How effective do you think this oil cooler is? (with pics)

[Klutch9]

These are pictures of the oil cooler on our Carnival. It sits right next to the oil filter housing. It's about 3-4" square. I'm assuming it's a water-to-oil cooler, but I cannot find any info on it. I even have the oil system schematic from the FSM and it mentions nothing about it or its effectiveness. How much do you think this lowers the oil temps? Oil sump temps range from about 220 to 240 when fully warmed up, depending on driving conditions. Coolant typically sits around 210, unless the weather is really hot, then it sits around 190 or lower (likely to help with AC condenser effectiveness).

 

[bdcardinal]

It probably just keeps the oil temp within a certain delta of engine coolant temp, just like a 6.0L Powerstroke.

 

[OneLonelyBurrito]

Its main purpose is to help warm up the oil. Then after that, it will just help keep the oil within a certain delta like @bdcardinal said. Under extremely high loads, it might help keep the oil from getting as hot as it would have without the cooler but under normal driving conditions it is probably mostly just warming the oil.

 

[BMWTurboDzl]

These are pictures of the oil cooler on our Carnival. It sits right next to the oil filter housing. It's about 3-4" square. I'm assuming it's a water-to-oil cooler, but I cannot find any info on it. I even have the oil system schematic from the FSM and it mentions nothing about it or its effectiveness. How much do you think this lowers the oil temps? Oil sump temps range from about 220 to 240 when fully warmed up, depending on driving conditions. Coolant typically sits around 210, unless the weather is really hot, then it sits around 190 or lower (likely to help with AC condenser effectiveness).

View attachment 294794

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Technically it's a heat exchanger. They're used to warm the oil as quickly as possible.

 

[IndyIan]

https://www.heat-exchangers.uk/online-calculator/
Probably with this and some heat gun readings you could get a good idea. With sump oil temps that high I'd think its doing something as there could be a 40-50F temperature difference between the oil and the coolant.

 

[Astro14]

It probably just keeps the oil temp within a certain delta of engine coolant temp, just like a 6.0L Powerstroke.

That’s what I was going to say - and it’s probably pretty effective. Similar to the oil cooler on all of my old Volvos and on the Tundra.

 

[Klutch9]

https://www.heat-exchangers.uk/online-calculator/
Probably with this and some heat gun readings you could get a good idea. With sump oil temps that high I'd think its doing something as there could be a 40-50F temperature difference between the oil and the coolant.

40-50F seems optimistic, since the coolant sits around 210F. Only 20-30 degrees cooler than the oil.

 

[Jetronic]

They get more effective as the temp difference between oil and coolant rises, and with lower anti-freeze concentration in the coolant. But to answer your question more directly, a couple hundred watts can get transferred in either direction

 

[TiGeo]

These heat exchangers are to get the oil up to temp quickly to increase fuel efficiency. My car has the same (also one for the transmission). With both transferring heat to/from the coolant, eventually the coolant temp can rise to the point of overheating as the system simply can't handle the amount of heat generated on track for example but under normal conditions these systems seem to work fine to maintain consistent coolant and oil temps.

I had to back off and turn on the heat and it came right back down after a lap. Ambient here is 85 deg F.

 

[Klutch9]

So basically… it isn’t really an oil cooler haha. The heat exchanger angle makes sense. The oil does come up to temp relatively quickly I must say, compared to my last van.