Oil Coolers???

[prochase]

Had an oil cooler leak this past weekend,leaked oil everywhere. Is it necessary to run an oil cooler on these cars when using a good Synthetic motor oil.

Any concensus????

Thanks,

Eric

[EYERACE]

have run with or without 'em, you can too. In general, i use one - it's hot in Florida in the summertime - but when it leaked, it was bypassed, removed and ran fine without it using mobil 1. Others do not bother with the oil cooler ....so...are you having trouble making weight?

[prochase]

Thanks for the response. I ran in a Porsche high speed DE yesterday and it started to leak after my first 30 minute session. The cooler was hard mounted to the two chassis tubes that run from the roll bard back to the frame. It is an VD RF84 and the guy I bought it from had just installed it and it leaked, so when I bought it he gave me a new one to install. The old USN airstip we use is very bumpy so I believe that that is some vibration being transmitted to the cooler thus causing an internal failure. Apparently for years the car has been running without one and the Andresen engine I have in the car has been run with Mobil 1 exclusively. Again thanks for the reply and I hope to be at Sebring this summer for a Drivers School.

Eric

[bob darcey]

We get some hot days here in Colorado, and my engines have done fine without a cooler; ditto on the Mobil 1.

[James Hakewill]

I've always run with one, except for one time as a trial. The engine got v. hot - and that was in England!

However - Twice I've had an oil cooler crack around the base of the pipe fittings. The filter was mounted to the chassis on a bracket.

For about 5 years, I've always used AV mounts for the cooler and never had a problem. (Except having to throw one away when the engine exploded and filled it with tiny bits of shrapnel).

James

[Stu Pidd]

Toss the cooler and stick with Synthetic oil, Mobil 1 or Red Line. You won't miss it and one less thing to break.

James, you did not indicate what type of oil. If you were on Syn, you must have had other issues in that motor to overheat it.

[James Hakewill]

Hmm..What kind of oil?

A good question. I think at that time I was using Kendall non-synthetic - I later switched to using Mobil 1 and/or Castrol RS synthetic.

James

[Bill Kincaid]

Well, if you DO decide to run a cooler, be sure to flex-mount it. A rigid mount is an invitation to trouble.