Oil cooler

[Tao3535]

I've seen several Sporters and other cruiser bikes with oil coolers and none on the larger touring models. Why is that? I would think that the larger bikes would have larger oil coolers. Would you recomend an oil cooler for an Ultra? Would it help to keep the engine cool? Wait, the questions get stupider; are oil coolers made to cool engine oil or transmission oil?

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[Notgrownup]

Engine oil coolers....

[Lucky 13]

You may not see alot of baggers up north running oil coolers but come down here to Florida and you'll see quite a few. On a hot summer day, its not uncommon to run 270 degrees or higher. A good engine oil cooler can drop the oil temp 20 degrees.

[myred55]

I don't see how an oil cooler works. Don't you need wind blowing across the fins on the cooler to make it work? If that's true, the bike is moving and cooling the engine. Is the cooler worth paying 250.00?

[overhead]

The oil cooler will cool some whether you are moving or sitting still. It increases the surface area for the heat to dissipate. I have no idea how well it works sitting still or whether it is worth 250$.

If the engine/cooler did not cool at all while sitting still your bike would overheat today. Heat leaves the engine when it is sitting still, heat leaves the cooler while it is sitting still.

[greg09997]

They're worth every penny. Heat is the biggest enemy these air cooled engines have.

[BoomerBob]

It's my understanding the newer engines are oil cooled as well as air cooled. A jet of oil is sprayed up under the pistons to help cool things down.

A good Jagg or HD oil cooler will drop the engine temp a good 20 degrees. It may not sound like much but it is on a hot day.

I'm partial to the manual bypass but a lot of folks are ok with the built in thermostat.

[Kielbaso]

So the oil cooler won't even drop the temp by 10%?? Heck 20 degree reduction on 270 is somewhere around 7%.

Doesn't seem to work too well just by that figure alone.

[BoomerBob]

It's worth noting that dino oil will start to break down at 250. Synth will do it at 300.

[Greyboat]

I have an oil cooler on my 08 Ultra. I also run an oil temp gauge which has a sending unit in the bottom of the oil pan. My oil temps run at least 30-50 degrees cooler during the hot summer months here in the southwest. I would not want to go without it.