I have a boss oil cooler. I just have a 2012 gt premium and I was going to add the oil cooler. I was talking to some guys a met at a local restaurant that were mustang guys and they said the oil cooler can lead to problems and over heating. I had never heard this before but it made me worry. Is this true? Yes, I know it's one group but I figured I'd check here to ask the experts, especially those that track these cars. I hope to take some lessons and learn to drive this beast next year.

 

The 13-14 Track Packs came with the Boss oil cooler. But they also came with the Boss radiator, which is larger capacity than the stock GT. Since the oil cooler uses the same coolant, the radiator has larger capacity to absorb the heat from the oil cooler.

It would stand to reason that if you add the oil cooler but keep a stock GT radiator your average coolant temp would go up. But at the same time to really take advantage of the oil cooler you need to run thicker oil (which absorbs more heat, like 50 weight). And you have to run the car long and hard to notice the difference an oil cooler makes. But on the street you really don't have to worry about any of it, since operating temps are much lower than at the track.

Hope that helps.

 

Thanks Monster, I didnt know that. I'll hold off on that mod until I really need it.

 

The restaurant is a great place to learn technical details about your muscle car and future mods.

I'm not sure how circulating the coolant through the oil cooler would add to the heat of the overall system. Where would that heat (in the oil) go otherwise?

Honestly, I think that adding surface area to the cooling system is only going to help...

 

I think installing the cooler is a good idea. It's a simple but ingenious little part that takes heat from the oil and dumps into the cooling system, which is much better at shedding heat. If you start tracking your car, just keep an eye on the coolant temps. If they start getting high, then it might be time to look at the Boss radiator.

 

Ha, I know, right? One of life's little ironies.

The heat in the oil doesn't go anywhere, it stays in the oil pan, oil and in the engine.

I think of oil cooler as a secondary cooling system. Cooling veins are a bit indirect, while the oil touches the hot parts in a more direct way. So it is able to absorb more heat than coolant alone. Not to say coolant is less efficient, far from it, but that's why I think of oil cooler as secondary cooling.

Either way, it's 2 sources of heat vs 1.

 

I learn something everyday! Thanks for this thread and the posts.

Luckily I don't track/race, so my need for an oil cooler (at this time) is superficial.

 

Yes and no, the Boss oil cooler is designed to preheat the oil to help raise the oil temperature before you begin to romp on it to prevent damage. In doing so it does have its limits as its design and many Boss 302's were overheating on track compared to the GT cars regardless of what radiator was in the car which boiled down to one thing ... The oil cooler which is why it has gained its reputation of being a the oil heater. That being said, the most effective oil cooling kits come with a smaller A2A oil cooler in conjunction with the boss oil cooler - think the Ford Racing and Cooltech kit - compared to the larger ones who use something like just the Setrab 9 series oil coolers. For a street car I would say throw it on, there is no real downside other then the increased oil capacity which will cost you a bit more on oil changes.

 

Wait, now I'm confused. How does an oil cooler heat the oil if we assume cool oil, cool engine and cool radiator fluid?

 

Well, the coolant will get hot well before the oil does. I can see it heating the oil up to a point.

If you're ever able to monitor oil temps accurately, you'll find it takes quite a bit for it to actually get up to temperature. The coolant, however, will get pretty hot pretty quick.

Note that most engine temp gauges show head temps and not coolant temps...so the coolant will typically be hotter than the head at first.

 

Now I learned something new! Thanks!