sothpaw2

Thinking of doing an oil cooler/radiator because I want long engine life but I really don't want the expense / trouble w/other stuff going on right now. Plus my engine sees winter driving temps too and mostly street use and the cooler will prolong the warm up; I have a lot of fun on weekends on short drives right after warm-up taking some on-ramps. W/street driving, the nice on-ramps are many times in the beginning of your commute, so if you are not warm, you can't enjoy half of the windy portion of your drive.

I talked to a pretty experience racer at the NCM VIR and I think he said he hits 265 on oil with a cooler consistently (ie often) and hasn't had an engine problem; he has a lot of track miles on it, raced hard.

I realize most get the cooler but even so in hot climates I bet you might see 250's or 260's oil temp regularly. Am I right--what's your experience?

Thanks--I figure this is good info. for anyone making the cooler decision

Jason

Before the cooler, I was 290+ all the time on track.
With the cooler, I'm right around 250.

Not that it mattered to me, but my (2nd hand) cooler came with a thermostat, so it warms up just as fast as before.

sothpaw2

How many events or days did it see 290 oil? What cooler is it that comes up that fast--I'd expect all will prolong it and in winter I worry about hitting 180 oil (which I really want to hit to consider the engine warm before going above 3000rpm).

Jason

10-15 events last year. Double dipping the car with the wife driving some too.

I believe it's an "Earl's" brand cooler. They can be bought/built from Jegs.

throwit

On the track, 290+ was pretty common for me as well. Even exceeding 310 (i guess??) on occasion, at which point the temp reading goes away and you get the scary engine overheating, reduce rpm warning...

I got the Ron Davis rad/cooler and have not been above ~260 since. I do not recall what the car used to get to on the street.

Since your car is mostly street, I doubt you will ever see temps that can harm your engine unless something is very wrong (ie blown gasket). If it were me, I would not waste the money on an oil cooler for a street driven car...but if you must, I hear that the Dewitt rad/cooler is better for street/track cars, where as the RD is suited more for race only applications. There on several posts you can find with different comparisons.

Good Luck.

AlwaysInBoost

I just installed an oil cooler on my z06. ITs a street car that I drive year around and will do about 6-10 HPDE's a year on it. I can already tell I'm going to have over cooling problems in the winter, but I'm more then happy to deal with that vs. the alternative.

I haven't done as many track days on this car as most here but the for the only HPDE I ran w/o a cooler, my temps were in the 290 range using M1 15w-50. This was at the Pocono Long course in the middle of July with ambient temps around 100*. Not sure exactly what the temps were but the humidity was HIGH!

After just the addition of an aftermarket radiator my oil temps dropped to the 260 range at the next event. In my mind the reason the oil temps were so high previously was because the coolant couldn't get rid of all the heat my FI engine was making.

Ran like that for a couple more event and then finally installed the oil cooler. At the last event with the oil cooler the temps I saw were mostly in the low 220's an occasional mid 230 reading. I think the highest I saw at one point was 242 after a full course black flag when I had to dive into the pits. Never got hotter then that. Coolant temps on average that day according to EFILive were 211.

This weekend it was mid 80's here in the NE. Driving around town high in the RPM I have trouble getting the oil above 168 and the coolant above 172. it will go up a couple degrees once I sit at a light but as soon as I'm moving the temps will drop back down.

ccj

I was seeing 290-300 pretty regularly at the track. When I saw 300 I backed off until it dropped back in to the low 290's and then I would push hard again. I did 7 track days last year. Put a Pfadt front mount oil cooler, installed in Nov 08. On the few occasions I drove the car last winter (PNW) I had a hard time getting it above 170.

Its rare I see above 260-270 at the track now.

sothpaw2

How many times did you hit 260? DeWitts would be at the top of my list if I decide to go the cooler route.

throwit

It hits ~260 basically every time on track...but doesn't climb much past that. The days of 290+ are over

I really dont think you have anything to worry about with overheating your car. It really takes allot of persistent hauling a$$ to get the oil temp that high. If you are driving that hard on the street, then you should have bigger concerns

Bill Dearborn

When I purchased my 03Z 6 years ago I regularly saw oil temps above 300 degrees with one reading being as high as 319. I installed the DRM radiator/oil cooler that I had on my 97 and the temps dropped down to the 240 range. Since then I added a thermostatic bypass valve which keeps temps up during the winter (used to be the engine never got over 100 deg oil temp in the winter) but increased the on track oil temps to about 265.

Bill

sothpaw2

How often do you see 265 oil? The idea here is to figure what the factory LS6 can take with regularity since if you can keep your on track temps in that vicinity, you should be safe. If you can't hold it that low, you need the cooler.

I've seen 260's I think in 70 deg ambient weather and 280 in 90 deg amb. weather. The 280 would be higher but I stop shifting when I see it in the mid 270s.

02impactblue

I recently installed the dewitts combo rad/oil cooler and new c6 lines with bypass. I saw 280 oil temps this weekend at Summit Point. Water was never over 210. I wish I would have went the external cooler route. My car is tracked 95% of it's life so heating the oil in the winter is not an issue. The dewitts combo rad and new c6 lines are a nice kit but may still be not up to what I need.

Stevo92z28

Were you at Summit Point Friday?

I saw 268 this past friday after 15-20 mins track time. Rarely goes above 220 on the street though. I talked to another Z owner at the track said he was seeing 280-290 that day. He was in the advanced group with a lot less cars on the track plus he was probably pushing it harder then i was.

sothpaw2

Friday? Friday was only a high of 80F so I was thinking that if I had been able to go I wouldn't have seen oil over 270 w/the stock setup. Ran last year and saw 280 but it was 90F ambient.

You must be run'n really hard or have more mods--I just have headers, no other power adders.

AlwaysInBoost

I don't think there is a specific temp your motor can handle but rather a specific temp the OIL can handle.

Sidney004

Keep in mind, the temperature readings you are monitoring are just average sump temperature readings where the sensor is mounted. The actual instantaneous temperature of the oil film at the piston wall, ring land, valves, springs, journal bearing, etc are going to be dramatically higher whether your in car reading is 230F or 310F. There is no argument that cooler oil(more viscous) is better but modern oils, both synthetic(group III,IV & V) as well as conventional group II are very robust and are not going to self destruct at the higher range of your temp gauge. Here is an interesting thread about the activation of the anti wear films for those that change their oil every 200 miles:http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums...39#Post1528239

02impactblue

I was there Sat and Sun. Sunday it was in the low 90's and of course much higher on the asphalt. The oil temps got to 280 in the afternoon after 10 minutes, however, they never climbed above 280 through out the 25min session. The drivetrain is bone stock down to the air filter, just race grade brake pads, fluids, r-comp tires, seats/harnesses and a good alignment/corner balance. It probably doesnt help that I have a tranny cooler stacked in front of the rad, pumping 250 deg air through the rad on that side. Trying to chase down 450hp 2500lb gt3 cup cars tends to make you drive a bit aggressively

sothpaw2

Really I'm more concerned with what the oil temp. reading implies about what the internal parts are seeing. I'm not worried about the oil breaking down; I've had oil analysis that says it's fine. More concerned about an engine designed for street use that would really never see oil temps above 230-240 oil (as registered on the DIC) in Arizona summer. GM has to build in some margin but question is how much.

I'm similarly not concerned with the absolute numerical values of the temps the various internal parts see. What we do when we run a car can be viewed a test program--the data we have is the DIC reading so that's what we have to use to compare.

Thanks guys--seems 265 oil temp is very common and the LS6 has handled that with regularity.

sothpaw2

Yeah, depends on how hard you drive. Running w/fast cars certainly encourages one to be a little harder on the equipment. I don't spin the motor up to high in RPM and I shift after T9 before the down hill to T10 and run T10 in 4th. I think it'd be faster to stay in 3rd or obviously downshift for 10.
Could also downshift for T3 but I don't. Only using 3rd gear in T1-2 plus T5entry-T9 exit.

davidfarmer

320