooler if you have a sump guard fitted due to blocking the natural airflow under the car.

Phil 

[john.r.davies]

The efficiency of a liquid-to-air cooler is a function of the area exposed to air flow, relative to the the volume of coolant.   The surface area of a sump is trivial compared to the 6.25 litres of oil in it, so that covering it with a sump guard will have no effect.

That cars may have a sump guard AND an oil cooler is down to their use.  Competition cars, especially rally cars, may need the first because of the ground they traverse, and the second because of the excess work over road use that the engine must do.

John

[Andy Moltu]

If we park the competition cars to one side as this is different to the way most cars are used, the consideration is what sort of driving you might do on the road.

if we assume a thermostat is used to mitigate the potential impact of overcooling, there is a case for fitting one if you plan to do a lot high speed motorway driving in warm weather. The motorway networks were less when our cars were current and probably less  likely to do continental blasts. If the stat opens then the cooler is probably helping. If it rarely opens then your cooler is just bling. 

Coolers can fail (generally come off poorly in badger impacts) so worth carrying a 1/2” but connect the pipes if the cooler fails.