Oil Coolers - How much do they help reduce overall operating temp?

Started by CraigD, September 24, 2016, 09:32:44 PM

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CraigD

The subject line says it all.

I am having trouble with a bit of overtemp operation. I know it's not unusual, but I am considering installing an oil cooler. At air temps above 90F the coolant temperature gauge with swing up to "H" when I drive up a long hill. So, does anyone have some experience in how much the coolant temperature might be reduced with the addition of an oil cooler?

94touring

What you need is an upgraded radiator.  Many of us run the ebay Chinese special.  I would overheat in temps above 90 as well, in many different minis, until upgrading the radiator.  I find the thicker ones for additional water capacity also.  Oil coolers are nice additions but won't solve the problem you're describing. 

Stock rad is 42mm I believe.  I run a 50 like this one.
Link to eBay rads: http://m.ebay.com/itm/Aluminum-Radiator-for-Austin-Rover-Mini-Cooper-Manual-59-97-1275-50mm-2-Row-MT-/191211685504?nav=SEARCH 

MiniDave

Have to agree with Dan, I put a chinesium radiator in my 89 and my cooling issues went away completely.....before that if I ran above 60 or so on the highway when it was above 90 the temp gauge would slowly head for the top..... now the hottest it gets is a needle width above the center of the gauge and that's running 70mph + on mid 90's days.

For the $60 shipped I paid it made way more sense than anything else, however you could also just add a heater core with a shut off valve for hot days driving if you want to keep the original setup intact....I did that with my last Mini and the new owner did 5400 miles this summer on MTTS with it with absolutely no issues, and on some days on the trip it was over 100*

Oh, and to answer your question, and oil cooler will not help your overheating situation.

What engine/ final drive ratio are you running?
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

John Gervais

I don't know how you'all survive with electric C-N-H gauges.  Do you really know that your mini is running warm, is your gauge accurate and have you checked your thermostat?

To add to the options available, I use the MSC super-cool 2-core radiator, deep impeller water pump, small pulley, 82°C thermostat with a 4-blade metal fan.  I also have an electric fan fitted to the radiator in the event that I'm stuck sitting in traffic, but it rarely gets used.

Capillary full scale gauges are really nice.
- Pave the Bay -

94touring

I have an aux fan that kicks in at 220.  220 on the N gauge is a quarter past N. 

MiniDave

Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

94touring

I stand corrected, I bought a 200 degree thermo switch.. so quarter past is 200.

John Gervais

200 sounds about right to me - I usually turn mine on approaching 95C, so it's pretty close to what you've got.
- Pave the Bay -

94touring

Mine only kicks on when it's 90+ and I'm creeping in traffic.  Cools down rather quickly though.

tmsmini

My cars are getting capillary gauges for both coolant and oil. The MPi is stuck with an almost worthless coolant gauge and a electric oil temp.

Many years ago Todd Miller did a Cuesta Grade test of an oil cooler. Todd lives on the central coast of California and if you have ever driven the Cuesta Grade, it is very challenging. Although he did the test in an Austin America or MG 1100, the data is still applicable. It seems if I remember correctly that in this instance with a very steep grade with a very heavy load on the engine that the oil cooler did not have significant impact on the oil temps.

I did not save the post and I am sure it is long gone. But with oil temp gauges in two cars I am not seeing oil temp issues. Although there is a wide range of opinions about proper running oil temps and coolant temps.

MiniDave

I've actually found the factory temp gauge to be pretty accurate.....even tho it doesn't have numbers it pretty accurately reflects the temp rise. That said I did replace mine with a cap gauge too, so I could see what the real numbers were.

Makes sense to me that oil coolers are really most effective at highway speeds, not grinding up a long hill in lower gears -  unless you have an electric fan on it.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

MiniDave

Quote from: 94touring on September 25, 2016, 08:55:01 PM
Mine only kicks on when it's 90+ and I'm creeping in traffic.  Cools down rather quickly though.

Mine doesn't seem to need the extra fan, after coming off the highway yesterday in 90+ temps and getting immediately stuck in stop and go traffic my temp stayed right in the middle.
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

tmsmini

Even cap gauges can be off. I had one that was only a year or two old and I thought I was overheating badly. Turns out the gauge was off, so now I do the boiling water test before an install. At least the MPi engines have a nice port for a oil temp gauge.

So who else drops in on the Mini Forum:
http://www.theminiforum.co.uk/forums/topic/320977-oil-cooler-fitting-an-alternative-approach/

MiniDave

I'm Magneto on TMF, there already were several "MiniDaves"   ;D
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad

CraigD

Wow, gone a for a couple of days and this went all over the place! Lots of fun.

It seems that an oil cooler has little effect on the coolant temperature during hard climbing in hot weather.

I probably should have given you all some more info on my Mini. I've got a twin cam conversion on a bored out 1275; it's now 1310ccs. I am using a Super 2 Core radiator I got from 7 years ago that is still looking rather clean inside. Instead of using the original plastic fan driven by the pulley on the water pump I cut the inner fender panel and recessed the rad into the fender with a shroud on the wheel side and the highest volume airflow ten inch diameter fan I could find on the market. The fan comes on based on whatever I input into the ECU. This all works very well in anything but the high 90Fs on a serious hill climb.

I'm thinking maybe a small additional coolant radiator cut into the radiator hoses as I no longer have the heater tap on the head due to the K1100 conversion.

MiniDave

Adding a heater core under the hood definitely helped my last Mini handle the hot weather.

And how about some pics of this hot Mini?   ;D

In Australia they added a whole 'nother radiator in the front.....
Complete failure at retirement

1989 Cooper Racing Green
2009 Clubman S
2014 Audi Allroad