Wanna delete the oil cooler on 87 GN

[richy rich]

Hey Guy's,I wanna delete that external oil cooler on my 87 GN.Do I just block the fitting's coming out of the oil filter housing?If So,anybody know what fitting's these are?Or do I remove that big adapter all together??Im now useing a rad with no cooler lines,& dont like the look of my aftermarket oil cooler!

 

[turbofabricator]

Just unbolt the whole adaptor from the oil filter adaptor and screw the oil filter directly to the pump. Same as the old Buick V6 and V8's did. Problem solved. Be sure to run synthetic oil, too.

 

[richy rich]

Man that sounds too easy!LOL!Hey are both threads the same-in other words same oil filter?

 

[Grumpy]

yup

 

[87BuickMan]

unless the oil cooler is cloged with debrie why would you remove the oil cooler? GM put it there for a reason. The oil gets HOT in these cars as it goes through the turbo. I flushed my radiator, and when I put the engine back in I hooked up the oil cooler. Only advantage of removing the oil cooler adapter and lines is to run a larger ( longer) oil filter.If it aint broke don't fix it.

 

[86Nick]

unless the oil cooler is cloged with debrie why would you remove the oil cooler? GM put it there for a reason. The oil gets HOT in these cars as it goes through the turbo. I flushed my radiator, and when I put the engine back in I hooked up the oil cooler. Only advantage of removing the oil cooler adapter and lines is to run a larger ( longer) oil filter.If it aint broke don't fix it.

I agree on that!!

 

[Grumpy]

this has been beat to death .. if you blow up a motor and crap gets in the rad cooler I would eliminate it.. IF ya go to a F body radiator you don't have an oil cooler in it so you eliminate it.. I have been running without one since the early 90s in my FLEET of Buicks/TTAs.. I change my oil regularly and the car doesn't run hot (160/170) so it isn't "heating" up the oil .. some like it some don't..

 

[Lee Thompson]

I have one ?

Do you have use an oil temp. gage?

 

[richy rich]

Um Hey I just asked how to delete my cooler,& I got my answer I was looking for right away-Thank You on that one.If some guy's wanna run coolers-Hey have at her!!

 

[Grumpy]

Do you have use an oil temp. gage?

we don't BUT like I said our cars run cool . plus all the mileage an beatings we give our cars I havent had any problems..

 

[TurboMonte 2]

No oil cooler here...My remote oil filter is probably a more effective cooler than stock cooler via radiator anyhow...

Altho I have not actually measured it, I doubt factory cooler would do more that about 3-5 degrees cooling w/ engine @ operating temp......

 

[79TurboCutlass]

No oil cooler here either.

 

[yullose]

I tried experimenting awhile ago... with and w/o the oil cooler.

There really was NO appreciable difference in the oil temperature either way.

The oil temps generally follow parallel to the coolant temps, plus or minus a few degrees...

My GN with a 160 Tstat would see oil temps around 170-180. This was checked with a temp sender AND an IR thermometer.

If you wanna run a cooler... FINE.

If you don't wanna run a cooler... FINE.

Either way it won't make a difference.

The only benefit I see to running a cooler is if you get stuck doing round-robins at the dragstrip and have little cool-down time. Oil viscosity may suffer and you may see a loss of oil pressure until the oil temps come back down. Otherwise, no big deal.

 

[pacecarta]

only thing might happen without the oil cooler , well will happen , is the oil will reach its operating temp ,

fyi most run 160* thermostats and coolant temp is only about 170 going in and well below 160* at the outlet side where the oil /trans coolers are (not the 200* + in that the stock setup was with engine internal temp at ~200* heating up the oil ) ,
160* helps for running boost to combat detonation in the cylinders but 160-170 is not ideal operating temp for oil , try 230* for maximum HP and cleaning ability so why do you feel you need to run an oil cooler ?

at the track you usually spend up to an hour (sometimes longer) sitting in the staging lane , car is well cooled down ...then its fire it up pull up do a burnout and jump to the line , lucky if coolant gets to temp let alone oil
you want the oil to be warmed before a pass not cold , last thing i want is a cold radiator making oil warmup take even longer

for me its no cooler , if i were to run endurance laps or a cannonball yeah i'd run a cooler , the bigger the better , but for street use and drag NO WAY

and as for reusing a oil cooler (in radiator or not) that was previously connected to a blown motor w/ composite headgaskets that went into the valley or with wiped bearings or wiped cam
you'd be a fool to reuse that cooler or think cleaning will be enough when you just spent thousands on a rebuild and probably a new roller cam , not to mention your turbo is also connected to your oil system , all which could be turned to junk over a piece of trash that was in the cooler

as for trans coolers , transmissions dont need heat in the oil (atleast not in the weather we normally drive our TRs in) , the bigger the better, but if you trashed a tranny , you spend thousands on a rebuild and either replaced or sent out the converter to be disassembled and cleaned , would be foolish to take a chance on a cooler with so much $$$ on the line , cheaper in long run to replace the radiator or whatever other cooler you had than to do a trans again prematurely because a piece of trash was in the cooler , i know guys say they can clean them out but i'm not willing to take a gamble with what another trans will cost plus install

 

[86GN-862+2]

PACECARTA, I recently bought a 1986 project GN. Got it running decent finally but temperature climbs to above 215 degrees when I get on it. The gas is crap around here with 91 octane being the highest. Also, I may have a vacuum leak or something since it only does 11lbs or so. The coolant temperature climbs to around 190 degrees according to SM at IDLE with a 160 stat! BL is at 115-117 at idle as well. :frown: I have a feeling the Ox-sensor is bad. any thoughts? Sorry for the lack of other relevant info...still a newb. Thanx!

 

[pacecarta]

off subject and you should probably start a new thread ,,

stock chip??160 therm with a stock chip will do little for operating temps , the fans on stock chip wont come on until 190 so no cooling really happens until fan turns on and the stock 22yr old fan may be low on muscle , it can be rewired to run in high mode which might help a little
rad could be neglected and clogged with corrosion too, or even just bugs or leaves

get the temps down and you should be able to run a little more boost

11psi is about right if you have the hose connected turbo to wastegate (no solenoid or bleeder) which will result in lowest boost possible for your wastgate
then again is that a real boost gauge your qouting boost from or the stock indash led liar?

blms say your rich a little not lean so no vac leak unless your way over spec on the fuel pressure , with stock chip thats 37psi vac line off fp regulator-engine running (reconnect vac line after testing )

fact that its reading a little rich on blm would tell me tghe o2 sensor is capable of putting out a high o2 number so i wouldn't assume it to be bad ,
your cc count (look at the SM in CC mode)with stock chip should rise from 0-255 in under 90 seconds at warmed up idle if o2 sensor is good , aftermarket chips like TT run openloop idle and cc wont change much at idle

,

 

[TurboMonte 2]

Um Hey I just asked how to delete my cooler,& I got my answer I was looking for right away-Thank You on that one.If some guy's wanna run coolers-Hey have at her!!

Glad you DID get your "Thread-answer" early-on, but you just need to excuse us for continuing-on re: merits-or-NOT of a cooler... These "merits" have been previously discussed many times, but we still have the need to...

 

[86GN-862+2]

off subject and you should probably start a new thread ,,

stock chip??160 therm with a stock chip will do little for operating temps , the fans on stock chip wont come on until 190 so no cooling really happens until fan turns on and the stock 22yr old fan may be low on muscle , it can be rewired to run in high mode which might help a little
rad could be neglected and clogged with corrosion too, or even just bugs or leaves

get the temps down and you should be able to run a little more boost

11psi is about right if you have the hose connected turbo to wastegate (no solenoid or bleeder) which will result in lowest boost possible for your wastgate
then again is that a real boost gauge your qouting boost from or the stock indash led liar?

blms say your rich a little not lean so no vac leak unless your way over spec on the fuel pressure , with stock chip thats 37psi vac line off fp regulator-engine running (reconnect vac line after testing )

fact that its reading a little rich on blm would tell me tghe o2 sensor is capable of putting out a high o2 number so i wouldn't assume it to be bad ,
your cc count (look at the SM in CC mode)with stock chip should rise from 0-255 in under 90 seconds at warmed up idle if o2 sensor is good , aftermarket chips like TT run openloop idle and cc wont change much at idle

,

Sorry for butting in.... :redface: one more time:biggrin: The car has stock FPR(checked fp hose disconnected and showed 40psi), stock fuel pump, 34lbs injectors and a TT chip. All else is still stock. The fan won't kick into high mode unless A/C is on. Boost gauge is connected to vacuum block(dash are lit all the way up---boost & RPM). When first installed TT chip, I saw 15psi boost once. Anyway, looking at adjustable fpr and fuel pump upgrade right now.
Thanx! Jr.

 

[turbojd]

I have a jumper wire on my fan, it runs on high speed all the time.

 

[86GN-862+2]

I have a jumper wire on my fan, it runs on high speed all the time.

how? where? on the fan itself? or the relays(there are 2)