Is my oil cooler overkill for the street?
 

So I recently had my Z1 19-row cooler installed and it includes the Sandwich Plate. It's taking around 20 minutes for the temp to get up to 180 degrees in 80 degree weather. Once it gets there it's stable at about 190 degrees. Considering I shouldn't romp on the car until it gets to at least 180 degrees, it kinda sucks it's taking so long to reach this minimum temp. How long is it taking the rest of you guys to hit 180 with a similar setup as me? Should it be taking this long considering I have a sandwich plate?

Well I would think that the oil cooler would never be an over kill do to its benefits. But I go off the temp on the left (dots) and not off the 180 on the gauge before I get on it. As soon as the dots hit midpoint she’s warm. But I have never put to and to together to see where the oil temp is on the gauge when the dots on the left hit midpoint.

The dots are water temp, not oil. Water heats up much faster than oil. You're beating on the car with cold oil.

OP, you mean a thermostatic sandwich plate, or just a normal sandwich plate?

Well its true what they say. You learn something new every day. :tup: Is that what people recommend 180 before getting on it? And when I say get on it I’m not saying red line, tach flashing. Just a decent higher rpm.

I don't go over ~3k rpm until oil temp is over 180.

I have the thermostatic. Doesn't 20 minutes seem awfully long to reach 180 during 80 degree weather?

Per a good Ferrari mech of mine - You need a few miles/kilometers not only to warm the oil but also the gearbox and differential. Its a package deal. The water temp is not an indicator of the drive-train itself being warm and ready for real use. Chucks advice is great as well as far as rev's go.

How long did it take to warm up before you installed the cooler?

I ran an errand a few minutes ago and it took almost 5 minutes to go from 140 (had driven the car earlier today) to 180. Assuming my car is normal, I'd say you're doing well.

Yes, your engine (and rest of the drivetrain) will last longer if you wait for everything to come up to temp but don't be afraid to give it a good romp when it's at 160. You may take 10 miles off the life of a 100k+ engine every time you do it. Just don't do it all the time or for very long.

It seems a little long. With my 34 row, I'm at 180 degrees in 4 miles (5-10 min) at about the same ambient temp in the morning. Granted, I'm not NA so there's a bit of apples-to-oranges going on.

It seems odd, since a very small portion of your oil is going through the core when the thermostat is closed. With the thermostat closed, you should warm up in close to the same time as stock. Is there the chance that you were accidentally sent the non-thermostatic plate?

Honestly I never really payed too much attention to how long it took to warm up before the cooler, I just payed attention when it would get to the 220 temp area. I also never use to pay attention to my oil temp gauge before romping on it, only the water temp gauge. After I had my cooler installed I become much more aware that waiting for oil to reach optimum temp is important before letting her rip. It's going to really suck having to wait about 20 minutes during a hot day to get on it, I can't even imagine how long I'll have to wait during a colder day?

I mean there's always a chance of anything, but the likely hood is very slim I would say. I'm not exactly sure how long it took to get to 180 before the cooler, but I'm assuming it didn't take this long? Plus if I didn't have the thermostatic plate, wouldn't by oil temp normally be really low, rather than becoming stable at around 190ish during normal driving?

It would still get up to temp, it would just take a really long time since all of the oil is flowing through the core. The thermostat should be preventing that, as it only allows a small amount of flow through the cooler until the oil hits 180 or so and the thermostat is fully open.

You're going to need to install a block off plate in the winter if you're at 190 degrees after the cooler in the summer. Overcooling the oil is almost just as bad as overheating it. There's a DIY here on how to make your own block off plate.

Isn't the Z1 thermostatic plate supposed to take care of that so I wouldn't need a block off plate? I'm planning on storing the car come winter time.

It should, but I'm no expert in cold temperatures. I'm in Houston. Cold is 40 degrees.