was Hot, Hot HOt!!

[rapieper at yahoo.com (Ron Pieper)]

--- Larry Fry <rocco16@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>  Yes, David is right; under normal conditions, oil and coolant temps will be 
> quite close....until, that is, you get on the aforementioned race track, 
> then your oil temps will FAR overshoot coolant temps. It's only in this case 
> that the much-maligned MkII-type cooler will actually be functioning as a 
> "cooler" instead as a "heater".  This device is actually quite well-designed 
> in that it works as a heater when it needs to and as a cooler when it needs 
> to do that.
>   As much as we curse them, and think of them as stupid at best and sadistic 
> at worse, the VW engineeres are actually quite good at what they do.

I agree with Larry here (as I often do).  Seems to me that most comments about the oil/coolant
*heat _exchanger_* are due to its reliabilty vs. its performance.  Failure modes can be
catastrophic: internal (your oil and coolant mix, ouch), or external (the gasket fails and you
spew oil all over the place, losing pressure your engine needs).  But it's an elegant little
design that functions rather well (nearly) always.

The internal failure doesn't really happen all that often.  The gasket failure seems to be getting
more frequent as our engines age, and that gasket is often overlooked as a maintenance item.

FWIW, I yanked my oil/coolant heat exchanger because my plans are to use Evans coolant, which
causes the engine to run hotter (a good thing - and this will start another branch to this thread,
undoubtedly).  I figured I didn't want my oil soaking up that extra heat, but I found that my oil
runs 130?C without it!  (2.0L 16v MkI) This is in mild (80?F-ish) temps and highway driving! 
PLUS, since Don Walter switched to Evans and kept his stock heat exchanger, and reports that his
oil is not much if any hotter than with conventional coolant, I'm gonna reinstall it some year
soon, and be happy.

Cheapass Ron



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