Who uses an Oil Cooler?

It's that time of year! I'm back to the edge of overheating in stop and go traffic on the freeway, and since I've already had to turn on the heater once to bleed some heat off, I'm buying the TDR heat shield for my headers, but I'm really interested in what Oil Filter Relocation Kit's with Cooler's have been used, how easy was the instillation, and if they made a difference (every little bit helps). My radiator is only about 6 months old. I'm using distilled water and minimal amounts of antifreeze.

I've got two... but my car came from the factory that way. :wink:

So other than the radiator what else have you done? Have you replaced the water pump, thermostat, and radiator cap? I'd fix the overheat issue before you add the oil cooler.

As a point of reference, my '99 doesn't have any issues in the heat same with our '02.

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Originally Posted by SilverToy

I'm using distilled water and minimal amounts of antifreeze.

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I thought 50/50 was the way to go. Why minimal antifreeze? No overheat issues in my '99 w/ stock radiator and 50/50 mix.

No overheating problems with my stock '94, even with A/C. I use a 2 to 1 mix of tap water and antifreeze with about a pint of Water Wetter thrown in.

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Originally Posted by sammm

I thought 50/50 was the way to go. Why minimal antifreeze? No overheat issues in my '99 w/ stock radiator and 50/50 mix.

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Yeah, I'm running about 50/50 in my '94 and haven't ever had the needle creep above halfway - even in traffic under my lead foot with the air blasting.








Although I've thought to myself "hey, an oil cooler might not be a terrible idea at some point..."

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Originally Posted by sammm

I thought 50/50 was the way to go. Why minimal antifreeze? No overheat issues in my '99 w/ stock radiator and 50/50 mix.

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The antifreeze makes the coolant work better in the cold and not as well in the heat. A 50/50 mixture is usually good for all around temps. Sometimes in the really hot places people run 70/30 water/antifreeze. That helps a little bit in the hottest weather.

Stolen from some where...

The primary task of liquid cooling is to transfer heat energy from the metal parts of the engine to the radiator and then to the air. Water has a specific heat of 1.00, but the specific heat of glycol is only 0.571, meaning that a given quantity of glycol will carry away only about 57% of the heat that the same volume of water will transfer.


So....Water is a better thermal conductor than anti-freeze, but you need the anti-freeze, even in hot weather, for its anti-corrosive and lubricating properties to keep your cooling system running efficiently. If your mixture has more than 50% coolant, you're cooling ability is substantially reduced. You can even go down to about 30% in the summer to get more cooling efficiency from the added water.

Replaced the thermostat, and radiator cap with the new radiator. I'm using about 70/30, I had this same issue using 50/50. This has been a long time issue that only happens out on the freeway in stop and go. Ive been thinking about one for a while now, to help with the overall temps and extra oil in the motor. (Maybe in celebration of my 100 post, as much of a lurker as I am, that's a big deal!)

Maybe Rogue may chime it with some things for you to look at since the overheat issue is not a normal Miata thing.

What do you consider over heating? Running 225 with the A/C in the summer is not considered overheating, this is why you have a pressurerized system. If you are having boil over from your overfill bottle in normal conditions then you have an issue. Just seeing the needle move a little is not reason to think you are in a criticle situation. Consider using the 160 F t-stat.

Go drive and quit worring.

Gary

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Originally Posted by Titus

Stolen from some where...

The primary task of liquid cooling is to transfer heat energy from the metal parts of the engine to the radiator and then to the air. Water has a specific heat of 1.00, but the specific heat of glycol is only 0.571, meaning that a given quantity of glycol will carry away only about 57% of the heat that the same volume of water will transfer.


So....Water is a better thermal conductor than anti-freeze, but you need the anti-freeze, even in hot weather, for its anti-corrosive and lubricating properties to keep your cooling system running efficiently. If your mixture has more than 50% coolant, you're cooling ability is substantially reduced. You can even go down to about 30% in the summer to get more cooling efficiency from the added water.

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Troof. 30% antifreeze is perfectly okay for winter too, provided you don't let your car cool off when it's colder than 0 fahrenheit.