Who has an oil cooler on their Cutlass?

[oldsmobile joe]

i'm running an lt1 in my g wagon. i it came out of a caprice with trailer tow and so it had an engine oil cooler in the radiator. i switched it to a free standing oil cooler from a 9c1 squad car.
do i need it? well, if its good enough for the cops, must be good enough for me.

 

[olds307 and 403]

Has GM finally made these so they don't leak? I noticed the new LT motors also have lower oil pressure but they also run 5W20 oil. What are you running for oil?

 

[Northernregal]

Just give it up already. Like I said my engine came with a cooler from the factory so it’s not going to hurt.

In an 8000lb SUV with a rated towing capacity of 7400lbs? No apples to apples comparison by any means.

If your oil doesn't hit 200f or so your gonna create another problem.

 

[Clone TIE Pilot]

Yes the motor oil must reach 180 degrees to boil out moisture to prevent gunk and acid buildup in the crankcase. However, most oil cooler adaptors that sandwich in the oil filter mount have built in bypass T stants to allow oil warmup.

 

[Supercharged111]

Yes the motor oil must reach 180 degrees to boil out moisture to prevent gunk and acid buildup in the crankcase. However, most oil cooler adaptors that sandwich in the oil filter mount have built in bypass T stants to allow oil warmup.

Does OP's? I have an oil cooler in my Z06. I put it behind the front license plate and I cut a hole in the bumper cover for it. It gets covered with the cover plate for the non-existent license plate when not on track which now is always. On a cold winter day, it takes a long time for the oil to get up around 180 and it never hits 200. In its current state, the oil cooler is nothing more than a heatsink and is borderline overkill for a DD. I'm not posting here to p!ss in OP's Cheerios, I figure there could be others on the fence about an oil cooler and want them to be able to make an informed decision should they come across this thread. I saw a graph in an old engine building book that showed engine wear vs engine oil temp. 160 vs 200 was SIGNIFICANT, 180 was definitely noticeable but not nearly as bad. It was an exponential curve. Your 5W30 oil is rated 5W at 32* F and 30W at 212* F. That should give some idea of the mentality. Don't forget, more oil pressure = less oil flow.

 

[Northernregal]

Yes the motor oil must reach 180 degrees to boil out moisture to prevent gunk and acid buildup in the crankcase. However, most oil cooler adaptors that sandwich in the oil filter mount have built in bypass T stants to allow oil warmup.

180f won't be enough, boiling point of water is 212f, and why oil is rated at 212f. By all means put a cooler in but if you have low oil pressure a viscosity change is a better approach.

 

[Clone TIE Pilot]

Generally the best type of motor oil cooler is a liquid to liquid type cooler, ( oil to coolant). That is what GNs, some large Chevy trucks, as well as some Thirdgens used. My 2008 P71 has a oil to coolant oil cooler, through its designed to also function as a oil heater during prolonged idling and has a T-stant, CVPIs can easily last 400k of hard use with that setup. The main purpose for aux coolers is to prevent heat spikes during hard use, not to run fluids as cold as possible or cooler than stock. That is why any cooler installation should have a T-stant to prevent over cooling or slowed warmup. Oil temps should be kept in a range around 230 to 260 degrees F.

I do agree that installing an oil cooler is not the way to fix low oil pressure. Most performance and hotrodding parts are way overkill for DD. With the correct cooler T-stant, overcooling won't be a problem as the oil will just bypass the cooler anytime its too cool.

 

[L92 OLDS]

Thanks gents for all of your input. I’ll take it into consideration. I should’ve put a high volume oil pump on this engine before I installed it. I’m not going to pull it now.

Just one correction. More oil pressure does not = less oil flow. Automotive oil pumps are positive displacement pumps. Pumps do not pump pressure. They move a volume of oil. Pressure is a result of restriction to flow.

 

[Northernregal]

Thanks gents for all of your input. I’ll take it into consideration. I should’ve put a high volume oil pump on this engine before I installed it. I’m not going to pull it now.

Just one correction. More oil pressure does not = less oil flow. Automotive oil pumps are positive displacement pumps. Pumps do not pump pressure. They move a volume of oil. Pressure is a result of restriction to flow.

3 #10 machine screw washers will convert your stock pump. Drop the pan and stick them in the relief valve.

 

[rogue_ryder]

I don’t know what my actual oil temp is and I am not concerned about hitting the ideal OE oil temperature If it’s 200F. Early L92’s were known for low oil pressure and mine is no exception when hot. At cold start up the oil pressure starts very high but when running on a hot summer day it will drop to about 20 psi at idle. This engine has only 45K on the clock. Since my engine had an oil cooler from the factory it will be just fine.

In the GEN 3 LS you can raise the oil pressure by running the AC Delco PF48e. The 6.2 actually came with a High Volume oil pump from the factory (according to the internet "High volume (1.25 c.i. per rev. @ 33 psi)"). You can get a Melling HIGH PRESSURE pump for the Gen 3 to cure low oil pressure (unsure if it fits Gen4s).

In my 5.3 L33 my low oil pressure was caused mostly by the O-Ring between the pickup tube and the oil pump getting old and hard. There's a kit (see in my pic below) that will seal the tube to the oil pump better so you never have a repeat issue. Replacing that, adding the high pressure pump running the PF48e and 5W-40 I run 40 PSI hot oil pressure cruising (middle of the gauge). I'm fairly certain the Gen 4 engines are similar to the Gen 3 in regards to the bottom ends so a lot of that SHOULD work similarly in the 6.2. My engine has over 200K HARD miles on it and probably wouldn't need the 5W-40. If you don't want to go through the PITA of dropping the pan in the car, I'd try the AC Delco oil filter and 5W-40 to help your oil pressure. And the AC Delco oil filter isn't a bad unit at all there's an Engine Masters episode where they test oil flow and the AC Delco filter was surprisingly good.