The first thing you want to do is check the oil thermostat located
in the cooler by boiling it in oil. I recently ran across a failed
oil cooler thermostat. Much work was done over a long period of time
trying to figure out why the oil did not cool.

You can take the thermostat out of the oil cooler if you plug this
bypass hole with a pipe plug. We discussed  this years ago but there
are a lot of new guys on here.

Paul Lamar

Paul, that was not the cause of my oil cooling problems. The oil thermostat
was working fine in the cooler that was on my plane, I can tell because the
oil temp drops to 150F and sits there during descent. With the thermostat
removed and the bypass plugged, the oil temp will drop below 150F during
descent. I also tried that at one time.

The thermostat may have been bad in the cooler I sent you, that was one
sitting around in my hangar for the last two years.

Perry

OK. Sorry for the mix up. I thought I was on to something.
I'll use that one on the dyno engine without the thermostat as the
fittings are perfect.

Paul Lamar

I had two different 1982 oil coolers. I gave one to you and sold the
other. I can't remember which one I did the mod to. It might be the one
I sent you. If the bypass hole inside the oil cooler is threaded 1/8"
NPT, then it is the one I sent you. Then it would be easy for you to
just install a new plug. If not, the hole is the perfect size for a 1/8"
NPT tap.

I flew with that oil cooler mod, but only for a very short time. I did
not like it. Climb temps were unaffected, but oil temp during descent
would drop way down to 100 or 120. If you do this mod, you will probably
need a cowl flap on your oil cooler. Since both my rad and my oil cooler
exit directly to the airstream, I have no room for cowl flaps. Also, why
add all those manual adjustments when the thermostat is an automatic
control? I also have the water thermostat installed, although I can see
the use of a manual cowl flap on that if your installlation allows it.

--
Perry Mick
http://www.ductedfan.com

Reliability:) No part.... no break :)

Paul Lamar
 
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