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Originally Posted by ewill3rd I have never seen one of these oil coolers fail in the manner you mentioned. The cover plate usually leaks coolant out of the engine. |
Your input _much_ appreciated. Thanks
First let me stipulate to the fact that Catera heat exchangers are more often referred to as oil coolers. After all they do cool the oil by moving heat from the oil into the coolant. But the term "heat exchanger" is also used and I use it because it seems, to me at least, more descriptive of function. I tend to focus in my mind on the exchange.
Anyway and regardless, I have seen multiple Catera reports of oil in the coolant, or vice versa, I cannot recall . . . . perhaps both as there is intermixing. Was the heat exchanger improved, upgraded, somewhere along the line, eliminating this problem? I do not know. Perhaps another visitor here will be able to enlighten us.
But your comment about the cover plate leaking coolant out of the engine has really got my attention. This is not something on Catera I have seen mentioned previously, and I am very keen to learn more detail.
Full disclosure: I do not even know or understand what you mean by "cover plate". Any further detail/explanation would certainly be of great interest. Is this something you have witnessed frequently on Catera? Are you aware of engines having been damaged by this failure?
Any further detail you can provide will be helpful and interesting. Thanks.
I also think you raised good points re summer vs. winter on the oil cooler. I confess to being more focused on warm weather concerns, and what I wrote earlier had that slant. But I agree with you that in winter it is well to get oil up to running temperature without delay, in order properly to lubricate the engine. Of course some such concerns can be addressed by running the proper oil for conditions, especially if conditions are extremely cold.
But I think your larger point, an excellent one, is a focus on the role of the engine thermostat, and the way its setting reflects back into heat exchanger operation. I agree that the amount of heat extracted from the oil is a function of the temperature delta at the exchanger. It is a really good point, and not one I had considered. Even now that you have pointed it out to me, I cannot claim fully to be able to wrap my head around the engineering involved.
Certainly oil coolers that exchange heat directly to air are common in automobiles. They are used to cool both engine oil and transmission oil. In my earlier writing I was sort of going with that paradigm.
But your point about there possibly being a more subtle reason for use of a heat exchanger is intrigueing. I hope another poster here will chime in with an opinion.
