keep or get rid of the oil cooler? HELP

[Blown&Injected]

What matters with oil temps is the oil viscosity at that given temp. So when you ditch the cooler you need to go to a higher viscosity oil in the 212 temp range. I run 10W40 now and wouldn't hesitate to run 20W50 since I have a preluber for start up lubrication. I doubt anyone on here starts there GN in weathers below zero so no need to use 0W oils.

Adding oil capacity will help keep temps a bit lower too, but ditch it and change your oil weight.

I have read oil tests that claim even 5W-xx oil is way to thick to work properly at start up even when the air temp is far above 0*F - seemed like a well researched article/test.

It sounded like if there were such thing as a negative15W-xx, it would be the way to go and the only reason it is not that big of a deal is because as fast as the engine warms up - that first number is only a short moment for the engine and it soon just hits the second number.

 

[gczarny]

Obviously it would be better to keep an oil cooler. Normally GM doesn't waste money on parts

GM also put brake POWERBASTERDISASTER in our cars ,how many of you switched to vaccum brakes and never looked back ??? I work for GM for last 21 years , not everything they designed made sense :biggrin: , get rid of oil cooler ,you want to use best (racing oil ) stuff for your car anyway , they all have temp protection in it anyway :smile: by the way .....a lot of posts for cooling issues have been placed here , some radiator swaps had to eliminate oil cooler anyway , my two cents .....I have tried many set ups by now and the best that worked for me is ....F body radiator with F body ( not Dodge Intrepid ) dual fans and casper plug in harness set up PERIOD ! no oil cooler here either , I only use Valvoline VR1-10W30 with zddp kirbans stuff .

 

[Blown&Injected]

^^^GM Parts

I replaced my Powermaster one time in over 20 years - I wish my vacuum master cylinders would last as long!!!!!!

 

[BlackBandit]

I should have said normally GM doesn't waste money on parts they don't need. I would also say some thought as to the intended usage of the car when they designed it is in order. They needed a car that could be daily driven in all conditions. Most of us don’t need that so it's probably not necessary.

As for the powermaster while I agree they should have built some fail safes into them you can't expect them to engineer a system that overcomes the poor maintenance practices of people for a reasonable price. They tried to overcome a problem. Yes I have vacuum brakes and no I wouldn't wan't my wife to drive my car with vacuum brakes because they do not work as well as they do in N/A applications. That's probably what the general wanted to overcome. Some things just don't work out as planned.

Also, racing oils resist breakdown during extreme environments but I've never heard it inferred that a racing oil wouldn't behave like a normal oil viscosity wise. I'm pretty sure that a 30w oil whether it's a racing or not is going to achieve approximately the same CS at a given temp.

 

[Jerryl]

I should have said normally GM doesn't waste money on parts they don't need. I would also say some thought as to the intended usage of the car when they designed it is in order. They needed a car that could be daily driven in all conditions. Most of us don’t need that so it's probably not necessary.
...........

I agree.
If you drive your car on weekends, for short distances, on the freeway in cooler weather, at stock performance levels, than take the cooler off.

If you have to raise operating temps to pass emissions, or drive in hot weather all the time, at higher than stock performance levels, or a combination of some of the above, leave the cooler on.
No one can deny the benefit of stable oil temperature, in the range below the chemical breakdown threshold temp.

Running good oil is not the question. The question is;
What is the intended operating use and performance criteria.

 

[T- Type Tim]

If he l drives it in Vegas , you can bet the temps are "almost " as hot as here in phoenix

 

[Rell87]

I'm in nor-cal temps are around 80-95 degrees where I live and I have a oil cooler and a trans cooler with a fan... If u already have it on why not just leave it alone. The one thing that I can tell u to watch out for is rocks on the road, one hit my oil cooler and punctured it. I didn't realize it was leaking until a month later when I pulled the car out again... and it was leaking bad

 

[1chance]

OIL COOLER! Just install a external one.

 

[Dr.drivability]

Turbo saver

Fellas, Why not just delete that 23 year old leaky mess and run a turbo saver? You have more oil volume which will make things cooler anyways!

 

[tonys87]

well i left it off, had the f body rad with the LPD 4590 trans cooler installed and some spal dual fans that are pretty impressive. the car ran at 190 on the freeway..today was 110* in a 40 minute trip. after getting off the freeway temps drop right away down to 170 great oil pressure 20-25psi. does anyone else have the same problem on the highway? i would think the rad would get more air at those speeds but no..i got lower temps in stop in go traffic, in a hot @ss day.

 

[bmackinnon]

the car ran at 190 on the freeway..today was 110* in a 40 minute trip. after getting off the freeway temps drop right away down to 170 great oil pressure 20-25psi. does anyone else have the same problem on the highway? i would think the rad would get more air at those speeds but no..i got lower temps in stop in go traffic, in a hot @ss day.

sure the convertor is locking up???? will run ALOT hotter on the freeway unlocked...

 

[Rell87]

I'm running B&M coolers

 

[Squid4life]

well i left it off, had the f body rad with the LPD 4590 trans cooler installed and some spal dual fans that are pretty impressive. the car ran at 190 on the freeway..today was 110* in a 40 minute trip. after getting off the freeway temps drop right away down to 170 great oil pressure 20-25psi. does anyone else have the same problem on the highway? i would think the rad would get more air at those speeds but no..i got lower temps in stop in go traffic, in a hot @ss day.

Never had a car run hotter on highway than in normal traffic... :frown:

Converter lockup as mentioned, fans coming on, wired to turn right direction?

 

[tonys87]

well being that the tranny has its own cooler and its not hooked up to the rad. i thought it wouldnt make a diffrence..also the fans are hooked up right and they work great. i just get higher temps on the freeway