Oil Cooler

[Tango]

Now that I have the rad out to work on the timing belt, I got a good look at the oil cooler mounted in front of the rad. Am I right in that this is an after-market add-on? I dont see it in the Fiat shop manual. This is a 81 Spider 2000.

I was a bit surprised to see that it is so centrally located right in front of the rad. Depending on how hot the air gets passing through, this must affect the efficiency of the rad and at the very least must block air to the central part of the rad.

Is this a common addition? The car has, as far as I can see, lived it's whole life in Ontario.



T

[So Cal Mark]

that's an add on. Is your car an automatic trans? Since the auto trans radiators haven't been available for some time, many owners use the manual tranny rad and add the oil cooler

[Tango]

No, it's a manual tranny. That's what I thought -- it would make sense if you had extra load like an auto tranny or a/c?

[manoa matt]

Do you have a thermostatic oil filter sandwitch plate, or a thermostat plumbed in the cooler lines? If oil is constantly fed to the cooler it may overcool the oil, or not let the oil get up to the proper temperature. Overcooled oil can rob horsepower, or not get hot enough to burn off the moisture in the oil.

This would be an easy solution: http://www.jegs.com/webapp/wcs/stores/s ... Term=51712

[Tango]

there is a gizmo that looks like that. I'll take a picture tomorrow night when i am at it again.

Thanks,
T