Show me your endurance racing oil cooler setups
- Thread starter Rexxenexx
- Start date
Rexxenexx
Active member
@ 85-95 MPH for 90 Miles
The dipstick has whips of smoke, not plumes, when I pull it out @ 1 hour + on the freeway @75 MPH driving. It for sure gets hot, coolant on the other hand is perfect 1st mark - 2mm above climbing a hill. I think a small cooler that diverts to it @ 250* would be enough. Would be neat if there was a inline Y diverter that I can put on the remote filter out. Just thinking aloud. I'm sure there's good stuff that's hard to find between the Temu pushed shit.
You guys have always been so knowledgeable and helpful thx.
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BMFB
Not to scale
interesting observation there, I understand the fear
The conditions you describe are normal driving. Any speed, for any amount of time of normalish highway driving shouldn't overheat your oil. That being said, it would be good to see what the temp actually is. Easiest way I can think of is to use a temp gun on the filter/lines feeding the filter up on the fender. It is possible the smoke you are seeing is water evaporating out of the oil, or smoke from blowby becoming entwined in the oil. If there are puffs of air coming out of your oil fill, it is prob the latter.
IMO oil temp is something people get skittish about too easily, at least when dealing with synthetic oils (which I gotta recommend for turbo things). Oil needs to get hot to stay clean, like 220F as the lowest operating temp. The teen years of the corvettes sorta opened my eyes to this, with their oil temps being considered good up to like 310F. Sounds extreme, (cause it is) but it helps proves to me that oil works just fine at temps like that for a while. Another thing I think i know is that oil is going to always be 20-30 degrees hotter than your coolant, so take that into consideration. If you decide to change out your tstat, be sure to look into the effects of that on the trucks computer. I cant remember for sure, but I believe the truck still believes it is warming up at those temps, and might run less good than it would hot (without tuning)
To add an oil cooler means you are adding fittings, hose and a cooler which all become potential (catastrophic) failure points. I do not recommend unless you can prove a significant need. General highway travel does not warrant such a risk.
The conditions you describe are normal driving. Any speed, for any amount of time of normalish highway driving shouldn't overheat your oil. That being said, it would be good to see what the temp actually is. Easiest way I can think of is to use a temp gun on the filter/lines feeding the filter up on the fender. It is possible the smoke you are seeing is water evaporating out of the oil, or smoke from blowby becoming entwined in the oil. If there are puffs of air coming out of your oil fill, it is prob the latter.
IMO oil temp is something people get skittish about too easily, at least when dealing with synthetic oils (which I gotta recommend for turbo things). Oil needs to get hot to stay clean, like 220F as the lowest operating temp. The teen years of the corvettes sorta opened my eyes to this, with their oil temps being considered good up to like 310F. Sounds extreme, (cause it is) but it helps proves to me that oil works just fine at temps like that for a while. Another thing I think i know is that oil is going to always be 20-30 degrees hotter than your coolant, so take that into consideration. If you decide to change out your tstat, be sure to look into the effects of that on the trucks computer. I cant remember for sure, but I believe the truck still believes it is warming up at those temps, and might run less good than it would hot (without tuning)
To add an oil cooler means you are adding fittings, hose and a cooler which all become potential (catastrophic) failure points. I do not recommend unless you can prove a significant need. General highway travel does not warrant such a risk.
QWERTYphoon
Motley Driver Award 2009
I am really glad you posted this. When you run a hot motor, a lot, a big thing you can do is change the oil, a lot. A frequent fluid change goes a long way. When oil gets really hot, it breaks down real fast. When your dipstick puffs like that, change the oil. These older motors go a long way with frequent fluid changes.
Rexxenexx
Active member
Sounds like it's just blow-by then. It does have some oil vapor coming through that I take port next to the IAC. I removed a filter canister I had on that hose because it was a PITA, but it was capturing a good amount.
It's about 2K since I last changed the oil. Always at 3K and always Mobile1 10W30 w Mobile1 extended life filter, I have enough for another change then next I'm gonna try the Truck SUV variant. Supposedly it's better on bearings than reg Mobile1.
It's about 2K since I last changed the oil. Always at 3K and always Mobile1 10W30 w Mobile1 extended life filter, I have enough for another change then next I'm gonna try the Truck SUV variant. Supposedly it's better on bearings than reg Mobile1.
BMFB
Not to scale
how long does it take you to put that kinda millage on it? If you have blowby, the fuely air skating past the rings is going into your crankcase, and into the oil. Fuel breaks oil down faster in these situations, and you should change it more based on time than millage. Get used to what fresh oil feels like between your fingers and what it smells like so you can get an idea of when its breaking down. When it breaks down itll smell fuelish, and when you slide your fingers together youll feel when its loosing its slickness
Rexxenexx
Active member
March 16th milage was 41528. Today April 16 it's 42619. But road tripping is about 300 a day sometimes.
So far it's been OK. No whisps of smoke. Oil is still clear and slippery.
It does fart a white cloud on startup oddly 1 stop after morning startup and very rarely. Once or twice a month. My other Ty when it needed valve seals farted once on 1st startup, even again on 2nd.
I changed the PCVs Oct 1st 2024 when it first started farting a white cloud to see if that would help. I thought it did because the clouds are so rare. Didn't obviously. So at some point I gotta get the seals done and hopefully that will help/solve the whisps on the dipstick you think?
So far it's been OK. No whisps of smoke. Oil is still clear and slippery.
It does fart a white cloud on startup oddly 1 stop after morning startup and very rarely. Once or twice a month. My other Ty when it needed valve seals farted once on 1st startup, even again on 2nd.
I changed the PCVs Oct 1st 2024 when it first started farting a white cloud to see if that would help. I thought it did because the clouds are so rare. Didn't obviously. So at some point I gotta get the seals done and hopefully that will help/solve the whisps on the dipstick you think?
Rexxenexx
Active member
Coolent is always top of both caps.
I'll give you the last two examples since I've been in this hotel 3 weeks.
1. Sometime end of March I startup the car, been sitting in parking garage since 5/6 pm day before, no smoke. Drive @ 10 min to supermarket, shop for short time (<10 min), start the car and a faint white smoke in startup.
2. Last weekend, drove from Irvine to San Clemente (@ 20 min drive). Nothing starting up at hotel parking. It sat for about 4 hours in San Clemente parking, then thick white smoke on startup.
The days since, no smoke on startup with driving about the same as the first description.
I'll give you the last two examples since I've been in this hotel 3 weeks.
1. Sometime end of March I startup the car, been sitting in parking garage since 5/6 pm day before, no smoke. Drive @ 10 min to supermarket, shop for short time (<10 min), start the car and a faint white smoke in startup.
2. Last weekend, drove from Irvine to San Clemente (@ 20 min drive). Nothing starting up at hotel parking. It sat for about 4 hours in San Clemente parking, then thick white smoke on startup.
The days since, no smoke on startup with driving about the same as the first description.
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Rexxenexx
Active member
Might have found what was causing the seemingly hot engine (not hot coolant temp on dash):
Started to feel a drag in Vegas, heading to Texas. Progressively got worse every city I got to. Wasn't bad until I got to Fort Stockton. Temp was almost halfway on dash and the car was puttering barely going. Nobody had 15-40109/19150657 that whole time since Vegas, and I couldn't wait for them to order it so finally I got a Murray 2784 from an O'Reillys
I drove it around the block and it feels smooth again. No drag or late shifts, but the dash temp gauge looked 2mm above normal (even for this hot ambient temp) so I'm not too sure if that completely solved everything. Possibly new coolant will bring it to norm. Tomorrow I drive for 5 hours on the highway and I'll see how it is. I'll check the dipstick too see if it has whisps.
I always hear of a fan clutch freewheeling, but both my Blk/Gray and this Blk/Blk got stiffer. The Blk/Gray was fully locked when I 1st got it. And I felt zero difference today between the Murray and GM unit when I moved the fan with my finger cold.
Last thing, I did check coolant and oil levels. They were both perfect. Both were changed in LA before this trip.
Next Day Update:
Seems ok. Here's a highway and idle pic:
No white wisps on the dipstick after getting off the highway. Still feels hotter than I remember holding the dipstick handle.
Started to feel a drag in Vegas, heading to Texas. Progressively got worse every city I got to. Wasn't bad until I got to Fort Stockton. Temp was almost halfway on dash and the car was puttering barely going. Nobody had 15-40109/19150657 that whole time since Vegas, and I couldn't wait for them to order it so finally I got a Murray 2784 from an O'Reillys
I drove it around the block and it feels smooth again. No drag or late shifts, but the dash temp gauge looked 2mm above normal (even for this hot ambient temp) so I'm not too sure if that completely solved everything. Possibly new coolant will bring it to norm. Tomorrow I drive for 5 hours on the highway and I'll see how it is. I'll check the dipstick too see if it has whisps.
I always hear of a fan clutch freewheeling, but both my Blk/Gray and this Blk/Blk got stiffer. The Blk/Gray was fully locked when I 1st got it. And I felt zero difference today between the Murray and GM unit when I moved the fan with my finger cold.
Last thing, I did check coolant and oil levels. They were both perfect. Both were changed in LA before this trip.
Next Day Update:
Seems ok. Here's a highway and idle pic:
No white wisps on the dipstick after getting off the highway. Still feels hotter than I remember holding the dipstick handle.
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BMFB
Not to scale
the fan works hard when you are sitting in traffic. Slow roads with lights give it a work out.
Anything over say 35mph is enough to cool the rad without the fan though. It sounds like you are overheating on the highway, and the highway is the coolest place to drive. I have an Efan on my ty, blazer, and a mazda and they dont run unless im in a parade or parked somewhere. Your story is getting stranger, and I think you are perusing symptoms rather than the cause.
There are situations where headgaskets fail and dont leak coolant out of the cooling system, but rather inject hot compression into it. Difficult to detect, only way I sorta know is to have your rad cap off and a buddy looking into the filled radiator while you are trying to do a boost launch and see if its bubbling. You can try that same test with a leakdown tester setup, trying to push 150psi out of an air compressor into the cyl but thats a bitch, and you have to be on the 'bad' cylinder.
have you swapped the thermostat by chance? Only simple thing I can think of. It sounds like you overheated to the point of soft locking the motor, its gotta be a tangible problem. If it happens again check and see if youve got heat coming out of your vents still to kinda make sure the system is still circulating coolant like it should (helps pull some heat out too)
PS, my oil dipstick is untouchable after its been driving
Anything over say 35mph is enough to cool the rad without the fan though. It sounds like you are overheating on the highway, and the highway is the coolest place to drive. I have an Efan on my ty, blazer, and a mazda and they dont run unless im in a parade or parked somewhere. Your story is getting stranger, and I think you are perusing symptoms rather than the cause.
There are situations where headgaskets fail and dont leak coolant out of the cooling system, but rather inject hot compression into it. Difficult to detect, only way I sorta know is to have your rad cap off and a buddy looking into the filled radiator while you are trying to do a boost launch and see if its bubbling. You can try that same test with a leakdown tester setup, trying to push 150psi out of an air compressor into the cyl but thats a bitch, and you have to be on the 'bad' cylinder.
have you swapped the thermostat by chance? Only simple thing I can think of. It sounds like you overheated to the point of soft locking the motor, its gotta be a tangible problem. If it happens again check and see if youve got heat coming out of your vents still to kinda make sure the system is still circulating coolant like it should (helps pull some heat out too)
PS, my oil dipstick is untouchable after its been driving
Rexxenexx
Active member
My bad for getting worried about the gauge getting halfway. Just not something i see normally. I didn't know the fan was seizing. It's been good since the fan change. Central Texas is brutal, but it's been overcast and a bit lower temps for the last couple days. The gauge has been on the first hash while moving or lined on top of the first hash while stopped. Now I have a better idea of where the gauge will be in these situations I'll stop worrying about it.
Edit: to answer the questions. The original thermostat is still in it. The heater works and it does bring the temp down. I changed the heatercore not too long ago.
Thx for telling me the dipstick is untouchable. I genuinely don't remember it like that, but I never drove this car these long distances and then checked it.
Edit: to answer the questions. The original thermostat is still in it. The heater works and it does bring the temp down. I changed the heatercore not too long ago.
Thx for telling me the dipstick is untouchable. I genuinely don't remember it like that, but I never drove this car these long distances and then checked it.
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