Dash01

Is oil flow through the oil/air cooler constant whenever the engine is cranking, or is it controlled by a valve so it only has oil flowing through after the engine warms up?

I recently swapped in a stock replacement oil/air cooler, so whatever volume of oil it takes should be replaced before running the engine. It was not practical to pre-fill the oil cooler when I bolted it on the car, so presumably it is still empty. When topping off the oil to proper dipstick level, the dipstick tells what's in the oil pan, but not necessarily whether the whole system including oil cooler has proper oil volume.

I need to know before starting the engine, to avoid oil starvation in the system.

Suggestions?

V2Rocket

There is a thermostat in place to only allow oil to flow to the cooler when up to temperature.

Dash01

OK, good, thanks.

What's your best guess as to how much to over-fill (car has been sitting for months) so that when she gets warmed up, there will be enough in the sump to compensate for the now-empty oil cooler circuit?

And, speaking of oil, I plan on using Mobil One synthetic for older engines, as some manufacturers such as VW say to use only synthetic on turbo cars, to prevent coking or tarring the oil which can clog the turbo. (When the Passat TDI turbo engine is shut down, the hot turbo can cook and congeal normal oil in the line, which then clogs the line so there's no lubrication on startup. Or so they say.)

Thoughts on that?

PorscheFanatic202

I always thought that synthetic oil in our cars was a no no. I thought it had something to do with the oil seals.

I just cranked my engine up for the first time and it was completely dry (no oil what-so-ever). I filled it up to the top line (took 6 quarts) and then cranked it and it sucked enough oil to bring the oil level below the dipstick. I don't think it is a cause for concern (since you know there is oil in there), but definitely don't drive around like that. I would worry more about overfilling and having the crank slap into the oil. It took me 8 quarts of oil total to completely fill the system (all stock, completely empty, oil system).