Date:         Fri, 8 Apr 2011 11:17:34 -0500
Reply-To:     mcneely4@COX.NET
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@COX.NET>
Subject:      Tencentlife Oil Cooler
In-Reply-To:  <72D52620B5BC40D3B0B0FDA74817D60F@RON>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8

is in my "91 VW Vanagon GL Campmobile, and appears to be working fine.

Some may recall that I was having oil pressure drop (not enough to trigger the buzzer, but dropping nonetheless) on brutally hot days when I drove at highway speed for an extended time.  By brutally hot I mean ambient temperatures up over a hundred, or occasionally (not always) mid to upper nineties.  Under those circumstances, my oil pressure gauge would read around 10-15 psi, and it would drop to 5 psi or so when slowing to idle, and then the oil pressure warning light would come on.  I could turn the engine off and restart it, and the light would go out, but the gauge would still read low (again, no buzzer).

I did not like the situation, and ordered a tencentlife oil cooler.  Got it installed yesterday.  Temperature here reached 92 yesterday afternoon.  I drove a 30 mile jaunt on the interstate.  Like always, coolant thermometer showed normal temperature, with the needle centered on the lamp.  At 60 mph, rpm at 3200, the oil pressure gauge read at 40 psi.  Prior to installing the oil cooler, it would have generally read at about 25 psi or slightly lower under this circumstance.

I realize this is not much of a test.  I don't really expect to know whether I have a fix until summer when I'll be driving at temperatures above 100 F.  But, since the pressure gauge has always showed good pressure, around 40 psi, under winter conditions, or in summer if it is reasonably cool out (like 80 F), and that's what it read yesterday, I am thinking the cooler is doing what I want it to do.  One phenomenon that contributes to my thinking this is that last summer I drove on I-25 from Raton, NM up into Colorado.  The temperature was around 100 F as we approached Raton Pass, and the oil pressure gauge was reading around 15 psi.  We hit a thunderstorm near the crest of the pass, with heavy hail that covered the roadway to about a foot deep, and brought out both New Mexico and Colorado snowplows.  The air temperature dropped into the fifties.  My oil pressure gauge reading rose to above 40 psi, without the coolant temperature gauge needle budging from its exact middle position on the lamp.  Once we dropped off the pass, the ambient temperature climbed back up, but only to about 85, and the oil pressure stayed reasonably high, around 25-30 psi until we hit another hot run.

Thanks, mcneely