Oil cooler

[Lakeman]

Someone said here that when changing the oil with an oil cooler installed the thermo (switch) has cooled off so you do not drain the oil out of the oil cooler. The cooler I am installing has 2 fans and the "thermo switch" is to power the fans. This is a thermo switch not a thermo valve. Do some oil coolers have a thermo valve? It is my understanding that the oil filter has a thermostat so I would think the oil cooler would not need a thermo valve.

 

[trikermutha]

I never heard of a oil filter with a thermostat built into it..Bypass valve yes..If it reaches a certain pressure the bypass valve opens internally in the filter.

Yes there are thermo valves..I wouldnt worry about letting oil out of the oil cooler..it will be replaced with freash oil quick..

 

[msocko3]

Someone said here that when changing the oil with an oil cooler installed the thermo (switch) has cooled off so you do not drain the oil out of the oil cooler. The cooler I am installing has 2 fans and the "thermo switch" is to power the fans. This is a thermo switch not a thermo valve. Do some oil coolers have a thermo valve? It is my understanding that the oil filter has a thermostat so I would think the oil cooler would not need a thermo valve.

I think you may have been reading one of my replies concerning one of those clean oil flush kits some people are fooling around with. My statement was concerning those because they circulate cold oil through the engine which will close the thermostat keeping the oil from circulating through the oil cooler circuit. Another down side to those flush kits is if you run a oil temp gauge where the thermostat goes into the area where the pipe plug is by the drain, you would have to unplug the senor and remove it each time you change your oil risking damage to the sensor.

The thermostat I speak of is located in the adapter for getting oil to and from the oil cooler. It is what your oil filter is screwing on to.

 

[Lakeman]

msocko3 yes it was our discussion. Where is the thermostat on a Harley Davidson? Are you interchanging the words "thermostat" and "temperature sensor"? A thermostat stops oil flow (in this case) and a temp sensor just reads the temp and may or may not close a switch. My oil cooler has a temp sensor that turns the two fans on. I have the oil temp guage and the temp sensor just reads the oil temp, I would not know of any reason you would ever have to remove the temp sensor for the oil temp guage. I also have the parade fan and it has a temp sensor to turn the fan on and off. I guess you could call a temp sensor that transfers a switch a thermostat but it gets confusing, at least to me. I do not and would not use one of the flush kits.

 

[msocko3]

msocko3 yes it was our discussion. Where is the thermostat on a Harley Davidson? Are you interchanging the words "thermostat" and "temperature sensor"? A thermostat stops oil flow (in this case) and a temp sensor just reads the temp and may or may not close a switch. My oil cooler has a temp sensor that turns the two fans on. I have the oil temp guage and the temp sensor just reads the oil temp, I would not know of any reason you would ever have to remove the temp sensor for the oil temp guage. I also have the parade fan and it has a temp sensor to turn the fan on and off. I guess you could call a temp sensor that transfers a switch a thermostat but it gets confusing, at least to me. I do not and would not use one of the flush kits.

You are correct a thermostat stops oil flow, it redirects it away from the oil cooler at temps below 180 degrees. By the time you drain the oil, spin off the filter and install the scavenger kit you will have shed a considerable amount of temp. This means when you finally fire the engine the thermostat will already have closed causing the oil to bypass the cooler thus leaving old oil still in the system after you pump a QT of clean through.

I'll bet both your oil cooler and temp gauge are using the same point on the oil pan. If you look at the front edge of the oil pan all the way to the left side is a 5/8 wrench size plug, to the right of that from the factory it has another port which is plugged with a hex wrench plug. The majority of the oil temp gauges and any oil cooler that cycles fans on and off based off temp use this port. They have you remove the hex head plug and install the temp sensor, with you having an oil cooler fans that cycle based on oil temp I'll bet there is a tee which allows both temp sensors to use that port.

According to the directions on the Scavenger made by Rogue Chopper you have to remove that hex plug from the oil pan then install their nipple in order to hook up the hose that goes to the QT of clean oil. Now if you have 1 or 2 temp sensors located in this hole you will have to remove them and the tee so you can install the nipple, this means you'll also have to unplug the wires going to the temp sensor. Over time depending on how often you change your oil you may very well end up with some broken wires from the constant unplugging and plugging back in these connections.

 

[Lakeman]

No thats not the case. The temp sensor for the gauge is in the plug hole you speak of at the front of the pan, never to be removed. To install the oil cooler with the fans you install another oil filter adapter onto the stock one and on this new adapter is the temp sensor switch that runs the fans and where the filter mounts. This is a termo switch that just runs the fans but does not stop the oil flow, the stock Harley thermostat does that. I would never use the Scavenger.