oil cooler, fittings up or down?

BigT

Wow, I keep seeing this on this board.... The probability of you getting some dust or dirt into your cooler by removing and installing it is probably higher than it ever getting dirty by always being connected.

Cleaning out the cooler is like saying you need to rebuild your motor every 3 oil changes because its dirty now.

SPOHN

Have you bumped your head? If your careless and just throw your cooler to the side and clean it off with dirty rag, roll it in the dirt while reinstall it in a windstorm that might be the case.

And then to say that's equivalent to rebuilding your motor is about the most ludacris statment I've ever heard. My recommendations are on par to what most all shops would say and have said. But who am I?

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BigT

I'm very curious to know which shops told you to clean out your oil cooler so please do share.

And, I still don't understand the logic. How will the oil cooler get dirty and not the rest of the parts in the motor? Is the oil cooler a filter? Will it get clogged up? I'd think the bearings in the motor will spin before a row in a cooler gets clogged. I'm pretty sure most oil adapter plates direct the oil through the oil filter first, before sending into the cooler and thus, filtered oil is always entering. If the cooler is clean from the get go (brand new) then you will never ever have a problem. If for whatever reason you feel your cooler is dirty, you are supposed to replace it. If your oil is in fact getting that dirty, you're either not changing it fast enough, or you have other issues with contamination.

I'm not trying to pick a fight with you, please do not misunderstand me. I'd rather everyone really understand and put this to rest.

SPOHN

I'm not saying clean the oil cooler itself literally. Just empty out the old oil to ensure you have nothing but clean oil threw out. Which to me and others seems logically. If you leave oil in the cooler (due to the oil cooler being mounted upright and won't drain) everytime you change a small portion will have remained after being threw many cycles thus it's best to have fresh clean oil (100%) changed ever so often. Not much different than flushing your brake system. Wouldn't you agree?

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BigT

Eh, I see you're point to a certain extent. But, brake systems do not have filters and change intervals as often as engines do. Like I've said constantly before, there are many cars out in this world that have factory air/air oil coolers. However, not one single manufacturer requires the residual oil to be flushed out during oil changes. Trust me, I've looked. I've been on google for the last 30 minutes searching for something. (if anyone does find something, please post it)

Then again, its your car. Do whatever makes you happy I guess. If I had to put my best educated guess on it, I would replace the oil cooler entirely with every engine rebuild in a race car (race engines typically last 1 season) and every 50,000 miles on a street driven car.

SPOHN

I more so feel better about it being I track my car and I feel that all fluids should be changed in full before and after my track days. Minus maybe the transmission and diff. But more than likely I would still empty all oil after two or three cycles when DD. So I guess we'll leave it at that.

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