The Mustang Forum for Track & Racing Enthusiasts

Taking your Mustang to an open track/HPDE event for the first time? Do you race competitively? This forum is for you! Log in to remove most ads.

  • Welcome to the Ford Mustang forum built for owners of the Mustang GT350, BOSS 302, GT500, and all other S550, S197, SN95, Fox Body and older Mustangs set up for open track days, road racing, and/or autocross. Join our forum, interact with others, share your build, and help us strengthen this community!

Priming oil cooler, is it required?

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

For those of you who are running an aftermarket engine oil cooler with a t-stat in the plate what are you doing to prime/fill the cooler after an oil change? Just fire the motor and let it fill? I would think that would starve the motor of oil for a brief period of time when the t-stat opened.
 

Grant 302

basic and well known psychic
It has a thermostat in the sandwich adapter plate that doesn't open until 180 degrees, so that trick wont work.

If you're changing the oil cold and the T-stat is shut, there's still (old) oil in that part of the system. If you drain the system hot, then it might be a problem if it closes after draining and there is air in the cooler when the T-stat opens.
 
If you're changing the oil cold and the T-stat is shut, there's still (old) oil in that part of the system. If you drain the system hot, then it might be a problem if it closes after draining and there is air in the cooler when the T-stat opens.
After looking at the adapter the thermostat is actually open, plunger withdrawn, when the oil is cold. This allows the oil to flow from one side of the adapter to the other and enter then exit the filter, follows the path of least resistance. While the plunger is pulled back the path to the cooler is also open allowing the cooler to fill with oil. Once the cooler is full all oil will bypass the cooler, following path of least resistance, until the tsat closes, plunger extended. Once this occurs all oil travels through the cooler, returns to and flows through the filter then through the engine. Your original statement is correct; matt the accelerator and crank to prime the cooler.
 

TMO Supporting Vendors

Top