• Welcome to The Truck Stop! We see you haven't REGISTERED yet.

    Your truck knowledge is missing!
    • Registration is FREE , all we need is your birthday and email. (We don't share ANY data with ANYONE)
    • We have tons of knowledge here for your diesel truck!
    • Post your own topics and reply to existing threads to help others out!
    • NO ADS! The site is fully functional and ad free!
    CLICK HERE TO REGISTER!

    Problems registering? Click here to contact us!

    Already registered, but need a PASSWORD RESET? CLICK HERE TO RESET YOUR PASSWORD!

Engine oil cooler

SnowDrift

Ultra Conservative. ULTRA!
Messages
3,052
Reaction score
3,777
Location
Central Ohio map dot
I'm looking at this cooler to replace the factory one in case there is contamination from last summer's troubles.
It's the M7B and appears to be close to our factory size. Has anyone used one to determine how it fits?
I wouldn't mind having the ability to use something other than the factory line setup, since the ones I have on the truck now were leaking.
 
Sounds good. Thank you for clearing it up. It seems as though there is a trade-off. More oil cooling capacity vs. lower antifreeze cooling capacity due to a bit more obstruction from the larger surface area oil cooler in front of the radiator. Which is the better option?
 
Oil temperature is steady. You see far more dramatic shifts and impact from a radiator.
Know what happens with too much coolant/radiator? Nothing bad.
The heat in the engine is from the fuel explosion, and the heads getting hot. Eventually the oil gets warm too. Stop the head heat and you stop the engine from heating.


Transmission that has too much radiator? Lasts longer. Granted you want it to get up to 120° but beyond that- no thanks.

So put your effort into those two imo.

If those are maxed out and stay nice and cold then look at the power steering circuit. Keeping that atf cool is also good.
 
Yup. If you have to replace the original one for damage or needing new hoses, then fine. But I wouldn’t give up real estate or the money for a different one just because. That money and space is better used on the transmission cooler or on bigger radiator imo
 
I'm planning to replace the engine oil cooler just because of the new build and will also be switching to NPT fittings in order to lose the concern for lines blowing off in the future. I learned the HMMWV oil cooler lines measure 3/8" ID, just like the lines on my truck, but the OD is much larger. I was surprised to find this.

On the transmission cooler, I already have an oversize cooler that was from my wife's old '94 K1500 Suburban. I don't recall the variance in number of plates, but it was significantly larger than what my 4L80E came with.
 
I'm planning to replace the engine oil cooler just because of the new build and will also be switching to NPT fittings in order to lose the concern for lines blowing off in the future. I learned the HMMWV oil cooler lines measure 3/8" ID, just like the lines on my truck, but the OD is much larger. I was surprised to find this.

On the transmission cooler, I already have an oversize cooler that was from my wife's old '94 K1500 Suburban. I don't recall the variance in number of plates, but it was significantly larger than what my 4L80E came with.


Now keep in mind, at this time nothing is planed to be done to your heads to stop or control the heat, so your motor will still heat up just as quick and bad as any other 6.x does so plan accordingly, the piston coating helps the piston by deflecting heat away from the piston, the heat will still be pushed into the head.

Now, I'll cover some good points of some of the things I can do in the head area to STOP or greatly lesson heat build up...

I can fill the egr port, ( melt aluminum ), this passage comes off the exhaust runner and every time the exhaust valve opens the heat fills that passage with hot gasses , ie if your egt's are 1100* then that 4" passage is that hot and only heats the coolant for no reason, that passage is not needed..

Apply heat stop in all runners, this greatly slows heat transfer into the heads and as a by product sends the hot gas to the turbo faster and hotter because it didn't bleed off heat to the head.

Coat chambers with the same thermal barrier used on piston tops also vastly slows the heat from migrating through the head.

While the head work isn't cheap, it is the # 1 area that can enable the user to use the power and not watch the temp gauge.

I have several customers that speak very highly about how cool there motor runs when pushing it, and a couple are pushing a lot of fuel just like I am and did with the build I posted several years ago, that motor would tow heavy all day and run cool doing it..
 
IF a guy chose to pick one of these, which would yield the most benefit?

That's a loaded question, I've not tested one by one nor do I have the ability to... I've not done any single coating by itself nor do I have any customers that have, so I honestly can't point to one over another. I know that isn't a good answer, sorry... They all play hand in hand with each other for maximum effectiveness.
 
I'll chime in from personal experience that the head coating makes a massive difference. My P400 heads don't have the EGR ports filled as it was not an option at the time my engine was built, but the runners and chambers are coated. Current engine that Chris is building for my dump truck is getting the full treatment mentioned above.

On the subject of oil, it's quite expensive but in my experience also worth it to run the TriboDyn oil. I just changed the gear oil in the final drive motors in the mini excavator yesterday. One unit had TriboDyn gear oil, the other was an aftermarket unit that had different oil of unknown make. The gear oil in the aftermarket drive was grey when new, and completely black like diesel engine oil when drained. The TriboDyn oil was slightly darker but still had the same bluish color like it is when new. Same with the engine oil, it still is blue on the dipstick. The engine oil I run in the truck still turns black like any other oil, but I firmly believe it also plays a part in keeping temps under control.
 
Back
Top