Hi folks,

After spending far too much time looking at the back of the block, trying to hunt down a mysterious oil leak ( I once let Karl ride in my car - still kicking myself for that ), I had a thought about the factory ITR "oil cooler" and would love some input.

As most folks know the factory ghetto oil cooler on the ITR is simply a looped 5" or so piece of hose. Not very fancy, but presumably works to a limited extent.

So I have been thinking... Wouldn't a slightly longer (say 1 foot) piece of hose offer some incremental cooling capability?

The long term (this winter) fix will be a full non-ghetto oil cooler set-up, but my car has already absorbed buckets of cash so far this year and it just aint in the budget right now.

Anyone tried it or have thoughts / concerns?

 

My old Caprice had a powersteering cooler that was a 4' piece of line that looped from the steering box, down below the radiator, and back to the pump. I assume it would work with oil, though how much you would benefit is questionable.

 

It was my understanding that rather than being a "loop", one hose brought the coolant out of the block into the cooler fitting at the oil outlet, and another took it back into the block. I have a hard time imagining the coolant being able to discipate much heat through a rubber hose, regardless of the length.

 

If you could get a PS cooler from a junkyard it might be a little more worthwhile, it is a finned metal line, too bad they are $100+ new.

Part#31

http://www.hondaautomotivepart...PIPES

 

Sounds like you guys haven't looked inside the oil cooler. It is not a piece of hose. The hose is connected to a canister filled with a bunch of copper fins for maximal surface area and heat transfer in a minimal space. I thought it was pretty impressive for what they were shooting for.

Or are you talking about the power steering fluid?

 

Isn't it a coolant cooled oil cooler?

In this case, the coolant doesn't immediately disperse its heat - it is simply absorbed and then 'removed' by the radiator.

The coolant in this case is merely a transport mechanism for the oil's heat energy which is has removed.

While this system might get overwhelmed in extremely high temps, liquid cooled systems are usually very efficient due to having a large surface area to dissapate heat(radiator), and the coolant has a very high specific heat compared to air. So even though the temperatures of the coolant/oil systems might only have a difference of say... 50*C(kinda pulled that outta my ***!), the amount of heat energy the system can transport is pretty darn large.

 

Yes, that was my point.

 

Ahh... I see said the blind man. Makes much more sense now.

<= Ignorant sometimes...