Oil cooler install

[Gaz64]

Originally Posted by bobcowan

Mine is like that. I like the look of the cooler. But I certainly don't need one.

A thermostat will often not allow the oil to warm up properly. When closed, it allows about 10% of the oil to circulate through the cooler. As the oil warms up and the thermostat is open, it allows about 10% of the oil to bypass the cooler and go back to the engine. This allows all of the oil to warm up together. Otherwise, the thermostat would open and you'de get a big slug of cold oil into a hot engine. And that's a bad thing.

The down side of that is that if you're cruising down the highway on a cold morning, the oil will never warm up. That is also a bad thing.

That's why the bypass when cold is only a small amount to allow it warm up.

An oil cooler without a thermostat will take a long time to warm up.

An oil cooler with a bypass thermostat will warm up the oil almost as quickly as without a cooler.

Any factory installation has a bypass, and so you should when adding aftermarket parts.

Gary