benefits of upgading oil cooler?

Discussion in 'Technical' started by Gumby, Feb 28, 2013.

  1. BLACK BEAST

    BLACK BEAST SLICKTOP TT R-SPEC

    didn't work well on Rob260's car
    Found that the oil was rising the water temps.?

    Heat exchanger works where space for a properly vented oil cooler/s is a problem?

    Was looking at the heat exchanger setup but
    Honestly can't see a heat exchanger working better than my setup with separately ducted twin oil coolers in SMIC location and direct ducted air to radiator.
     
  2. Jinxed

    Jinxed Moderator

    also has thhe added benefit of increased oil capacity.
     
  3. BLACK BEAST

    BLACK BEAST SLICKTOP TT R-SPEC

    True .. I will be over 8 liters with the big sump ,coolers and 12an lines
     
  4. Martin Williams

    Martin Williams Well-Known Member

    Last weekend at Lakeside my oil temperature reached 120degC after 8 laps with a boost setting at 1.5bar. I have both stock and supplementary coolers. High Humidity and 33degC didnt help.
     
  5. Chrispy

    Chrispy Pretentious Upstart

    IMO upgrading the oil cooler using the standard setup is not going to achieve much. The flow from the filter tree offtake is not large. Best solution would be to use a thermostat with sandwich plate that can divert a reasonable amount of oil to the cooler.

    I'm not a huge fan of water/oil heat exchangers unless they are full flow.
     
  6. stevearm77

    stevearm77 NA Compression + TT Boost

    That is unless you live in Central QLD where a TTZ simply cannot handle summer heat without ALL the help it can get. Seems a lot of southerners on this forum don't understand the trouble we have trying to keep our Z's cool in Summer, it is a constant battle especially on hot days running the A/C which is a necessity in our climate. The humidity up here is a real killer.

    I currently run a large radiator & 15 row oil cooler that runs from a thermatic switch & can still easily see 100 degrees on the temp gauge with the A/C running on a 35 degree day :( Poor Z's just cannot handle it
     
  7. tassuperkart

    tassuperkart Its a lie I tell you!

    100 deg c oil temp is considered normal. If coolant temps elevated over 100 deg c then water oolong system is insufficient.

    E
     
  8. rob260

    rob260 Administrator Staff Member

    Exactly.

    Good in theory but doesn't work well in the real world. Oil was heating water not water cooling oil.

    Currently running a big Setrab external cooler that does a great job. I would like to try running the oil line from the external cooler to the heat exchanger then back to the motor at some stage and see how she runs...
     
  9. tassuperkart

    tassuperkart Its a lie I tell you!

    Theres the thing see.

    Most people just plain dont understand the properties and operating parameters of lubricating oil and are usually fooled into adding more and more cooling to the oil system chasing lower indicated oil temps erroneously believeing this is a good thing.
    Witness some of the preposterous ideas bandies about when the subject of "Whats the best oil to use" inevitabley, predictably and tiresomely rolls around!

    The negatives actually outweigh the positives of (over)using oil coolers and running too cold oil temps. Im not going to bother to list them here again. You can use the search button AND do your own research but heres a hint, stay away from oil temp discussions on most automotive forums.
    There is a similar mindset that insists on running too cold water thermostats or worse still, removing them altogether.

    Of course, at the end of the day with a water/oil heat exchanger... (its all in the name) the oil temps will be in excess of water temps and that is a given and its perfectly acceptable and indeed desireable to achieve maximum lubrication and oil life with minimum oil contamination.

    Ill say it again, if your water temps were climbing beyond... say 105 deg.C during very hard driving or even track work then THAT in itself shows that the heat exchanger was working and working well and the water cooling system was obviously insufficient.

    Pretty simple really.

    E
     
  10. ZX_DORIFT

    ZX_DORIFT ENGINEER

    IMO you need to find out exactly what flow you are getting to/from your oil cooler. If it is switching off a lot, you're probably not going to get much benefit from upgrading the cooler. That being said it would surprise me if the cooling circuit is being shut off that often simply because the oil pressure drops when oil reaches operating temperature.

    One thing to remember is that by adding an oil cooler. It is initially going to drop the oil pressure slightly. For this reason I would stick with one system or the other. That being said, IMO, you will see benefit from upgrading the engine oil cooling. In terms of improved oil pressure and performance. But only if the oil cooler is doing just that. Cooling the oil. If oil cooler is not really doing anything you will most likely only get a drop in oil pressure. Hence I would recommend using a thermofan as well.
     
  11. rob260

    rob260 Administrator Staff Member

    Only simple until you apply this to the real world... The water cooling system in a Z32 is in a finely balanced state as is. You cannot simply upgrade ad infinitum to cater for the water cooling AND oil cooling needs of the car.

    Believe me if it was the "best" way of doing things it would still be in my car.
     
  12. tassuperkart

    tassuperkart Its a lie I tell you!

    Of course you can.
    You might even find that the addition of oil coolers in front of the radiators is causing trouble in itself.
    Newhoo, pound for pound a water cooler is far and away more efficient and serves more purposes than just oil cooling.
    For mine, Id be persisting with improving airflow thru the radiator area. But I dont inhabit the real world do i....!!!!!!!

    E
     
  13. rob260

    rob260 Administrator Staff Member

    Have you actually tried this? Because I have and the results were not acceptable. I you have actually had this setup in a z32 by all means share the details... Otherwise we're just hypothetically and as I said real world experience says otherwise...
     
  14. tassuperkart

    tassuperkart Its a lie I tell you!

    Nah..., I was just speculating...joking actually.
    Hand me the vino garcon!!! Move along now. Nothing to see here!!!

    E
     
  15. ZX_DORIFT

    ZX_DORIFT ENGINEER

    So I'm wondering what problems, other than heat exchange, there would be running my engine oil to auto trans coolers in my NA?
     
  16. tassuperkart

    tassuperkart Its a lie I tell you!

    Nothing at all. So long as the small pipe size of the rad does not restrict bypass oil. Cant really see it but worth thinking about.
    Excellent idea IMHO.
    E
     
  17. 90TTZ

    90TTZ Back From The Dead

    But the slower the oil moves through the cooler the more heat is dissipated.

     
  18. Chrispy

    Chrispy Pretentious Upstart

    Yes that is corrrect, but you will dissapate less total heat from a small percentage of the total volume flow of oil, compared to a full flow setup. The bigger the difference in temperature between the oil and the ambient the more heat you can transfer. What's the flow through the oil cooler on a standard setup? 10%? I'd be surprised if its much higher being a bypass setup.
     
  19. 90TTZ

    90TTZ Back From The Dead

    Yep I agree but as you found with your VH, full flow without mods to the system don't seem to hold sufficient pressure?

    I reckon the stock bypass tree with some mods would do the trick. Need to have some safety factor to cut the bleed off back in the case of low oil pressure IMHO.

     
  20. stumagoo

    stumagoo Active Member

    I was always led to believe this was the case, why then are Ali radiators considered such an improvement.
     

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