Technical Oil Cooler System

[wadleys]

Hi all - the coolant pipes to the oil cooler unit which houses the oil filter, are corroded & leaking.
Has anyone had to deal with this before ? Can the oil cooling system be blanked off, as
a local garage has suggested it isn’t really necessary to have the oil cooled on the car - it’s not as if
I’m going racing in it
Any comments appreciated - mine’s a 1998 car

 

[Greasytrucker]

Hi all - the coolant pipes to the oil cooler unit which houses the oil filter, are corroded & leaking.
Has anyone had to deal with this before ? Can the oil cooling system be blanked off, as
a local garage has suggested it isn’t really necessary to have the oil cooled on the car - it’s not as if
I’m going racing in it
Any comments appreciated - mine’s a 1998 car

As you said, unless you’re driving it hard for long periods at a time i can’t see it hurting being blanked off, it’s not like we live in a tropical climate either is it! The way i’d be looking at it is that most cars don’t have oil coolers and are fine. Not a Barchetta owner so see what others think

 

[348azeus]

Oil not only lubricates but cools the the internal moving parts. The Barchetta has a very small air intake area at the front and the engine compartment is very cramped. You could get away with it but I would retain the oil cooling. You can get a universal oil cooler kit which would probably do the job. If the pipes are leaking then blank them off - it only takes a couple of minutes to wreck the engine if they fail completely.

 

[wadleys]

Oil not only lubricates but cools the the internal moving parts. The Barchetta has a very small air intake area at the front and the engine compartment is very cramped. You could get away with it but I would retain the oil cooling. You can get a universal oil cooler kit which would probably do the job. If the pipes are leaking then blank them off - it only takes a couple of minutes to wreck the engine if they fail completely.

Oil not only lubricates but cools the the internal moving parts. The Barchetta has a very small air intake area at the front and the engine compartment is very cramped. You could get away with it but I would retain the oil cooling. You can get a universal oil cooler kit which would probably do the job. If the pipes are leaking then blank them off - it only takes a couple of minutes to wreck the engine if they fail completely.

Many thanks 348azeus - not quite sure the point you’re making - if the pipes are blanked off surely the oil isn’t being cooled by the coolant circulating around the oil cooler fitting?

 

[348azeus]

The point I’m making is that the oil cools the engine not just the water. If you have only hot water the engine will not be kept cool. The water circulates in not moving parts of the engine in channels and water jackets, whereas the oils is effectively sprayed onto moving parts to keep them cool as well as lubricate. When oil gets too hot it doesn’t cool and doesn’t lubricate so well so that’s why you have an oil cooler. If you take the oil cooler out of the equation you are relying on the water and air flow to keep things cool.
My Barchetta gets hot in warm weather especially if in traffic and looking at where the air can get in there’s a tiny slot above the bumper and then a grill below but not a vast amount of space. If you take the oil cooler out of the equation you may be ok but you’re removing a key component of the cooling and also reducing the oil capacity probably taking a 3/4 litre out of the lubrication system.
Having worked within the automotive industry I know that if they could have reduced the cost of the car by not having a cooler then they would have done.
It’s one of those things which if you are not going to hold onto the car then any problems may not manifest themselves in your ownership. I hope that explains it a bit clearer.

 

[wadleys]

The point I’m making is that the oil cools the engine not just the water. If you have only hot water the engine will not be kept cool. The water circulates in not moving parts of the engine in channels and water jackets, whereas the oils is effectively sprayed onto moving parts to keep them cool as well as lubricate. When oil gets too hot it doesn’t cool and doesn’t lubricate so well so that’s why you have an oil cooler. If you take the oil cooler out of the equation you are relying on the water and air flow to keep things cool.
My Barchetta gets hot in warm weather especially if in traffic and looking at where the air can get in there’s a tiny slot above the bumper and then a grill below but not a vast amount of space. If you take the oil cooler out of the equation you may be ok but you’re removing a key component of the cooling and also reducing the oil capacity probably taking a 3/4 litre out of the lubrication system.
Having worked within the automotive industry I know that if they could have reduced the cost of the car by not having a cooler then they would have done.
It’s one of those things which if you are not going to hold onto the car then any problems may not manifest themselves in your ownership. I hope that explains it a bit clearer.

many thanks 348azeus for taking the time to explain. I’ll follow your recommendation & retain the cooling system as designed for the car as I will be keeping ownership.

 

[s130]

Another point about oil coolers that use water heat exchange rather than a traditional all oil cooler with it's own radiator are:

1) Simpler and cheaper. With an all oil setup not only is a radiator required an oil thermostat is also required otherwise the oil may never reach optimum operating temperature due to too much cooling. Also ideally a higher power / flow pump is better.

2) With a oil/water heat exchanger one of it's primary purposes is to get the oil up to a better operating temperature more quickly. This is done not only for general wear and tear purposes but also emissions and fuel economy.

If I had too I would not be overly concerned about bypassing the oil/water heat exchanger providing the car was doing normal motoring. For many many years, before all the much tighter emissions and fuel economy vehicles did not have oil coolers except for some automatic transmissions. Even then many automatic transmissions did not have oil coolers and people who towed would get a transmission oil cooler fitted but not an engine oil cooler.

On a separate tack there are many many much older vehicles clocking up 100,000s of miles, some going round the clock twice and the engines are fine. Just regularly maintained, nice fresh oil and filter, etc. AND no oil cooler. With our modern cars with all these fancy, complex, expensive controls systems, emissions control complications, DPFs, etc. then the basic engine may be fine but the rest of the car can be too expensive or difficult to repair thus bringing it's life to an early end compared to many older vehicles.

The Barchetta is by modern standards a simple and not particularly complicated car. Simple ABS, simple fuel injection and induction system, etc. Only not so simple by old standards is the variable valve timing / variator setup. One could easily remove the ABS and variable valve timing and the car would still run pretty well. Try doing that on a modern car where the ABS, traction control, stability control are tightly integrate with the engine ECU. Add lane control, collision avoidance, etc. and you have a University long term project on you hands

 

[wadleys]

Another point about oil coolers that use water heat exchange rather than a traditional all oil cooler with it's own radiator are:

1) Simpler and cheaper. With an all oil setup not only is a radiator required an oil thermostat is also required otherwise the oil may never reach optimum operating temperature due to too much cooling. Also ideally a higher power / flow pump is better.

2) With a oil/water heat exchanger one of it's primary purposes is to get the oil up to a better operating temperature more quickly. This is done not only for general wear and tear purposes but also emissions and fuel economy.

If I had too I would not be overly concerned about bypassing the oil/water heat exchanger providing the car was doing normal motoring. For many many years, before all the much tighter emissions and fuel economy vehicles did not have oil coolers except for some automatic transmissions. Even then many automatic transmissions did not have oil coolers and people who towed would get a transmission oil cooler fitted but not an engine oil cooler.

On a separate tack there are many many much older vehicles clocking up 100,000s of miles, some going round the clock twice and the engines are fine. Just regularly maintained, nice fresh oil and filter, etc. AND no oil cooler. With our modern cars with all these fancy, complex, expensive controls systems, emissions control complications, DPFs, etc. then the basic engine may be fine but the rest of the car can be too expensive or difficult to repair thus bringing it's life to an early end compared to many older vehicles.

The Barchetta is by modern standards a simple and not particularly complicated car. Simple ABS, simple fuel injection and induction system, etc. Only not so simple by old standards is the variable valve timing / variator setup. One could easily remove the ABS and variable valve timing and the car would still run pretty well. Try doing that on a modern car where the ABS, traction control, stability control are tightly integrate with the engine ECU. Add lane control, collision avoidance, etc. and you have a University long term project on you hands

Many thanks for your input S130 - I’m learning a lot about this subject !