Edward

Hey all,

I just thought I'd share my latest DIY task that yielded a significant reduction in oil temps: clean the blasted oil cooler! ...yeah, I know, that was profound

Really, I wish I my wife hadn't run off with the camera this evening as the would-be pic would have spoken a thousand words. I was guessing that the oil cooler must be obstructed or just "getting dirty" since in the last few months it's been getting hotter here and I thought the oil temp was climbing higher than normal, AND that I seemed to be using the manual fan switch more than I normally did last summer. So I looked up Robin's site on removing the front bumper cover (Robin really doesn't get enough recognition for that gem of a site he runs), and what did I find when I got mine off? More than 50% of the oil cooler's surface area was covered in thick, furry, oily, road crud!! I mean it was truly caked with crud. At first, I thought maybe I had an oil leak that was attracting all the goop, but all seemed dry, albeit filthy. Could it be that one side-effect of having the manual switch (and using it fairly often) is the attracting of more dirt by drawing so much more air through the cooler than it would normally have drawn had I not had the switch and just relied on the automatic turn-on points?

So I unbolt the fan housing and hit the radiator with a full can of engine degreaser and hose off ...clean as a whistle. Put her back together, go for a spin to get the thermostat open, and there she is: back to her former self. Once that needle dropped, it stayed there. Redlining from stoplight to light barely affected the temp. This is what she was like many many moons ago, but the clogging of the oil cooler happens so gradually that you don't really notice until it gets really bad. For reference, my car has 95K miles on it and judging from the junk in the fender well and nose, it had never been cleaned out.

So there you go. IMHO, this is a very worthwhile DIY job that will help any car with "higher" miles. Thanks for indulging.


Edward

Monique

Very logical indeed. Cleaned mine last winter and the car is running cooler now.

Flying Finn

I always blast water (just the pressure from regular hose) through the coolers whan I was the car, keeps the crap from building up.

Still good practise to do throughout cleaning every now and then though.

mr_bock

Edward,
Thanks for bring this to our attention. A little preventive maintainance goes a long way!!!!

Alon

Brilliant. Why are the simple things almost always overlooked to make way for what could be unnecessary upgrades/mods? I assume that this condition would be worse if tracking the car often (rubber crap all over the cooler)...

the_buch

Since you can see the oil cooler from the vent below, would there be anything in blasting some simple green up there and then follow up with a rinse?? Or, would this risk messing up something else??

Thanks,

HK G36C

you can use hand cleaner and water. Mix the two and spray on the cooler let it sit and take your hose to it. The hand cleaner does not discolor and is not harmful to the finish. Make sure you use the type without sand. Oh, do this the car warmup not hot. The crap comes off easier.

the_buch

HK G36C ... do you mean that you can shoot this up the lower vent without taking anything off and removing the fan housing ... any risk of washing away essential lubricants or messing up any electricals??

Thanks,

JasonAndreas

Doug,
If you remove the plastic right side lower part of the front bumper cover (not the actual bumper cover) that is held on with a bunch of screws this will be your view of the front of the oil cooler.

Edward

Jason,
I didn't try just removing just the lower corner of the bumper cover ...that's a thought. Thanks for the pic as is looks like you've got enough access this way.

Doug, HK,
Spraying from the fender well side or up through the lower exhaust vents is for all purposes, useless. The point is to get to the "intake" side of the oil cooler. The side where the cooling fan is bolted (accessible from the fender liner) is the "exhaust" side and this will look clean even if the intake side is completely clogged (believe me on this ). I'd suggest you all try Jason's route first. And if do not have enough room to spray the engine cleaner thoroughly, then I'd just go ahead and remove the bumper cover. It really isn't hard. And if you clean the cooler well, you will probably not have to do it for another 40K+ miles. Do it right and do it once. Would anyone skimp on swapping that upper-right spark plug just because it was a pain in the butt?

Edward

the_buch

Jason ... great tip ... any pics of the actual piece that comes off and how many screws, or is it a no-brainer once I get my nose under there??

Edward ... agreed that it only makes sense to do this right ... thanks for starting this post!

All ... I just did the high-speed fan over-ride this weekend ... this is a must.

Thanks

Edward

Doug,

If I may answer for Jason, yes, removing the lower-corner piece is a no brainer; 3 screws along its inner edge, and another 1 more I think next to those more outboard along the rear, and it should just drop on it's own weight. If you've got a digital camera, I'd be interested in how much room you have once that lower is removed. Thanks!

Edward