Wantin Some Oil Insurance

March 10, 2006, 02:55:25 PM

I'm debating on an oil cooler for the Demon and a tranny cooler for both the Demon and the Stang. The oil cooler I have my eye on is this one (pic below):http://www.fordracingparts.com/parts/part_details.asp?PartKeyField=1878

Anybody have any experience with an oil cooler? Anything negative I should be wary of?

Wantin Some Oil Insurance

Reply #1 – March 11, 2006, 12:38:53 AM

, that's a big cooler.

Here's my take on it:

When I first put my new engine into my Thunderbird, I had a remote mount filter, inline oil thermostat, and an oil cooler about half the size of that one.I noticed that even with the thermostat, it took 15 minutes of driving just to get the oil up to operating temps (150 degrees). If the car was just sitting idling it took even longer than that. Later on I accidentally broke the remote filter mount and decided to ditch the whole setup. Ran with just a filter on the block for awhile and noticed that the oil rarely went over 180 degrees. I ended up going back to one of the stock-style oil coolers that circulates coolant through it. Cut my oil warm-up times down to 10 minutes, and hopefully further than that since I'm putting bigger lines on it this spring (currently they are -8 which is way too small), and helps maintain a good oil temp.

Anyway, back to your situation: I realize a V8 produces more heat than a 4-cylinder, but with that kit I'd be afraid that your oil would never reach operating temps. Do you have an oil temp gauge in your car by any chance? You should install one, it will tell you a lot. I had no idea my oil took that long to reach operating temps until I installed mine! It can also tell you if you really need a cooler or not.

I guess the bottom line is, your car probably doesn't need an oil cooler unless you run it at WOT for long periods of time. Otherwise, it's probably fine.