I'm doing some updating on my cooling system including radiator, water pump, and will be doing a refresh on my oil pump and have been debating whether or not to keep it off for good. Now, it won't be much additional cost to put together a set of new lines while everything is out, but I'm curious as to what folks here have done.
There are incredibly useful threads on oil cooler lines both DIY and pre-made kits, not too many on the oil cooler debate. Here's hoping this fills with great data and use cases for the future, and also for my benefit as well.
My limited knowledge of thermodynamics sez that the engine oil can't get any hotter than the block. That assumes of course that the therms being carried away by the radiator are greater than the therms being put into the system thru combustion. The oil cooler is simply an additional radiator. In hot conditions I can see that it would help. Plus, the thing is already plumbed for it. I guess I would say that it's pretty much a 50-50 thing. If you don't mind the small extra effort to make it operational, then I would do that. Be sure that you use high quality armored hose and not the schmidt they used from the factory.
I had mine removed years ago and haven't experienced any problems without it. It gets pretty hot out here in NM and I spend lots of time on and off-road in AZ and UT. As with all things Defender, your results may vary. It is amazing how some trucks seem to run hotter than others despite similar set up and maintenance.
"The engineers " saw fit to remove the oil cooler on Discos starting in 2003 I believe, but they also have aluminium radiators. I eliminated mine on my 4.2 cux setup with no problems but I have an aluminum radiator and an electric fan instead of the engine driven. Its pretty hot here too.
The top-end is cooled by coolant; the bottom-end is cooled by engine oil. If you consider removing the cooler; you MUST fit an oil temperature gauge to make sure you don't exceed the break-down temperature of the oil in use or it degrades very, very, quickly.
Interesting point Andrew. Your point is that the oil is not only doing it's intended job but is also potentially carrying away lower unit residual heat that is exchanged in the radiator. Is it fair that the heat exhanged in the oil cooler could decrease the cooling ability of the radiator? A temp and true pressure gauge addition would be a nice add on indeed.
It could. I personally am very big on instrumentation; accurate probes and gauges are the only real way to know what is actually going on under the bonnet.
If it's a turbo-diesel, you must keep it, trust me!
If not, I agree that the block temp and oil temp will remain pretty much the same.
Install an oil temp gauge just to be sure.
The oil will most always run about 20-30 degrees warmer than the water depending on probe location (hottest in the pan). Agree the coolant cools the top and oil lubricates/cools the bottom. Higher rpm produces more temp in the bottom. If slow running/ low revs it may not be so important but high rpm produces heat which breaks down oil which leads to problems.
The best situation is to install an oil temp probe and then ask "Is it OK for my oil to run at "x" temp for "y" time?"
Jim
I went the safe route:
- Disco (4.0): replaced OEM hoses by cheaper (on the short and long run) setup.
- D90 (3.9): replaced oil plate by thermostatic model + braided hoses.
In both cases, I kept the cooling system. The disco setup is to make the hoses easily replaced (for cheap) and the D90 setup is to have hoses replaced less often (???) and hopefully help the engine get to operating temp faster (unless I go wheeling, I drive it short distances).
I think when the radiator gives up (and stock setup becomes expensive), I'll get the separate oil cooler from the radiator.
They've been talks become about the oil cooler taxing the water cooler. I'll assume that the LR guys tested that for us and figured this was worth the trouble (probably in rare situation(s?)). So, i'll stick with this.
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