Remote Oil Cooler Temps

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Jan 19, 2012
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I have an Improved Racing oil filter sandwich adapter with a built in thermostat that is connected to a Setrab oil cooler. The current thermostat bypasses the oil cooler until 200F when it starts to open. It is fully open at 221F. Improved racing also has a 180F thermostat that is full open at 203F.

What would you all think would be the optimal temperature to run the oil at, assuming that this is in a truck that tows in the rockies and gets quite hot. Lets say that I spec my oil cooler such that the oil temp would never get hotter than the thermostat full open temp.

One consideration is that the truck spends 99% of its life at or above 6500' of elevation so the boiling point of water is only 199F so burning off water vapor and other items will happen at lower temps.
 
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More cooling typically can't hurt, but is there any reason you need more than the Ford OEM setup? What were your sump temps like without the add-on cooling.
 
I have an Improved Racing oil filter sandwich adapter with a built in thermostat that is connected to a Setrab oil cooler. The current thermostat bypasses the oil cooler until 200F when it starts to open. It is fully open at 221F. Improved racing also has a 180F thermostat that is full open at 203F.

What would you all think would be the optimal temperature to run the oil at, assuming that this is in a truck that tows in the rockies and gets quite hot. Lets say that I spec my oil cooler such that the oil temp would never get hotter than the thermostat full open temp.

One consideration is that the truck spends 99% of its life at or above 6500' of elevation so the boiling point of water is only 199F so burning off water vapor and other items will happen at lower temps.

Depends on your oil, I would aim for 12-15 cst viscosity at the temp you're running. With the high temp thermostat a 40 (14 cst ish at 212F), with the low temp thermostat a non-ilsac 30 (around 12 cst at 212F) could do.
 
Improved racing also has a 180F thermostat that is full open at 203F.

This is the range Hyundai uses for their OE thermostats. I use to have an oil cooler with a 160F filter sandwich tstat on a 2L turbo. The oil barely got over 160F. I took it off. So with 0w40 and no cooler it was running 205F max with normal interstate hot conditions. Switched from 0w40 to 5w30 and the oil temp came up 5-10F.

I would go with lower coolant temps if you can, maybe a bigger radiator?
 
This is the range Hyundai uses for their OE thermostats. I use to have an oil cooler with a 160F filter sandwich tstat on a 2L turbo. The oil barely got over 160F. I took it off. So with 0w40 and no cooler it was running 205F max with normal interstate hot conditions. Switched from 0w40 to 5w30 and the oil temp came up 5-10F.

I would go with lower coolant temps if you can, maybe a bigger radiator?

ive got the bigger radiator already. The oil cooler is supposed to be offloading some of the cooling that the coolant would normally be faced with in the oem oil cooler.
 
ive got the bigger radiator already. The oil cooler is supposed to be offloading some of the cooling that the coolant would normally be faced with in the oem oil cooler.
Would the PCM throw a code with a cooler t-stat?

FWIW I put a V8SHO oil filter/cooler adapter on my Gen Coupe for a couple of years. Bolted right on.
 
Would the PCM throw a code with a cooler t-stat?

FWIW I put a V8SHO oil filter/cooler adapter on my Gen Coupe for a couple of years. Bolted right on.

I have a 180F tstat in it now vs the OEM 192F stat. I am exceeding the cooling capacity of the radiator.
 
keep higher oil cooler thermostat and use Castrol 0W40 in that Ecoboost. As long as your oil temperature is staying at or below 250 you are fine (as far as oil, it can take much higher).
What altitude do you tow at? What is highest point? What is your coolant mix? Don’t go crazy on coolant mix. In the summer I would dilute below 50% for sure.
 
keep higher oil cooler thermostat and use Castrol 0W40 in that Ecoboost. As long as your oil temperature is staying at or below 250 you are fine (as far as oil, it can take much higher).
What altitude do you tow at? What is highest point? What is your coolant mix? Don’t go crazy on coolant mix. In the summer I would dilute below 50% for sure.

My house is at 6500'. I tow mostly down to southern UT or into Wyoming. In Wyoming I am usually 7000'+ but I have been up to 10 or 11000 ft. Any passes we hit are usually in the 8-9000' range.

I run 40/60 coolant/DI water. We have a shop on the Ecoboost forum who has been putting 30% coolant with water wetter in trucks to try and keep them cool.
 
My house is at 6500'. I tow mostly down to southern UT or into Wyoming. In Wyoming I am usually 7000'+ but I have been up to 10 or 11000 ft. Any passes we hit are usually in the 8-9000' range.

I run 40/60 coolant/DI water. We have a shop on the Ecoboost forum who has been putting 30% coolant with water wetter in trucks to try and keep them cool.
So my house is at 6,800 and I beat you by 300ft :)
OK, so I understand issues you are facing with. I actually track my BMW at 5,000ft.
Drop coolant to DW ratio. I would go 40/60, maybe 30/70 (70% DW) in the summer and 50/50 in winter.
Run heavy European oils in summer. My choice would be Castrol Edge 0W40 as M1 0W40 has IMO too much SAPS for DI engine. I ran M1 0W40 on track in BMW hitting 293f oil temperature and didn’t see any abnormal consumption.
You can by all means run that M1, but I would give preference to Castrol 0W40.
Heavier oil will create bit more heat but it will carry more heat away and maintain oil pressure better.
 
One of the things I did with my SHO and the factory oil cooler filter adapter was plumb in an oil cooler as a radiator for the coolant lines going to it.

oil-cooler-coolant-cooler.jpg
 
So my house is at 6,800 and I beat you by 300ft :)
OK, so I understand issues you are facing with. I actually track my BMW at 5,000ft.
Drop coolant to DW ratio. I would go 40/60, maybe 30/70 (70% DW) in the summer and 50/50 in winter.
Run heavy European oils in summer. My choice would be Castrol Edge 0W40 as M1 0W40 has IMO too much SAPS for DI engine. I ran M1 0W40 on track in BMW hitting 293f oil temperature and didn’t see any abnormal consumption.
You can by all means run that M1, but I would give preference to Castrol 0W40.
Heavier oil will create bit more heat but it will carry more heat away and maintain oil pressure better.

My next oil change will be PP Euro L. I already have it in the garage, just waiting for the miles.
 
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