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High oil temp (overheating at track)

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Setrab lists two thermostatic sandwich plate sizes:

M20x1.5 and 3/4-16

Having a brain fart...which one is the correct adapter size for our motors? Thinking the 5.0 Coyote/Roadrunner engine uses an M22 size filter adapter.
 
Last edited:

drano38

Wayne
1,130
318
The 5 liter has 22mm x 1.5 thread.
Maybe Setrab has it now, but may not have updated their web site. If they made one with an integrated thermostat and ports for pressure/temp, I'd replace my Moroso sandwich plate.
 
Just bought the Setrab M22x1.5 thermostatic adapter, part # SET-SP1GT, which is actually a Mocal adapter (not sure what the Mocal part # is). No matter, I'm removing the stock water-oil cooler (should have done this last year when I installed the Setrab 172 air-oil cooler) and this should do the trick.
 
898
544
Just bought the Setrab M22x1.5 thermostatic adapter, part # SET-SP1GT, which is actually a Mocal adapter (not sure what the Mocal part # is). No matter, I'm removing the stock water-oil cooler (should have done this last year when I installed the Setrab 172 air-oil cooler) and this should do the trick.

I highly recommend you keep the OEM water to oil cooler, which is also CoolTech's recommendation for the 172 air to oil cooler. If you do not retain to OEM cooler, it is likely you will see high oil temps on track.

I run both a Setrab 172 and a 926 cooler in series. I routinely see 260 - 270 degree oil temps with both coolers. Expect the same temps if you use both the 172 and the OEM air to oil cooler, and higher if you only use the 172.
 
369
146
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Waco, TX
I just experienced high oil temps this past Friday at the track. I using the in dash monitor which has already been stated to be not really accurate. As for my GT it's all stock in the cooling department sans 302s grill and tiger hood. My thinking on this is to add the MGT radiator with water wetter for now and if needed i will add a cooler later on. Track time here in NE for me is limited as the it's only open on Friday's. My train of thought is added cooling efficiency should aid the car running cooler and may keep the oil temps lower as well. i may be wrong but i can't do both a radiator and cooler together.
 
898
544
I just experienced high oil temps this past Friday at the track. I using the in dash monitor which has already been stated to be not really accurate. As for my GT it's all stock in the cooling department sans 302s grill and tiger hood. My thinking on this is to add the MGT radiator with water wetter for now and if needed i will add a cooler later on. Track time here in NE for me is limited as the it's only open on Friday's. My train of thought is added cooling efficiency should aid the car running cooler and may keep the oil temps lower as well. i may be wrong but i can't do both a radiator and cooler together.

I recommend skipping the MGT radiator. Those of use who installed them did not find much, if any improvement in cooling. The stock GT radiator has plenty of cooling capacity. The real issue with our cars is airflow, not the radiator. Instead of buying the MGT radiator, try either removing the 302S grille entirely for track events or buying a free-flowing billet grill like the one Roush offers.

If you own a 2013 - 2014 car, I would also suggest looking at Watson's kit for boxing in the radiator. You would need to ask them if the kit will fit a car with A/C.
 
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544
The Watson piece requires the tubular bar which is not i really don't want to use at this moment.

If your concern with using the tubular bar is cutting the bumper cover for a tow loop, they make a drag race version without the tow loop.

I should have also said that boxing the radiator is an option after you either remove the 302S grille entirely (cheapest option) or try a billet grille.
 
369
146
Exp. Type
HPDE
Exp. Level
5-10 Years
Waco, TX
If your concern with using the tubular bar is cutting the bumper cover for a tow loop, they make a drag race version without the tow loop.

I should have also said that boxing the radiator is an option after you either remove the 302S grille entirely (cheapest option) or try a billet grille.

Is the S grille that big of a restriction on 13-14 car? I would have thought next to no grille/GT500 there's nothing to close to it.
 
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544
The 2013 302S grill is not bad, and a lot better than the 2012 grill, but it can be improved upon. Just try removing it for your next event and see if you temps come down.

No grille, a billet grille, and the GT500 style grill will all flow better. If you don't mind the open GT500 style grille, CDC makes one for about $189.

I would also recommend draining your antifreeze and replacing with distilled water and Redline Water Wetter. I would drain the radiator, refill the cooling system with pure distilled water, start the vehicle, bring it up to operating temperature for 5 -10 minutes, cycle the heat on, and then shut it off to cool. After the car cools, drain the radiator again and then refill with distilled water and two bottles of Redline Water Wetter.

This procedure takes a bit longer, but you only drain about half of the coolant when you empty the radiator. Simply doing this once only gets you to about a 25% dilution. The second time gets you to about a 12% antifreeze to water ratio. Since a gallon of distilled water is cheap, this is really just a time consuming exercise vs an additional expense.

In the winter simply drain the radiator and refill with pure, undiluted antifreeze.
 
898
544
Good to know, appreciate the input. I was thinking, perhaps wrongly, that the OEM cooler just exacerbates high oil temps at high engine operating temps.

The OEM cooler works really well. Even Ford Performance recommends keeping the OEM cooler when you install their air to oil cooler kit.

I removed my OEM cooler to eliminate the potential failure / leak that sometimes develops where the two metal fittings are pressed into the bottom of the cooler on heavily tracked cars. But, removing the OEM cooler necessitated installing a second air to oil cooler to augment the Setrab 172 air to oil cooler I was running with the OEM cooler.

The other benefit of running two air to oil coolers was reducing the heat load in the engine coolant.

Running two air to oil coolers required the removal of the A/C condenser to provide enough space for everything to fit.

Keep in mind that I put over 3K track miles a year on my car, which is a lot more than the typical HPDE participant.

To be honest, the cheaper route would have been for me to carry a spare OEM cooler vs. installing a second air to oil cooler. It is also the option I would recommend most people start with.
 
I struggled with cooling on my Boss -- it made great power, but always ran hot. I tried the Ford Racing Air/Oil cooler, Ford Racing Radiator/Fan, Tiger hood, 302S grill. All made marginal improvements, but depending on the mod, either oil or coolant would get hotter than I liked after 15-20minutes of high ambient track abuse.

Eliminating the factory Water/Oil cooler fixed the CHT/Coolant issue (and eliminated the durability issue that 2012-Boss mentioned) but put more load on oil temps, so I went with the largest Air/Oil cooler that Setrab make, this helped significantly, but the biggest improvements were the Watson style radiator baffles and elimination of the A/C condenser. My conclusion is that CHT/Coolant temps are made worse by the Oil/Water Cooler, and that more airflow is required to keep Oil and CHT at acceptable levels.

There is also a lot of car to car variation, maybe I was just lucky to get a high HP motor :)
 
898
544
Black Boss is driving at my most basic assertion about our cars - air flow mamagement across heat exchangers.

There are a lot of ways to address heat issues in our cars, and for a dual purpose, budget limited car the choices are tough. Everything is a trade off.
 
The OEM cooler works really well. Even Ford Performance recommends keeping the OEM cooler when you install their air to oil cooler kit.

I removed my OEM cooler to eliminate the potential failure / leak that sometimes develops where the two metal fittings are pressed into the bottom of the cooler on heavily tracked cars. But, removing the OEM cooler necessitated installing a second air to oil cooler to augment the Setrab 172 air to oil cooler I was running with the OEM cooler.

The other benefit of running two air to oil coolers was reducing the heat load in the engine coolant.

Running two air to oil coolers required the removal of the A/C condenser to provide enough space for everything to fit.

Keep in mind that I put over 3K track miles a year on my car, which is a lot more than the typical HPDE participant.

To be honest, the cheaper route would have been for me to carry a spare OEM cooler vs. installing a second air to oil cooler. It is also the option I would recommend most people start with.

Great information, thank you! I am going to re-think my plan. Some radiator ducting sounds in order for sure.
 

302 Hi Pro

Boss 302 - Racing Legend to Modern Muscle Car
2,009
441
Southeast
Good choice on the radiator enclosures to improve air flow thru the radiator. But if you do remove the coolant/oil Cooler/(Warmer), use a Setrab 948 heat exchanger.

Good luck and keep us posted on your progress.
2HP
 

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