Oil Cooler Cleaning and Install Tips

[Scotty]

So I got the parts to install an original Oil Cooler on my SIV's 1725 with brand new, correct length BSP hoses. I have a few questions and would like any suggestions and tips.

I'm going to have to fabricate brackets for it, is there any tips or suggestions that may help me with this? What approach should I take with the brackets? Should the Cooler 'hang' (The way it's originally bracketed on) or is it okay for it to be 'perched' on the valence?

I'm also curious about the best way to clean the one I have. It's original and the ends were sealed off so it looks clean inside but has some residual oil crud in it. How clean do I need to make sure it should be?

Is there anything I should look for and be aware of for this setup?

Thanks in advance!!

 

[hartmandm]

A couple of mediocre pictures of the oil cooler on my series V. However, they convey the general idea of how it is mounted.

Mike

 

[Scotty]

Thanks @hartmandm!

Anyone have advice on the best way to clean the inside of the Cooler itself? How clean does it need to be and what should I worry about?

 

[AlsPine]

I used lacquer thinner.
Filled it half full so you can agitate, shake it back and forth, pour it out to see how dirty it is, then fill it up and let it sit for a few hours, pour about half out again, give the cooler another shake, them pour it out and evaluate weather you need to do it again.
The other choice it to have a machine shop put it in their hot tank.
Lacquer works great cleaning pistons, takes the carbon deposits off the top, no scraping.
Good luck with your project.

 

[Scotty]

I used lacquer thinner.
Filled it half full so you can agitate, shake it back and forth, pour it out to see how dirty it is, then fill it up and let it sit for a few hours, pour about half out again, give the cooler another shake, them pour it out and evaluate weather you need to do it again.
The other choice it to have a machine shop put it in their hot tank.
Lacquer works great cleaning pistons, takes the carbon deposits off the top, no scraping.
Good luck with your project.

Thanks for the tip!

Had someone help me with this. I started and the first two times it flushed out this brass-like colored liquid. The Rustoleum Thinner I got is clear. No chunks of anything are coming out. Cooler isn't leaking any of it.

Filled up the Cooler with more Thinner, covered the tops with aluminum foil, and set it aside overnight.

Is there anything I should look out for while doing this?

 

[Shannon Boal]

Alligators.....look out for alligators. Heavy, prolonged rains can make them show up in places not usually seen. BG!

Thanks for the tip!

Had someone help me with this. I started and the first two times it flushed out this brass-like colored liquid. The Rustoleum Thinner I got is clear. No chunks of anything are coming out. Cooler isn't leaking any of it.

Filled up the Cooler with more Thinner, covered the tops with aluminum foil, and set it aside overnight.

Is there anything I should look out for while doing this?

 

[Barry]

Thanks for the tip!

Had someone help me with this. I started and the first two times it flushed out this brass-like colored liquid. The Rustoleum Thinner I got is clear. No chunks of anything are coming out. Cooler isn't leaking any of it.

Filled up the Cooler with more Thinner, covered the tops with aluminum foil, and set it aside overnight.

Is there anything I should look out for while doing this?

As Shannon noted, alligators are bad news. The bottom line is that any alligators you don't get out of the oil cooler will become alligators in your engine. Clean, clean, clean and then clean some more. Compressed air will help to remove any "grit", but remember that compressed air usually contains water. Finish the cleaning with acetone (flammable) to remove any water and then add some engine oil and cap the ends to prevent contamination / corrosion.

Unless originality is more important than performance, a modern "plate-and-fin" or "tube-and-fin" oil cooler is a better mousetrap than a 50+ year old "bottle brush" oil cooler. No matter what type of "oil-to-air" cooler you use, air flow through the cooler is a necessity.

 

[Tim R]

Unless you have a concours car and do not wish to change from standard do yourself a favour and fit a modern oil cooler with an oil thermostat. These are not expensive and will be much better for the engine. The standard one cools all the time even when the engine is stone cold and is not particularly good at cooling when it is hot!
Tim R

 

[husky drvr]

The standard one cools all the time even when the engine is stone cold and is not particularly good at cooling when it is hot!
Tim R

Tim,

That's not quite how the stock cooler adapter functions because it does have a bypass function to allow for engine warm-up with cold oil.

It works by using the pressure differential comparison of oil from the pump vs. oil from the cooler (cold oil with higher viscosity is more difficult to pump so it has a lower pressure due to pumping losses). There is pressurized oil at both ends of the bypass valve opposing each other. If the pressure difference is enough to allow the oil from the pump to overcome the oil pressure from the cooler AND the spring driving the bypass valve, then the oil cooler return port is closed by the bypass valve sliding away from the cooler inlet port. Most oil will then be diverted straight to the filter. The small amount of bleed around the bypass valve allows the oil contained in the cooler to stay mixed and homogeneous. When the oil in the system is fully warmed, then the small pressure differential of pumped to cooled oil is overcome by the spring which pushes the bypass valve closed allowing full cooler operation again.


Is it as accurate as a thermostat? Probably not.

Does it work the same as the design engineers planned with modern multi-vis oils? Almost certainly not.

Just trying to shed some light on a common misconception,

 

[Barry]

The "oil cooler by-pass valve" in the "oil cooler adapter block" is a spring loaded piston-and-port pressure relief valve and has no parts that are responsive to temperature. WSM-145 clearly states that "... it allows oil to by-pass the oil cooler when a pressure exists between the ports." Nothing in WSM-145 indicates or suggests that the "oil cooler by-pass valve" has a thermostatic function.

I agree with Tim R about using a good oil cooler in combination with a good thermostatic valve. The factory "bottle brush" oil cooler is not good by modern standards and the factory "oil cooler by-pass valve" is not a thermostatic valve at all, much less a good one.

Misconceptions notwithstanding, proper control of oil temperature is beneficial for both the oil and the engine.

 

[husky drvr]

The "oil cooler by-pass valve" in the "oil cooler adapter block" is a spring loaded piston-and-port pressure relief valve and has no parts that are responsive to temperature. WSM-145 clearly states that "... it allows oil to by-pass the oil cooler when a pressure exists between the ports." Nothing in WSM-145 indicates or suggests that the "oil cooler by-pass valve" has a thermostatic function.

Barry,

Other than a mechanical restriction, how would a pressure differential develop between oil pumped from the engine and oil returning from the cooler?

Which leads to the question of, "Why include a feature of relatively high cost, with no function?" since there already existed an adapter block for the sII performance upgrade oil cooler without the bypass function?

Just saying,

 

[67brg]

had mine cleaned a a radiator shop. never any problems