Oil cooler recommendations
 

Hey folks,

So my oil cooler has just about had it ('88 vert). One whole side is covered in oily sludge and there are more technicolor puddles on my garage floor than can be explained by the LSD alone.

Any thoughts on a replacement? I like the idea of stock, but if there's a nice upgrade that will help engine temps, I am all ears. I did a quick li'l search of this forum and didn't find anything, but I'm notoriously lazy so apologies if I missed something.

Just clean the junk off then find the leak and fix it. Probably crush washers and/or the lines are worn out. The stock unit is more than capable:icon_tup:

The FC oil cooler is considered to be an upgrade for some other marques- BMW guys are apparently quite fond of them- so I think it'd be hard to "upgrade" much unless you started spending some serious cash.
So, either repair yours or find a good used one.

You have an NA. If you're having engine temp problems you've got a cooling system issue. The stock cooler is more than adequate.

i think everyone pretty much sums it up. our coolers are better than the FD and RX8 dual coolers.

you don't need to upgrade it, unless you have a large turbo and track the car.

the cores almost never leak, it is usually just the oil cooler line crimped ends that seep and cause people to think it's the crush washers on the banjos. if you can twist the cooler hose at the fitting by hand then your hoses are done.

Thanks everyone! Message received loud and clear. I'll see what the parts cleaner can do with the core and then replace the lines and maybe the fittings.

Appreciate the help!

The factory oil cooler is a good unit, but sometimes it can't be repaired and replacement ones are usually a decent chunk of change. I have a fluidyne db-30417 on my car and it works pretty well, oil doesn't break 110 in the summer, and they run $300 brand new.

These coolers go for like $40-60 in good shape...I don't think that's unreasonable. Unless the market has recently taken an uphill swing on these, used OEM I still say is the most economical and intelligent option.

Stock FC FTW. Find a junkyard.

i haven't seen an FC in a junkyard for about 5 years. shipping a cooler costs as much as the cooler itself.

so then you're up to about a hundred bucks+. better to try and salvage what you got at that point.

in a nutshell, the cars have been getting scarcer. which is good, because it's about my only income right now is selling the parts.

You got that right. If there's an S4 vert in a junkyard anywhere in North Carolina let me know. I'll strip it down by hand if I have to.

In northern california theres one at the junkyard every couple weeks.