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Do I need an oil cooler?

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Old Sep 21, 2001 | 06:08 PM
  #1  
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Question

I've had an APS front mount intercooler installed on my MY99 UK car.

I've noticed that where my oil temperature with the standard top mount, were around 85-90 celius around town, and up to 110 celius on a hard drive.

Now the oil temperature was around 100 celius with the FMIC around town, but I haven't had a chance to drive it hard, as I don't want to do any damage prior to the installation of the Link.

What sort of limits do oil have? I'm using Castrol RS 10-60.

Do I need an oil cooler? (as I'm getting higher oil temperature, even though the ambient tmeperature has been lower)

Which oil cooler do you guys recommend?

Thanks in advance
Andy
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Old Sep 21, 2001 | 06:27 PM
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Andy,

PE and others recommend an oil cooler if you are going to do serious mods to the car. The recent spate of cylinder no3 failures was linked to the oil breaking down after a big high speed blat. This was then linked to high oil temperature.

Can't find the thread, bit it was in drivetrain and was about 2 months ago.

Power engineering do an oil cooler, which costs about 400 quid. I suspect other companies such as scoobymania,NAM and scoobysport can give a quote.

The worse thing what will happen is you spend 400 quid and get cooler oil. If you don't have it and need it, then it'll cost you a lot more.

If you are going to go internal, then an oil cooler is a must.


See also
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Old Sep 21, 2001 | 06:38 PM
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hi Andy
you will find that the water temps are also higher than before, so may also need an uprated radiator if you want to be safe.

the question is though, if you fit an uprated radiator will it also cool the oil ? killing two birds with one stone and saving loads of money in the prcess ?

i think Falkland have got an oil cooler kit for £250.

sam
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Old Sep 21, 2001 | 07:01 PM
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Neil,

That was my thinking, worse case, I will have cooler oil!

Sam,

Thanks for that. I guess I'm going to need a water temperature gauge as well now!!

If the Falkland kit is having the oil cooler up in the scoop, I will give it a miss. I've heard some bad stories about having the oil cooler up there!

Cheers guys
Andy
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Old Sep 21, 2001 | 07:19 PM
  #5  
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andy
the link will show you the water temps, so you don't really need a water temp gauge

Falkland has an oil cooler kit it is up to you where you want to fit it.


sam
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Old Sep 21, 2001 | 07:19 PM
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hmmmmmmmm....oil cooler, water temp gauge....;-)


M
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Old Sep 21, 2001 | 11:06 PM
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Andy,

This money tree that you have found, wouldn't care to share it's location with me would you?

Personally I am stunned that the Scoob doesn't have an oil cooler.
If you get one, is there space to fit it under the fmic.

Larger radiator does sound like a good idea aswell.

Surrey Performance - I n c o m i n g.

P.
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Old Sep 22, 2001 | 08:53 AM
  #8  
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AFAIK the scoob has an oil cooler, a donut-thinga-ma-bob connected to the regular cooling system.

So...the increased oil temps should come from increased water temps...which is caused by decreased air flow through the rad.



/J
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Old Sep 22, 2001 | 10:45 AM
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Y not get an oil cooler fitted where your old Intercooler was mounted, that way its in a direct air flow.

I would also get an uprated & bigger rad now you the front mount.
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Old Sep 22, 2001 | 07:16 PM
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Barge, you will get oil starvation when you switch the engine off. You really need the oil cooler to be at the same height as the engine. Some of the more modified scoobs about looked at this, and have given it a pass.

Dan
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Old Sep 22, 2001 | 10:27 PM
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Interesting Danny,

Why would you get oil starvation? If you were using an oil cooler in place of the stock fmic, and say this oil cooler had a total capacity of 0.5 litres including the hoses, then when you put oil in the scoob you make sure that you put an extra 0.5 litres in, where would the oil starvation come from, you'd have the same amount of oil in the engine. I've seen oil coolers in all sorts of locations recently, not on scoobs but other cars so I don't see why being mounted under the scoop would be a problem, as long as the extra oil is added to allow the increase in capacity that the new oil cooler gives. I'm planning on connecting mine up here so would love to hear some convincing arguments not to.

Nito
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Old Sep 22, 2001 | 11:12 PM
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Totally agree with you Nito, this is where mine is going to go anyway otherwise it will be a waste of a good scoob
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Old Sep 23, 2001 | 03:19 PM
  #13  
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hi there
i have just spent around 1/2 hour looking at the engine bay, and i could not find a place to fit that oil cooler , i would like to fit it on the front of the car now as i have got other ideas for the for where the tmic used to be

if it is fitted between the intercooler and the radiator it will probably reduce the efficiency of the radiator even further .

any ideas ?
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Old Sep 23, 2001 | 07:55 PM
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Nito/Sam, remember that when you turn the engine off, the pressure will fall. So the oil WILL fall out of the cooler, thus putting an air bubble in the pipe work returning to the engine. But hey try it, let us know the outcome.

Dan
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Old Sep 23, 2001 | 08:09 PM
  #15  
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Any good oil cooler system will utilise non-return valves to ensure that oil drain does not happen, thermostatically controled systems certainly do.

Its interesting having just mapped a MY98 and MY99 car with APS FMIC fitted that neither car suffered from either excess water or oil temps even when red lining at wot. In fact both were perfectly normal apart from an increase over norm in traffic which is understandable.

Sam, I think you mentioned your temps were high on the track ? Obviously road use is different, are you still having the same problems on the road ?

BTW both cars needed up rated fuel injectors as both were running uprated turbo's as well.

Both cars could run STi phase 2 (ish) timing (compared to that capable of being run by an STi5 with stock intercooler and standard VF28 turbo on SUL.

The APS FMIC seems to be doing a great job of controling intercooler temps.

Moe, I still can't get over that dump valve .... something else!!!

Andy ... thanks for your patience today.
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Old Sep 23, 2001 | 09:18 PM
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Hi Bob, mine is MY97..

Many thanks again for yesterday..I still got this stupid grin on my face....man it herts!..ah..ah..

That's exactley what I thought when I got it, I have tried atleast 4 now. Rich are also recommends it very highley.

I belive they cost around the £120 mark.


I have other stuff to tell I will mail you later.

Moe
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Old Sep 23, 2001 | 09:19 PM
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Hi Bob, mine is MY97..

Many thanks again for yesterday..I still got this stupid grin on my face....man it hurts!..ah..ah..

That's exactly what I thought when I got it, I have tried at least 4 now. Rich are also recommends it very highly.

I belive they cost around the £120 mark.


I have other stuff to tell I will mail you later.

Moe
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Old Sep 23, 2001 | 09:40 PM
  #18  
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hi bob
there is absolutely nothing wrong with the kit on the road. the problem is on track, and i think i have managed to find out the cause. i have been speaking to a tuner who have been dealing with group N impreza for a while and they think what is happening is normal. constant use of high boost on track causes the turbo water to heat up and therefore heating the engine radiator. on the road the temperatures that i get now on full blast red line in 4th is 82-84 degrees, i get that on track for the first 6-8 laps and then things start rising steadily.

i am getting a oil cooler to start with.

i think i am just a bit fussy how many people do you know watch their water temps ? but again i give my car a lot of hard work
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Old Sep 23, 2001 | 09:43 PM
  #19  
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Bob,

If you like the APS dump valves, give me a call!!
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Old Sep 23, 2001 | 09:44 PM
  #20  
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Bob,

Thanks for your patience!! At least I can put my mind at ease about both oil and water temperatures, and will probably not bother with either an oil cooler or an uprated radiator!

I think the APS dump valve retails for about £150.

Also a side issue, my car is running it's standard injectors (at the moment!!)

Thanks again, for making me grin like a fool!!

Andy
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Old Sep 24, 2001 | 03:54 PM
  #21  
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Having spoken to Andy and Moe about their oil temps it seems that removal of the undertray is responsible for their lower temps and its certainly a damn sight cheaper than an oil cooler. Mine makes about 120-130 degrees at high speed with the undertray compared to about 105 for andy's car without. Interesting!

Nito
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Old Sep 24, 2001 | 04:27 PM
  #22  
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Nito, I think its more down to the driving styles than anything else....

Dan
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Old Sep 24, 2001 | 06:34 PM
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lol@Danny....it's just as well Andy isn't driving his car on the rollers otherwise he'd really embarass himself ..mind you...Moe must be touching on 180degrees oil temps

Seeing as my friends here are running 1.3-1.6bar running optimax and octane booster for the RR day I shall be doing some "optimising of my own" Be Afraid...be Very Afraid!! The GT turbine will not give up without a fight!!!

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Old Sep 24, 2001 | 06:43 PM
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So Nito, will you have anything up the sleeve? Something your NOT telling us about?

Come on, we've laid our cards on the table.

Dan
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Old Sep 24, 2001 | 06:50 PM
  #25  
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Nito's prolly going for the "1st blown scooblump on rollers".

Nutters...

/J
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