Chris Foster
Senior Member
Knew I was going to have a lot of time to kill a few weekends ago, so I picked up a copy of PM for laughs.
To my amazement, D'Antonio confessed that running an engine at under 80% power might actually not cause instant complete destruction - and he actually made some interesting points (yeah, I'm still kind of in shock).
But seriously... one of the points that he made was low oil temperature when running at low power.* I've always been a little perplexed by the oil coolers on my 6.354s located between the raw water inlet and the pump - so they're typically getting lots of 45 to 50 degree water*pulled through.* In aircraft engines, there's typically a thermostatic valve known as a Vernatherm that only diverts oil through the oil cooler when it gets above about 160*degrees or so.* On the Perks, however, the transmission and lube oil go through the cooler regardless.
One of D'Antonio's suggestions was replumbing the oil cooler to be on the*FW side of the system instead of the raw water.**Now you're using hot water to cool the oil, and you're eliminating any electrolosys issues.* By getting the oil good and warm, lots of the moisture and acids get boiled off.* The oil also runs a bit thinner, which should help fuel burn.
I'm sure there are circumstances where this might result in excessive oil temperatures (typically above 220 degrees).* But with lower power operation in cold water, it seems pretty*straightfoward.
Looking at my engines, there's a tap that comes out at the back of the head that runs to the exhaust manifold to cool its exterior, then exits at the front of the*engine to the water pump inlet.**It looks pretty straightforward to reroute this through the oil cooler first, then to the manifold.
I'm looking for any comments, advice, or other experiences with doing this.* It surely seems to be*a sensible modification.* It would definitely require some*careful measurements with an infra-red thermometer to make certain that*the oils are being kept in a reasonable range, and that the coolant is kept below the boiling point by the time it leaves the exhaust*manifold.**
Thoughts???*
To my amazement, D'Antonio confessed that running an engine at under 80% power might actually not cause instant complete destruction - and he actually made some interesting points (yeah, I'm still kind of in shock).
But seriously... one of the points that he made was low oil temperature when running at low power.* I've always been a little perplexed by the oil coolers on my 6.354s located between the raw water inlet and the pump - so they're typically getting lots of 45 to 50 degree water*pulled through.* In aircraft engines, there's typically a thermostatic valve known as a Vernatherm that only diverts oil through the oil cooler when it gets above about 160*degrees or so.* On the Perks, however, the transmission and lube oil go through the cooler regardless.
One of D'Antonio's suggestions was replumbing the oil cooler to be on the*FW side of the system instead of the raw water.**Now you're using hot water to cool the oil, and you're eliminating any electrolosys issues.* By getting the oil good and warm, lots of the moisture and acids get boiled off.* The oil also runs a bit thinner, which should help fuel burn.
I'm sure there are circumstances where this might result in excessive oil temperatures (typically above 220 degrees).* But with lower power operation in cold water, it seems pretty*straightfoward.
Looking at my engines, there's a tap that comes out at the back of the head that runs to the exhaust manifold to cool its exterior, then exits at the front of the*engine to the water pump inlet.**It looks pretty straightforward to reroute this through the oil cooler first, then to the manifold.
I'm looking for any comments, advice, or other experiences with doing this.* It surely seems to be*a sensible modification.* It would definitely require some*careful measurements with an infra-red thermometer to make certain that*the oils are being kept in a reasonable range, and that the coolant is kept below the boiling point by the time it leaves the exhaust*manifold.**
Thoughts???*