sheripoms wrote:
I have a 2008 Tahoe and I am buying the B & M tranny cooler for it but do I also need a engine oil cooler? And what exactly is that?
Also If I do need one , which kind should I get?
Thanks so much in advance.
First some definitions and a bit of explanation of what/how/etc
Radiator...radiates heat. AKA heat rejection. AKA heat exchanger. Basicly
moves heat from one area/media to another. Your heater core underneath/in
the dash is a radiator
The principle is temperature differential between one side of the
cooler (inside liquid in this case) to the other side (outside surfaces
radiates to the cooler air). If there is no differential, there is
no transfer from one side to the other. The greater the differential
the more heat (energy) is rejected and the faster it is rejected. On
that, the types of material (brass, aluminum, etc) determine the rates
or throttles the rates of rejection. Best thermal conductor known
to mankind is diamond, but that is too expensive for this application
That was materials, now the types of architecture. Most common is tube
and fin. Tube can be round, or flattened into an oval. Fin stock is
punchered and slipped over the tubes. Some are done there, others or
better ones braze the fin & tubes together.
Another is plate type. No tubes, nor fins per say. But stamped sheetmetal
upset to form one half of a clam shell cavity. Mirror image and when
they are stacked every other one facing one or the other...they form
cavities for the internal fluid. Brazed together and they look like
stacked cavities (internal) and gaps between each sandwich that has
the outside air to flow.
Think of two pie pans, but with formed areas that when inverted to
mate with another, but turned/flipped/etc, will touch in those areas.
A paste like but is brazing material is screened onto those high spots
and when they touch, form a brazing junction. Then induction heated
to melt that paste (which also has flux) and brazes those high spots
together.
Stacked plate is NOT good for high pressure and why high pressure
liquid setups will always be tube/fin.
That is the basics for architecture and some of the details are stuff
like laminar/turbulent flow (laminar will have hot air and not mix
with the colder air next to it...turbulent is something that messes
up the flow to mix most to all the air. Meaning that you can have a
hurricane, but laminar and XYZ amount of rejection vs one with
turbulent, which might have 2 times the rejection rates
The reason for the need is that there are losses with any ICE (internal
combustion engine) and Automatic Transmission (Manual trannies do
to, but most do not need an external heat exchanger)
Towing is on the extreme end of needing heat rejection. The lube will
both break down if too hot and its lube properties reduce as the temp
goes up...till it oxidizes (burns). Some can be over cooled. Like ATF
needs to see or be above a certain temp, as the over night condensation
mixed with ATF can and does create acidic conditions that can and
will eat metal parts (sizing for your application and locality very
important)
So engine oil coolers are normally tube/fin and the smallest of the four
kinds (heater, main radiator, eng oil and ATF)
Ops forgot about another radiator (heat exchanger) and that is the AC
system. It really has two. One that produces cold gases that draws
heat from the interior. The other is a tube/fin radiator up front
that rejects heat to the outside air. Tube/fin because this system
has the highest pressure of them all.
Do you need an engine oil cooler? Depends...where you drive, how
you drive and what you haul/tow. Or any matrix of those conditions.
A lot of that depends on where you are in reference to the OEM's
specifications (Ratings). The OEM has installed both standard
equipment and optional equipment in reference to their
Specifications/Ratings for the worst condition they spec'd this
vehicle for (ratings)
