Club 80-90 Forums

The water cooled oil cooler that is fitted as standard between the oil filter and the fitment to the block relies on the engine coolent to take heat away from the oil via its coolent curcuit radiator with an auxlilary pump on td engines To improve oil cooling on diesel engines such as 1.9/td engines reading on the forums a sandwich plate between the oil filter and the water oil cooler is fitted then hoses to a oil cooler in the form of a oil filled matrix or rad of various size is used .As an alternative method would it not be possible to use the existing standard water cooled oil cooler and make it more efficiant as like water coolent through it via a small radiator fitted some where on the vehicle separate from the engines coolent system to improve curculation a small electrical pump in line .I am not sure if this in the correct forum apologies if not

Hi Camper, I can see where you're coming from with this. The standard method; thermostatic sandwich plate, pipes to front with 25 row oil cooler seems to work very well judging by the threads on the subject. However if we don't try new things we don't progress so I would be interested to hear your thinking behind your idea. On the downside, I think that the oil/water heat exchanger could be a weak link; there have been one or two cases of corrosion within the heat exchanger allowing interchange of oil and coolant with disastrous results. Maintaining an even oil temperature could also prove tricky without a proper thermostatic feedback loop built into your system, similarly it could be possible to exceed the thermal carrying capacity of the 'oil cooling system' in hot conditions. Give us your thoughts Buddy!

There have been one or two cases of corrosion within the heat exchanger allowing interchange of oil and coolant with disastrous results.Umm that bit is relevent to my engine at present but its not down to the heat exchanger but a head / gasket problem.Removed cylinder head this afternoon and being sent off to a reconditioner next week.The coolent mod came to mind after reading through the forums about the need for extra oil cooling for 1.9 diesel engines.I fitted a 1Y engine and noticed the temp gauge came up to 3/4 on the gauge occasionaly on a hill climb but it came down to 1/2 way on the led on a steady run.Adding a oil cooler & running pipes up to the front of the van i considered.But there is allready a heat echanger fitted to cool the oil its but its tapped in to the engine coolent temp.Prehaps a tee piece could be added where the hoses a connected to the oil cooler to allow a control valve to oparated via thermostat a flow&return to a extra radiator but isolated from the engine coolent temp.

Ermm...

The the only way you'd be able to connect to that would be through the coolant connections which are already attached to a really big radiator at the front of the van?
If you separated it from the coolant system completely I think you would have to do something very clever to make it more efficient than the rad its already attached to.

You would need to modify it considerably to be able to connect oil take offs to go to a radiator to cool the oil additionally.
Hence using a sandwich plate for the oil is so much easier. Also adds a larger quantity of oil to the system which is a good thing apparently!