WHERE TO PUT MY OIL COOLER?
Discussion
Hi all,i inherited an oil cooler with my car,it's the type that uses the coolant to exchange heat between the water/oil,infact,it's the same as the S6 cars use.I'm just wondering where to fit it into my system?I was thinking it should be located in the coolant outlet line from the rad,and also be located imediately after the oil filter outlet in the oil pipe run.Does this sound about right?I'd appreciate any advice on my thinking,all help greatfully received!.Cheers,Mike
If i were you i'd not fit it yet until Clive's done your exhausts (?) otherwise you're just giving him another hurdle to work around! Also the griff cooling is rubbish at the best of times so I wouldn't use that type of oil cooler that puts even more strain on the cooling system when yore using the engine in anger .. why not monitor the temps first off your second oil temp gauge and see if you actually need one first.
You need to make sure your cooling system can handle the extra load as Joolz says, but if you do go ahead with fitting one there are some benefits to fitting it in the top hose. Mainly that it acts as an oil heater during the critical warmup stage, but it also improves the efficiency slightly to have the highest temperatures (oil cooler) downstream of the lower temperatures (block).
If you're talking about a laminova-based system then I used one in my Caterham. I believe I had the middle-sized one of the 3 offered by Rally Design.
The principle is obviously good, my oil temps rose more quickly following a cold start, but when we were in Italy, even though I had a very good cooling system with a large radiator, it was insufficient to cool the oil too.
On balance I reckon a traditional oil cooler (one in front of the radiator) is better if you need oil cooling (as opposed to oil warming - which is actually useful but not always required).
As previously mentioned, you ought to get an oil temp display and monitor the rise in oil temp against the water temp from a cold start, and see how far it rises above the water temp. Oil can withstand quite high temps but your particular engine might prefer it didn't have to.
The principle is obviously good, my oil temps rose more quickly following a cold start, but when we were in Italy, even though I had a very good cooling system with a large radiator, it was insufficient to cool the oil too.
On balance I reckon a traditional oil cooler (one in front of the radiator) is better if you need oil cooling (as opposed to oil warming - which is actually useful but not always required).
As previously mentioned, you ought to get an oil temp display and monitor the rise in oil temp against the water temp from a cold start, and see how far it rises above the water temp. Oil can withstand quite high temps but your particular engine might prefer it didn't have to.
trackcar said:
If i were you i'd not fit it yet until Clive's done your exhausts (?) otherwise you're just giving him another hurdle to work around! Also the griff cooling is rubbish at the best of times so I wouldn't use that type of oil cooler that puts even more strain on the cooling system when yore using the engine in anger .. why not monitor the temps first off your second oil temp gauge and see if you actually need one first.
Thanks for the replies,all
.My primary reason for fitting the oil cooler was so that it can be used in the winter months for the improved warm up.It would be easy to plumb it in so that i could isolate it for summer use,if it proves to be a strain on the coolant system in hot weather.Joo-Clive has had a look at the exhaust job and theres no problem fitting it where it wouldn't interfere with the exhaust.I'm interested in your opinion of the Griff cooling system being rubbish as i cant see the relevance in this case as mine is about as far removed from a std Griff system as you could get,with a 4 core ali rad and AJP coolant system.Is there something better about the Cerb system,as i thought the std Cerb and Griff rads were the same as far as capacity/efficiency goes?I agree i ought to look at the oil temps,but as i said,i primarily want to do this to improve warm up,and i'm having some bespoke coolant pipework made next week,so i ought to factor in the cooler now,rather than later. the std griff system is rubbish because you cant generate sufficient pressure diferential across the radiator core to get good airflow through it. A std cerbie rad is ok for up to 440-450 hp that we know of, and that's because it's upright with a proper separation of front and rear.
On the griff the radiator is inclined, the bottom of the rad is only a few inches behind the lower apron lip so high pressure air just spills under the car rather than pushed through the rad, this is why griff fans are on most of the time, there isn't enough airflow to get rid of the heat from the water on its own .. youve got more hp which means more heat which means more problems for the cooling system.
On the griff the radiator is inclined, the bottom of the rad is only a few inches behind the lower apron lip so high pressure air just spills under the car rather than pushed through the rad, this is why griff fans are on most of the time, there isn't enough airflow to get rid of the heat from the water on its own .. youve got more hp which means more heat which means more problems for the cooling system.
trackcar said:
the std griff system is rubbish because you cant generate sufficient pressure diferential across the radiator core to get good airflow through it. A std cerbie rad is ok for up to 440-450 hp that we know of, and that's because it's upright with a proper separation of front and rear.
On the griff the radiator is inclined, the bottom of the rad is only a few inches behind the lower apron lip so high pressure air just spills under the car rather than pushed through the rad, this is why griff fans are on most of the time, there isn't enough airflow to get rid of the heat from the water on its own .. youve got more hp which means more heat which means more problems for the cooling system.
Makes sense,cheers JooOn the griff the radiator is inclined, the bottom of the rad is only a few inches behind the lower apron lip so high pressure air just spills under the car rather than pushed through the rad, this is why griff fans are on most of the time, there isn't enough airflow to get rid of the heat from the water on its own .. youve got more hp which means more heat which means more problems for the cooling system.
Is the large Cerbie rad fan actually larger than the std griff fans?
Edited by The AJP Griff on Monday 25th August 11:36
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