[Jess]

ok, i finally got around to doing it. this is for 2wd only.

1. remove the lines.
2. remove the filter.
3. use a 10mm allen socket and unscrew the piece that the filter screws to, pic 1
4. use a torx to unscrew the 2 bolts, pic 1
5. knock the adapter off
6. now you have to clean the gasket off. this isn't difficult at all, if you know how to do it.
use a long regular screwdriver, put it up against the gasket and give it a tap with a hammer. move the tip over a little and give it a tap. pieces of the gasket will start to chip away. pic 2. continue until the gasket if off. you probably will have to do a small bit of scrapping around the 2 bolt holes, but not much. also clean the area that the oil filter gasket will touch. then wipe it all off.
7. then screw the threaded piece into the block, pic 3
8. install filter, check oil level, and your done. except for cleanup :haha:

there ya go. remove a money maker for gm, and a money out of YOUR pocket for NOTHING problem.

 

[BLAZ1N]

and we are positive this isnt going to harm the car?

i know oil runs better at a cooler temp.
and it breaks down easier at a higher temp

so in the long run its got to make your engine and transmission break down faster....right?

 

[zerogravity58]

no oil works better at a consistent temp. oil only breaks down under extreme heat (ie overheating) But oil lubricates better when it stays a steady temp, this also keeps it at a good consitency

 

[zerogravity58]

BTW i making a sticky out of this since everyone is always asking about em....

 

[Jess]

i did a LOT of research, and a LOT of common sense thinking before i did it to my 97. of which has just over 13.000 miles on it, and gets raced and ran hard from time to time. so needless to say, i wasn't about to knowingly do anything that will damage my engine.

i found that dino oil works best at around 230-240. its not getting that hot with that type of cooler on it, it stays at your coolant temp = 200 and under. and it doesn't start to go bad until 260+ for a period of time. synthetic is even more durable. i have a autometer gauge in the bottom of the oil pan, it reads 230ish. so, i have done a good thing for my engines.

+ i have seen engines lock up because the oil cooler lines blew off and the driver didn't notice it.

on my 95 that i just did, the oil pressure was going up and down at idle, just a little, but i could watch the needle move up&down sitting at a stop light. it doesn't do that any more.

chevy doesn't put oil cooler lines on their W/T (Work/Truck) line of trucks, 4.3's included. so why do we need them ? answer, to make chevy money, thats it.

i could go on, but i'm not going to.

 

[meeh350]

I just have a few arguements with all this.

For one, motor oil never reaches steady state. It cools in the pan, then gets hot as it moves through the engine and reaches different temperatures depending on where in the engine it is.... oil cooler or no oil cooler. There is just less of a temperature gradient. Not a real big deal

Dyno oil is only good to 250 degree max depending on the oil and age, at this point excessive wear can occur depending on the ability of the pump to make up the pressure and/or the wear of the engine. Basically at this point, the oils viscosity becomes so low it blows out of the journal bearings with out much pressure, with out oil pressure a journal bearing is useless. You could use water to lube a journal bearing if you wanted.

A while back someone made the comment to me that oil temperature is always slightly higher than water temperature. So I took their word. Drove down the highway in my 89 s10 that has a fairly fresh motor, it was 10 degrees F outside, I drove approxamatly 30 miles at highway speeds and pulled over and hit the very bottom of the oil pan with an IR temp gun (300$ one)... it ready 210 degrees.... i did this several time and even made a oil plug with a thermocouple wire in it... did it again while driving with the same results. roughly 210 degrees.... my truck has a 160 thermostat and was running 160 according to the ECM via a snap on scanner. I do not have an oil cooler. enough said, if you want me to try this on my friends 99 that has a remote filter, i will.

As for the oil temp being 200 degrees from the cooler, i doubt its that warm, after all it runs through an aluminum line part way back to the engine.... with an overall distance of a couple feet. Give me a flow rate and ill do the calcs... i have yet to be able to find a flow rate, ive been looking, but not too hard.

I have seen oil coolers from the factory on several W/T models all ranging from SBC's to 4.3s. It depends on the year and what the factory felt like doing with them at that current time, they were never consistent on what and when they put them on.

I have seen people lock up engines because they forgot to put oil in their engine after an oil change.... doesn't mean changing your oil is a bad idea. It means you should be more careful and pay attention to your gauges or lights. Also, as I have seen/understand.... gm vehicles shut down the fuel pump when they loose oil pressure.... even though.... You be aware enough to pull over and check the fluids when the lifters are rattling like mad and the rods and main journals are knocking like marbles in your engine.... If your worried about daily reliability and dont care to get stranded there are other means of going about making the lines more reliable.

Do I feel that removing an oil cooler from your engine will cause engine damage? No, it merely adds more protection to your engine in extreme conditions.

 

[Jess]

as with anything, there are so many variables its not funny. i could type out 99% of them, and somebody would call me on the other 1%.

so, any of you can do this, or not do this. i DON'T really care. do with the info as you want.

 

[zerogravity58]

a GM motor will shut down after it reads zero oil pressure but ONLY after a few seconds. I know someone who had a blazer that had the oil cooler lines break and in the 20 seconds it took him to pull over he locked up his 4.3

 

[meeh350]

I hardly called you on 1%....
I basically agreed with the both of you on the first two comments i made. The 3rd was what i personally have experienced and offered to test different vehicles at my disposal. This in no way was ment to be aggressive towards you. 4 and 5 were easily provable. and 6 was just as legitimate of an arguement as why not to remove it as yours was why to remove it.

and I wasn't saying that anyone shouldn't do this. I just didn't agree with most of the comments made on WHY to do this. If your worried about blowing the line out, i feel you should do this or go about other means of fixing the problem.

But dont do it because you think GM was trying to make more money and trying to screw you. Its fairly complicated to do fatique analysis on something like that and say it will fail shortly after their warranty period and with an evil laugh say "more money for us". I have seen alot of the older lines hold up, unfortunatly the newer ones didn't... i bet GM is wishing they didn't even put them on the stupid things.... but the 4.3 wasn't designed for IFS 4x4 when it was first concepted and now that they have switch to a new motor people gripe about the fact that the 4.3 is discontinued (shortly anyways).... its outlasted its design life and for the money it would cost GM to design around it anymore, they decided to build a new block.... I-5

Im not trying to pick on anyone... just merely throwing out my point of view.

 

[meeh350]

a GM motor will shut down after it reads zero oil pressure but ONLY after a few seconds. I know someone who had a blazer that had the oil cooler lines break and in the 20 seconds it took him to pull over he locked up his 4.3

Ill throw together a junk motor with or with out main/rod bearings and NO oil pump.... i bet it will run longer than a minute easily. If it locked up its because it was being run excessivly hard when the line blew..... which is fine. Just replace the lines with something more reliable or like said before take em off...... i never said not to... i just disaggreed with the "whys" presented.

ive made my point, youve made yours... i wont respond any more.. no need for this get too long, probably has already

 

[zerogravity58]

sorry let me restate that....He was cruising down the highway when they blew and he didnt relize what was going on until the dummy light came on. By the time he pulled over and shut the motor off he already torn up the mains. I motor probally will run a minute with no oil BUT it only takes a few second to do some major damage.

 

[whitey97]

thanks for the post, i'm gonna try it, btw, would you two stop fighting! who cares, i became stupider for reading it all

 

[bobgolding2]

My personal preference is to switch to higher quality lines and retain the cooler.

With the exception of boiling water out, there is no concern about oil being too cool to work well...and it is generally accepted that 180 F is high enough for that...though I suppose that with very short trip driving in cold weather, oil that reached a higher temp during operation could live longer.

As far as oil thinning out...or needing to be at a certain operating temp to be the right thickness...well, that's why we have different hot viscosites (cold viscosity..aka the little number is irrelevant at operating temp). For a quick example, you could run a 20W50 oil with the same viscosity/film thickness at the bearings at say 230F as a 10W30 of the same general formulation at say 195F. (Numbers are hypothetical, but it would be similar to that). Once you start comparing different types of oils, the comaprision gets all wierd...for example, Castrol's US made Syntec (Group III dino) 5W50 is going to drop viscosity quicker than Mobil 1 15W50 (PAO+Group IV) as you go above the 100C where they are both in the 50 range of Saebolt viscosity. In anycase, if you NEED the oil to be at, say 220 or higher for it to be the right viscosity, you could just run a thinner oil.


230F in the sump is pushing dino oil a little...espicially considering how much hotter than oil is in the galleries. Did you do oil analysis before and after the oil cooler delete? Certainly real Group IV and PAO synthetics can take more heat, but even they would break down quicker at a 230F sump temp than at, say 200F.

Finally, GM desperately tries to reduce the number and size of oil and transmission fluid coolers to save money. From their persepctive, the average buyer doesn't know enough about oil to care one way or another! A nice example of this would be the small THM200 cars that didn't even have transmission coolers (Vegas, etc), and the recent oil cooler delete on the Corvette (made possible by factory Mobil 1 fill...it costs them way less to spend an extra ~$12 on oil than many times that for the cooler).

 

[ZQ8Sonoma]

i have a autometer gauge in the bottom of the oil pan, it reads 230ish.

How can you read it? :rotf:

I feel there's a reason for the oil coolers, like keeping check on extreme temps (220° +) when you're driving through very hot weather pulling a load on the engine, which is common for me and alot S-Truckers around here. If you live in a cooler climate and/or don't really tow or haul anything heavy then you don't really need them.

If you're worried about the lines breaking then have some made that aren't as cheap.

Andrew

 

[don]

My personal preference is to switch to higher quality lines and retain the cooler.

what lines did you switch to?i need new ones mine are leaking.

 

[whitey97]

well after researching, i think i will leave my lines in, until they need to be changed, at that point, i'll upgrade, but thanks for the how-to

 

[Jess]

this is going to be moved to the "how to" room in a while.