Date: 12 Sep 2005 16:01:12 -0700 From: "SmaartAasSaabr" <smaartaassaabrnospaml.com> Subject: Re: nospam$# oil cooler!
gw wrote: > > > > I already bought the cooler and installed it, so it's a moot point. The only > US car it might have showed up in was the Cadillac Catera. I didn't think to > check at the time. > > It's the idiotic design that bothers me more than anything else. An > air-to-oil cooler was fine for the turbo cars, and for just about any other > engine I've seen. Why bury a cooler in the V of the engine? I've heard of > these things failing in as little as 18,000 miles. > > I suppose I shouldn't be surprised after the timing belt fiasco.... > > Thanks again, GM. The advantage to a water-oil cooler is that the oil is maintained somewhere around the temperature of the coolant, slightly higher, continously. With the Saab Turbo-type air/oil cooler, the oil can be overcooled in high-speed low-load (ie coasting at 100 mi/h) situations, while it can overheat in high-load low-speed situations (dicing through traffic, towing a trailer uphill).