oil cooler or not?
Turbo Mini Forums

not sure if i should i use the oil cooler?
its a standard metro turbo one but i'm just wondering if its really that important to have it fitted, ?

““A turbo: exhaust gasses go into the turbocharger and spin it, witchcraft happens and you go faster.”” - Jeremy Clarkson

what do you plan to use the car for?

Team www.sheepspeed.com Racing

its going to be my daily car, mainly dual carriageway driving, i'm only going to be running low boost if that makes any difference.
although i will probably still give it a good blast every now and then!

Edited by adam1330 on 18th Aug, 2004.

““A turbo: exhaust gasses go into the turbocharger and spin it, witchcraft happens and you go faster.”” - Jeremy Clarkson

the thing is to fit an gauge to measure the temps, this is the only way you'll know if you need one or not.

Best 1/4 mile 13.2 seconds @116 mph
First 5 port miniturbo to make over 200 bhp on a carb?
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at what sort of temps should i be needing to fit a cooler at then?

““A turbo: exhaust gasses go into the turbocharger and spin it, witchcraft happens and you go faster.”” - Jeremy Clarkson

if your oil goes over 120 degrees C

AlexF

I fitted an oil temp gauge this year to see if i needed a cooler. I did a 4 hour trip down the motorway a few weeks ago and only saw 110deg on the gauge, with general driving it rarely goes over 80deg, so i'm not bothering fitting an oil cooler.

Phil.

WWW.TURBO-MINI.COM

Yep same here Phil, doing 70mph (4000rpm) i get 110deg and then with a little bit of town driving it goes back down to about 80-85deg. Would probably see 120+deg on a track day but prefer running oil at these temps as it burns off various contaminants. I think another point is the oil you use and what temps it breaks down at??

-MINI CLUBMAN 1380 TURBO-

yep good idea to run a temp gauge first as cold oil is a crap oil. turbo running lower c/r will have cooler under crown temps when of boost then n/a engines so most of the time the oil wont get as hot but when blasted the under crown temps will rise higher than n/a but bear in mind oil takes ages to get hot so you may not need one, if you do fit a cooler fit a thermo stat as well at least the oil will reach at least 80 deg.

but all engines are different depending state of tune. you are more likely to need one for a standard turbo on 9.4 c/r then a highley modded 8.1 c/r.

always looking for them bigger bunches of bannanas

i took miniwilliams' advice on his website and fitted one because i have a large sump guard.

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where do you guys record the oil tempreture from? the sump?

Team www.sheepspeed.com Racing

Yeah, would be interested to know where you guys have fitted your senders for oil temp gauges as well. I was considering drilling into the speedo housing or somewhere like that out of the way so that I don't risk knackering gearbox casing...

Mines in the sump, speedo end.

Phil.

WWW.TURBO-MINI.COM

Yes I can't remember who it was that told me now, but I can remember them saying how there mini ran a LOT hotter with the new sump guard fitted.

I measure mine as it comes out of the block (before the filter) with a T piece that you get from Mini spares. I really don't think it to important where you take it from as long as you have some idea of what it is.
Again if your running cheap crap oil it will break down under load and heat faster that a better make, there for maybe ok with out one.

People no this as I've told them before but in case you didn't know I ran all last year with out a cooler, the only time I got the oil really hot was a castle coomb and it only went to 107 deg which for the 20W50 fully sin oil I run was I don't think to much of a problem. like Phil Motor way work depending on what you travel at was around 70 deg, and went up to 90 ish with the odd hard thrash.

MW

Best 1/4 mile 13.2 seconds @116 mph
First 5 port miniturbo to make over 200 bhp on a carb?
First 5 port miniturbo to make over 200 bhp on Injection?

http://www.mattwoodsphotography.com

yep doesnt realy matter were you take the oil temp from as it wont cool down much from sump to filetr housing proberly about .5 deg c.
easier like willie said to tap in from oil output to oil filter housing.

always looking for them bigger bunches of bannanas

Im gonna fit my temp guage after oil cooler and b4 filter housing as that will give me a post cooled temp as oil goes back into sump. i figure if i do it b4 oil cooler it will tell me the temp after going around engine but i wanna know the sump temp so that is the closest i can get without using sump bolt or other methods.

i recently bought an oil cooler for my mini, im still not 100% sure how useful it will be or if ill need it, im contomplating having it out of the way so it will still have an effect but not a huge one. i want to run 15Psi, +40 over bore, benross head, mega pistons ballanced bottom end ect

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surely the best place to measure the oil temp is just before it enters the block after the filter, as this will be pretty much whats the engines getting?

iirc the optimum temp is around 90 deg C?

"Turbo's make torque, and torque makes fun"

"did you know you can toast potato waffles?"

I always try to maintane 90 deg c or 200 deg F oil temp in my engines I find this burns off all the crap from blow-by but keeps piston and bearings happey and nearly always makes more power dont forget duck tape is a great way of controling oil temp fit a cooler and tape it as you need to reduce or increes air flow,
regards,
PDH

to be honest, there not especially espensive i think it would be worth fitting one anyway.

ive got a stage 5 1293 n/a hit 95 deg c with a cooler.

not needed in your case IMHO
I run a 13 row cooler with only 6 rows showing and my temps in the gearbox never go above 80c
so after the cooler it will be a tad less ... a guess..? 10 c less depenting on the ambient temps i will have to get a probe in there and find out

if you want to fit a cooler i would place a stat in line

Edited by BENROSS on 18th Jun, 2008.

Last year I ran an oil cooler with a 90 degree stat, Even when running in 95 degree ambient temps and thrashing it, the regulator hardly opened, and the oil cooler never really got hot to the touch. In the end I removed it and installed an aux rad instead, seemed to me that using that space to keep the water temps down was more important...

Terry

Edited by Turbo Tel on 18th Jun, 2008.

website:- http://www.terryhunt.co.uk

4 years on and im still oil cooler-less.

-MINI CLUBMAN 1380 TURBO-

I know resurrecting a old thread

But surely when the oil cooler stat opens won't it send the cold oil sat in the cooler into the engine cause damage gotts hold abit of oil inside there. Or am I over thinking a simple thing?