sunshine

iTrader: (3)

Has anyone successfully converted their oil cooler to permanantly allow all the oil to pass through it, in essense eliminating the little thermo pellet inside the cooler?

I just got my cooler flushed by a local radiator shop, and I suspect they screwed something up with the pellet as I have been seeing higher than normal oil temperatures on my gauge. My guess is that the pellet does not work properly anymore, so that oil is not passing thru the entire cooler but just the end tank.

Thanks,
-a

Aaron Cake

iTrader: (1)

Yes, many people have done this. Simply remove the thermostat, then plug the bypass hole with a bolt and nut. However, there's really no reason. The oil thermostat opens at around 140 degrees or so, much cooler then the ideal oil temp of about 180-190. The only result is that it takes much longer to warm up the car and get the oil flowing as it should.

A replacement thermostat should be easily available used.

NZConvertible

...which will significantly increase engine wear. Most engine wear takes place when the engine is cold, which is the reason we have coolant thermostats, oli thermostats, e-shaft bypasses, etc.

Just get a new one, and get the radiator shop to pay for it if they damaged it.

HAILERS

It is simple to see if the oil cooler is working as it should. Just grab the end of cooler that is on the other end from the hoses and feel the heat/lack of heat compared to the end with the hoses. When the engine is fully heated up both end tanks should have the same amount of heat verses just starting the car when the hose end will be hot and the opposite end will be cold.

RotaryResurrection

iTrader: (8)

As an FYI, it is said to be a bad idea to remove the thermo valve and allow full pressure into the cooler at all times. The first reason that most people bring up is that the valve is there to help heat up oil in the engine faster, supposedly for gas mileage. The more important, and usually overlooked reason for the valve, is to keep excess pressure from the cooler. When cold, oil is very thick (duh) and thus a very high pressure is generated by the oilpump at the same rpm, when compared to hot (thin) oil. Supposedly this high pressure, if the cooler were subjected to it, could increase the risk of failure of the cooler itself (and catastrophic engine failure could result). This has been covered in the FD section more so than here, because those cars run even higher oil pressure than an FC. Obviously it might not be of as much concern to us, but still noteworthy.

EDIT

Here's the thread. Good reading.

https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...&highlight=oil

Wankel7

Really, took it to a radiator shop. I can promise you they didn't flush anything except your end tank.

Most likely the didnt know about the thermostat. So, what they did was simply just flush fluid thru it with out removing the thermostat. If there fluid was not over 140F not one part of the rest of your cooler was flushed.

The only way to flush the cooler is to remove the thermostat and then plug the hole the thermostat plugs when the oil goes over 140F.

If you really want to get a cooler flushed take it to an aircraft repair place. They flush oil coolers all the time and know about the thermostats.

Check out this post I made about this topic.
https://www.rx7club.com/showthread.p...l+cooler+flush

Also, if you leave your thermostat out it could hurt gas mileage.

I would look at other things like bent fins on your cooler, no underpan, or debris on it.

James