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🔧 Technical Oil cooling - explain like i'm five

WhiteKnuckle

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So i can be pretty handy turning a wrench but since i haven't been into cars my whole life my mechanical know how on how stuff actually works is pretty crappy. TCG to the rescue...
I am doing some work to my car (19 Charger 6.4L) to get it more ready to handle the road course this year. One of the main concerns i had last year is my oil temps would sky rocket within 2-3 laps of pushing hard. The temps would reach into the 290s. I've read that synthetic motor oil can handle being way above that but it makes me uncomfortable.

So i want to find a way to bring that down. The car has a built in sandwich type oil cooler that the oil filter attaches too. My understanding is that it uses the coolant from the car to cool the oil so obviously the hotter the car gets the less efficient its going to be.

Here come the questions...

Am i better off adding an additional heat exchanger for the coolant like the hellcats have to decrease coolant temps and subsequently oil temps? Or would just replacing the entire radiator with an upgrade be more logical?

My first thoughts where to put an actual oil cooler in. Something that i can mount to the bumper. I'm just not sure how these would hook up. Can they be connected directly to the stock oil cooler? Some quick googling and i didn't find any off the shelf type kits for my car. I'm thinking something like this would fit nicely.

10 Row Oil cooler

Any advice would be appreciated!
 
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WhiteKnuckle

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You want an oil cooler. I wouldn't be comfortable with oil temps that high for that long even if it was :amsoil:.
What are your coolant temps during those same times?

Looks like you can use OEM parts from the hellcat.

Coolant temps usually ran 220-230 from what i remember last year. I need to crawl under my car and see if my oil cooler adapter looks like the one listed in the parts list from the link you sent. If it does than it seems like it would be a really easy install.
 

CMNTMXR57

GM, Holden & Chrysler Mini-Van nut swinger
Sep 12, 2008
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Not sure how Mopar does it (I know on our Chrysler vans it it has a little separate exchanger under the van, so...), but I would think you would just disconnect the cooler lines at the radiator, cap the radiator, and then run the lines to your separate exchanger.
 

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If there is an OEM option with OEM fittings I would go that route first with an external oil cooler. Braided stuff works but nothing is better than an OEM solution. You don't want to ever have to think about a hose popping off or the sandwitch plate coming loose and spraying oil everywhere, causing a fire or if you don't notice right away destroying your engine. I'm sure people have "done it for years and never had a problem" but I only see aftermarket oil coolers starting car fires at track days.

I assume you're referring to AB full for temps to get that high in just a few laps? My S2000 temps get high as well and because of the risk I refuse to run an aftermarket oil cooler. Getting a lower temp thermostat will help a lot.

I was tossing around the idea (not seriously) to make an intercooler system one would use on a air to water setup and run that through the factory sandwitch plate, instead of using 220° coolant. :rofl: Too complicated for no reason.
 
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WhiteKnuckle

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Ok, so I have it straight in my head. It looks like I can replace the stock 392 water/oil cooler with a hellcat adapter pictured below that is designed to flow oil instead of coolant.
Then I need to figure out a way to re-route the coolant lines or cap them since they won't be connected to the stock oil cooler anymore. My only concern with the hellcat adapter is it doesn't look to have any kind of built in thermostat so I'd be cooling the oil all the time which would be not good for our winters here (i don't drive the car a ton in the winter but it does get driven).

stock cooler for water:

1614621541173.png

Hellcat adapter:

1614621452344.png
 

zenriddles

Guns don't kill people, 'vaccines' do
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My only concern with the hellcat adapter is it doesn't look to have any kind of built in thermostat so I'd be cooling the oil all the time which would be not good for our winters here (i don't drive the car a ton in the winter but it does get driven).

This is one place where the stacked plate coolers have a nice characteristic - When the cooler is cold as Fu**, most of the flow goes thru the top plate and returns directly to the oiling system without getting much additional cooling. As the fluid being cooled reaches operating temperature, it starts to 'burrow' down into the lower plates and begins to cross over inside them as well. This change then brings more cooling as the fluid being cooled thins out/heats up.

I have used B&M stacked plate coolers for transmission cooling for ever with great satisfaction, I can only imagine you would prefer the staged cooling naturally over a one pipe back and forth overcooling setup. Overcooled trannys in the winter suck.
 
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