For those of you that haven't seen it a new oil cooler write-up is available for you to read.

You can find it by clicking on this link.

All comments appreciated

_________________
GT4DC Events Co-ordinator
1996 ST205 UK

Mike,

Saw it yesterday, excellent work there.

I have a few questions about it all:

* You mention that with the stock set-up that in the colder weather you are struggling to reach 70C, what are the optimum temperature ranges the oil should be between??

* Also I can’t remember if you had an up-rated radiator, if you have, how much of an impact is this on the figures with the oil cooler over a stock radiator??

Cheers

Daz

Daz,

Whilst I have no specifics I believe that cooler oil temperatures should be avoided as the oil will be more viscous. I think 80-100 degrees is a nice band to be in.

I don't have an uprated radiator just a new OEM one, the water temps on track seem to be slightly lower since I fitted the oil cooler, because the oil and water systems are linked at the stock oil cooler, if the oil is cooled elsewhere it places less load on the engine coolant hence cooler temperatures.

_________________
GT4DC Events Co-ordinator
1996 ST205 UK

Daz,

In my role as temporary stunt Mike LOL

With a stock setup the oil temps will rarely be below 90 deg C under normal warmed up driving conditions
Mike is experiencing overcooling with the cooler setup seemingly due to a slight flow of oil through the oilstat even at low oil temps.

Temp ratings vary between manufacturer's but generally 75-80 seems to be a good working minimum with 130-150 an upper limit (figures for decent fully synthetic not Halfords mineral lol)

Mike's radiator is also stock although it is brand new

I have an uprated radiator. It has made 0 difference to oil temperatures. In fact i am now beginning to believe that the stock oil cooler is little more than an oil warmer with no cooling ability

i have noticed that recently on cold nights my oil is sitting @94 degrees when cruising @ 30mph. I would expect the water to be lower than this. However, if I stop for traffic lights then I see oil temps rising! Clearly the oil cooler is not even able to cope with the heat introduced when the engine is idling so it stands no chance with the engine loaded


*****edit*******
You git Mike. in the future type slower


********edit again*********
Good job on the write up by the way lol

With Mike seeing low oil temps then it would appear that the stock 'oil warmer' setup is unable to warm the oil sufficiently to overcome the flow of oil past the thermostat in the sandwich plate. I would be tempted to try a replacement thermostat or one set to open at a higher temperature before I resorted to blanking off sections of the oil radiator. IMO its always better to cure the problem than fix the symptom.

My own preference would be to remove or bypass the stock 'oil warmer' and fit a similar oil cooler to Mike. The sizing of the oil cooler radiator matrix will be dependent on how you use the car e.g. trackdays etc. and of course the state of tune.

Hopefully once my megabuck sensor/datalogging gear is operational on Stormy Blue I'll be able to apply a bit of science to this.

_________________
Don
GT4DC Chairman
1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205WRC JDM 269bhp @ 0.9bar
1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four Special GT 590bhp @ 1.8bar
1989 Van Diemen RF88/89 Formula Ford 1600
2008 Nissan Patrol GU 3.0L ZD30DDTi 154bhp

Hmm,

How many spare temp sensors have you got Don?

Fi you have 2 then water temperature pre and post oil cooler would be most interesting!

Cheers for the replies guy’s, I am now very much more informed.

I find it strange that the radiator has no effect on the oil temps even if only a couple of C’s, still there are a lot of things on this car that have made my brows rise

Interesting we already have an “Oil Cooler” ??!!?? where have they hidden that then??

The oil coller is the bit that claims your knuckles when removing teh cat - Is located by the dipstick/turbo elbow. On the St185 it is threaded and the oil filter is mounted here.

With oil temps generally being 90-120 degs from submitted data it seems teh oil is quite a bit hotter than the water with the standard arrangement. expecting water of circa 90 degs to cool oil of circa 100-120 is nota significant temp differential to provide much cooling of the oil. Water to oil coolers are more about temp stabilisation than pure cooling. (A bit liek the chargecooler setup)

_________________
JP
GT4DC Treasurer

Grey St185 RC
Silver BMW E46 M3
Multicolour yawn Honda VFR400
Silver Honda Civic Type-R

I've got my loom extensions now so have the flexibility to move the sensors around. I need to decide what's going where before the weekend

_________________
Don
GT4DC Chairman
1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four ST205WRC JDM 269bhp @ 0.9bar
1994 Toyota Celica GT-Four Special GT 590bhp @ 1.8bar
1989 Van Diemen RF88/89 Formula Ford 1600
2008 Nissan Patrol GU 3.0L ZD30DDTi 154bhp