What do you guys think about plumbing an oil cooler after a bypass filter? This way when the oil is cold there should be very little flow through the bypass/cooler circuit, and when the oil gets hot there will be more flow. The question is will it be enough flow to make a difference?
Use bypass filter as thermostat for cooler
- Thread starter Santo Fontana
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Probably not. Bypass filters are designed to flow 1 quart/min or less, so you wouldn't be cooling very much oil.
In really cold weather, it's best to install a winter front on your car to reduce air flow through the grill. If that's not possible, just cover the cooler(or the majority of it) with some cardboard.
In really cold weather, it's best to install a winter front on your car to reduce air flow through the grill. If that's not possible, just cover the cooler(or the majority of it) with some cardboard.
I brought back the Motor Guard because it is not only the highest quality of the submicronic bypass filters and the easiest and least nessy to change but they are also the most versatile. Get a Perma-Cool sandwich adapter with an oil cooler or equivalent. Put a Motor Guard ATF filter in series with the oil cooler. The ATF filter has an element bypass orifice drilled internally. The orifice is only 1/8" but you can get a lot of flow thru it with hot oil. The orifice also helps to heat up the Motor Guard in cold weather when not using an oil cooler. I put a flex-a-lite sandwich adapter on a new Chevy 6.0 gasser. It is a thermostatic sandwich adapter that dumps virtually all the oil directly into the full flow filter until the thermostat closes and starts diverting some of the oil to the oil cooler and Motor Guard. With these types of sandwich adapters all of the oil goes thru the full flow filter but some of it is getting cleaned first. People on this forum seem to have more common sense than normal. Common sense and a basic understanding of how the oil flows is all you need. The thermostatic adapters will open under pressure if they have too. Most GM engines have the stock bypass valve as a backup. Santo, you are thinking.
Ralph
Ralph
Thanks Ralph, I always enjoy your info and anecdotes.
What is the difference between a MOtorgaurd oil filter and an ATF filter? I assume the atf filter flows more, does this mean it has less filtering efficiency?
What is the difference between a MOtorgaurd oil filter and an ATF filter? I assume the atf filter flows more, does this mean it has less filtering efficiency?
The less flow thru a submicronic filter the better the filtering. The ATF filter has an element bypass orifice in it. The resistance to the flow thru the element bypass orifice keeps fluid going thru the element. If the element is cold the pressure backs up and forces more oil thru the orifice so that the transmission can get enough fluid. There are two streams of oil going thru the filter. One is being cleaned and the other is heating up the filter. The ATF filter only works with higher flow rates. It would work with the Perma-Cool oil cooler sandwich adapter or for ATF. It would be great for cold weather lube oil filtering. At one time you could buy heaters for these filters. There are other ways to deal with cold weather now such as synthetic oils. Without the element bypass orifice these filters get very hot in hot weather. A cooler downstream of the filter would be a big help. Oil coolers should be standard equipment. Here in Dallas high tempereature destroys the seals and the hoses to the filters. My Camry has a good cooling system but many don't. I have a magnetic thermometer at work. I stuck it on the oil pan of a 5.9 industrial Cummins engine. The coolant was 160 degrees F and the oil was over 200. The Motor Guard heated up fast. The Cummins has an internal oil cooler cooled by the engine coolant. I think its like the ATF cooler. Instead of the coolant cooling the oil the oil is heating up the coolant. I would be happy if my oil never got over 180 degrees F.
Ralph
Get yourself a B&M stacked plate oil cooler. When the oil is cold(thick)it bypasses the cooler, as the oil heats up(thins)it flows thru the cooler. Put this in your main flow line. This unit allows no pressure drop, and IMHO is one of the best.
I had to remove one of those B&M coolers from my vehicle because it wasn't cooling the oil. Unfortunatly, the bypass is not thermostatic, just an orfice. In my case, it seems that the hot oil was happier to go through the orfice faster, than it was to go through the cooler faster.
I replaced it with an old fashioned, and less efficient tube and fin style cooler and my trans temps dropped 20-30 deg in normal use, 40-50 in severe conditions. If I had become aware of the stacked plate coolers they make without the bypass, I would have used one of them, probably to even better results.
The fancy stacked plate cooler with the bypass is now only looking cool on a shelf.
I replaced it with an old fashioned, and less efficient tube and fin style cooler and my trans temps dropped 20-30 deg in normal use, 40-50 in severe conditions. If I had become aware of the stacked plate coolers they make without the bypass, I would have used one of them, probably to even better results.
The fancy stacked plate cooler with the bypass is now only looking cool on a shelf.
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Santo, look on ebay for a Hayden sandwich adapter. It has the bimetal spring that closes a bypass orifice that will route oil to the Motor Guard/cooler. It's a flat coil that as it unwinds, closes over the bypass port.
I'm sure that there is one for your application.
There's a guy on ebay that sells them perpetually for about $21+
That coupled with the special plumbing that Ralph has to offer should suit your needs.
I'm sure that there is one for your application.
There's a guy on ebay that sells them perpetually for about $21+
That coupled with the special plumbing that Ralph has to offer should suit your needs.
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