Oil cooler on a 383 is it worth it?

[DarkwingFury]

Hi, i tried looking this ip and didnt notice posts on it. Forgive me if i missed them but i was curious about oil coolers. The two main guys i have teaching me how to restore/rebuild my 66 fury vip are split. One says an oil cooler is always beneficial addition to any car and the other says if im not towing that its a big waste of money. Thoughts? Thank you

 

[CanCritter]

most vehicles ran fine without them for decades...however would sooner would have seperate cooler...some rads with inigrated coolers can break down and you end up with coolant in your oil..
personaly would go without unless your towing ect

 

[Yatzee]

Any time your trans fluid surpasses 210 degrees, you start degradation of the oil and transmission life. Considering that any auto recycler will sell you a good trans cooler for $25 you need to stack that up against the cost of a total rebuild. One such cooler that comes to mind are the ones used on F150 pickups which are very efficient and easy to install either in front of the rad or under the front bumper out of sight. One thing that seldom gets mentioned on any board are power steering oil coolers which again became popular on vehicles when engineers realized the benefits back in the late 70's. Heating causes loss of viscosity and foaming as well as serious expansion of the hydraulic fluid, all of which need to be kept under control. I'm certain that auxiliary coolers for both are good ideas because as we all know " an once of prevention, a pound of cure" still reigns true when a breakdown finally occurs.

 

[Wollfen]

With unleaded gas the norm now and engines running hotter as a consequence, having a separate cooler on the front is good insurance. Heat is the enemy of automatic transmissions and while it doesn't affect the performance of the transmission it does affect the length of life of it. Cooler transmission fluid will make your transmission last more years.

 

[300rag]

I suspect the question is about engine oil, not transmission fluid. Personally, unless towing, I would not use an auxiliary engine oil cooler in one of our cars.

 

[commando1]

The fact that you never had the need to think about oil coolers up until some guy wanting to spend your money, put the bug in your ear, tells me flat out you don't need it. You're fine.

And I bet the guy nagging you about an oil cooler being a necessity owns a Harley.

 

[blackmamba]

I run Coolers on my Trans and Engine Oil. It's nice to see the Gages reading temps on totally isolated systems it also makes diagnosing temp problems that much easier. Remember an Engine Is a Heat Pump you need to run at least 195 Thermostat. I'm running 210 and can drop my heat soak With Auxiliary Electric Fan unit for Car show cruises.

 

[Big_John]

Engine oil?... No, IMHO there is no need for one.

Trans fluid? .... If you are towing, yes, Chrysler even included them in some of their "towing packages". If you have a high stall torque convertor, that's another reason to need one. If you aren't towing, it's not a bad idea, but not really needed.

 

[patrick66]

Trans coolers are always a good idea, IMO. I'm putting one on the Coronet, and have a second that is going in the Imperial. Both came out of '80s Plymouth Gran Fury cop cars, so they are more than capable of what I want them to do.

Engine oil coolers? They look cool, but are unnecessary for daily-driven vehicles that are not tow vehicles.

 

[70bigblockdodge]

You already have a engine oil cooler, its called a radiator. Engine oil cools valve stems and springs and can lobes and lifters. The hot oil runs across head and down lifter valley giving up its heat to the back side of the water jacket.

 

[butchr66]

Big question is.....What's your oil temperature under you're normal driving conditions without one? Is there a problem?

 

[70bigblockdodge]

Big question is.....What's your oil temperature under you're normal driving conditions without one? Is there a problem?

If it is more than 15-20° hotter than coolant out temp and not subject to severe duty there is probably a problem. On another note the reason a auto trans has a cooler is it has no way to cool down except ambient air which has gone through radiator and around engine and exhaust.

 

[butchr66]

If it is more than 15-20° hotter than coolant out temp and not subject to severe duty there is probably a problem. On another note the reason a auto trans has a cooler is it has no way to cool down except ambient air which has gone through radiator and around engine and exhaust.

Exactly. If you feel you really MUST have an oil cooler then there might be something else wrong and you DON'T need an oil cooler.