JCW Garage Interested in John Cooper Works (JCW) parts for your 2nd Generation MINI? This is where JCW upgrades and accessories for the MINI Clubman (R55), Cooper and Cooper S (R56), and Cabrio (R57) MINIs are discussed.

JCW JCW owners running engine oil cooler?

Thread Tools
 
Search this Thread
 
  #1  
Old 12-25-2018, 06:16 PM
Sokol's Avatar
Sokol
Sokol is offline
3rd Gear
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: sacramento ca
Posts: 155
Likes: 0
Received 5 Likes on 5 Posts
JCW owners running engine oil cooler?

Hello, how many of you are running an oil cooler? if the car is not tracked but driven through canyons and spirited driving does the R56 need an external cooler?
which cooler are you running?
 
  #2  
Old 12-27-2018, 08:15 PM
squawSkiBum's Avatar
squawSkiBum
squawSkiBum is offline
Moderator
Join Date: May 2012
Location: San Francisco Bay Area
Posts: 1,736
Received 302 Likes on 223 Posts
IMHO - An oil cooler isn't necessary for street driving. There's no way you'll have the extended periods of full throttle that you'll experience on the track. Since there is an oil-water heat exchanger, running in Sport mode which drops the engine temperature to 180F will help keep oil temperature down.

Yes I track my car. No I don't have an oil cooler, but am considering one.
 
  #3  
Old 01-02-2019, 12:44 PM
Sokol's Avatar
Sokol
Sokol is offline
3rd Gear
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2018
Location: sacramento ca
Posts: 155
Likes: 0
Received 5 Likes on 5 Posts
thanks squawskibum.
 
  #4  
Old 01-02-2019, 06:54 PM
dube53's Avatar
dube53
dube53 is offline
6th Gear
Join Date: Aug 2014
Location: Port Townsend, WA
Posts: 1,134
Likes: 0
Received 40 Likes on 33 Posts
Originally Posted by Sokol
Hello, how many of you are running an oil cooler? if the car is not tracked but driven through canyons and spirited driving does the R56 need an external cooler?
which cooler are you running?
I suspect you already know the answer to your question. I drive daily over mountains and twisty roads at high speed and I don't feel my engine needs additional cooling. What you may need is better brakes if you don't already have the JCW set up.
 
  #5  
Old 01-02-2019, 06:54 PM
RockC's Avatar
RockC
RockC is offline
5th Gear
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 973
Likes: 0
Received 211 Likes on 177 Posts
Originally Posted by Sokol
Hello, how many of you are running an oil cooler? if the car is not tracked but driven through canyons and spirited driving does the R56 need an external cooler?
which cooler are you running?
Only you can answer that question by somehow monitoring oil temperature and ideally oil pressure too as you are operating the car under whatever conditions you consider to warrant oil temperature/pressure concern.

If the oil temperature climbs to oh pick a number, 250F, or if oil pressure -- hot idle -- or at some higher RPM --- gets too low (what is too low? more on this below) an oil cooler might be a good thing. You want to be careful though that under less spirited usage the oil temperature is not kept too low. And you want to be sure if you install an oil cooler it does not materially affect oil pressure or flow. A really good oil cooler will flow oil (cold, warm or hot) without adding any real restriction.

Really the oil is at its sweet spot at 212F which is the temperature at what the high temperature viscosity index is determined. At 212F the oil is hot enough to boil out any water which is a good thing. Even oil up to 250F is not too hot but I would not expect the oil to get that hot in spirited driving. More likely it would get that hot maybe in around town driving.

For too low an oil pressure I don't know about my JCW but my Dodge Hellcat oil temperature can reach 230F -- just driving in town at moderate speeds even on a mild day (yet once on the freeway the oil temperature drops to after a few miles to around 185F even a bit lower) -- but oil pressure while it drops some from what it is at 212F is down just a few PSI to around 38psi when the oil is at 230F.

I would hazard a guess that say maybe half that would be considered too low although Dodge (or Mini) may have some spec somewhere that gives acceptable oil pressure numbers but I don't have this info. 'course, who knows at what oil pressure the low oil pressure warning light may come on? There is another concern for those engines that have piston oil jets. Usually these jets are fed through a pressure valve that closes if oil pressure falls too low. This is to ensure in low oil pressure situations the main/rod bearings get priority oil. The concern then is if the oil pressure is low while the oil pressure warning light may not be on the oil jet valve closes and the pistons are not receiving a nice stream of oil. At hot idle of a short duration this may not be a problem but ideally you want to ensure the oil pressure never drops that low.

Anyhow, my Porsche Turbo hot idle oil pressure would get down to around 1.5 bar but I do not know at what temperature the oil was.

For the oil pressure at high RPMs for my Porsche Boxster I don't recall the call out but for my 996 Turbo the oil pressure at 5000 RPMs and an oil temperature of 90C wanted to be approx. 6.5 bar or around 90psi.

I have no such info for my Hellcat but I do know watching my Hellcat's oil pressure at high RPM (>5K) I've seen 70+ PSI with the oil at around 212F. But it doesn't stay at 212F if the car is moving at a good clip. The oil temperature drops pretty quickly under these conditions.
 
  #6  
Old 03-10-2019, 01:55 PM
flatlander_48's Avatar
flatlander_48
flatlander_48 is offline
5th Gear
Join Date: Aug 2009
Location: Cathedral City, CA
Posts: 971
Likes: 0
Received 15 Likes on 13 Posts
I have a P3 MultiGage. Usual operation here in the desert is around 230F, +/- 5F. During MTTS 2018 I saw 247F-249F in the mountains. I talked with one of the support mechanics about the temperatures and he checked with someone on the engineering staff. What he found out out was that the synthetic oil they recommend breaks down at 275F. Obviously you don’t want to spend any time there, but it does give an idea of the safety factor involved.
 
The following users liked this post:
bugeye1031 (03-14-2019)
  #7  
Old 03-12-2019, 05:20 PM
RockC's Avatar
RockC
RockC is offline
5th Gear
Join Date: Jan 2006
Posts: 973
Likes: 0
Received 211 Likes on 177 Posts
That's good info.
 
  #8  
Old 07-12-2020, 03:08 PM
WTMF's Avatar
WTMF
WTMF is offline
1st Gear
Join Date: Jul 2012
Posts: 40
Likes: 0
Received 2 Likes on 1 Post
On the N14 prince Peugeot R56, Does anyone know the hot and cold side of the aftermarket oil cooler engine adapters? For example, when facing the engine from the radiator side, there are two ports on the aftermarket adapter. Which is the output port ( left or right side) that carries the hot engine oil to the oil cooler radiator (the pre-cooled, hot side). Obviously the other left or right side would be the after oil cooler cooled oil port back to the engine? I realize I can find that out simply by touching or using infrared temperature sensor to both sides and note the temperature difference. I am trying to avoid the brute force 50/50 chance of getting it right the first time without having to reverse the hose connections, if I guessed wrong. Why, you may ask? Because I am installing a Inline Flow Series Motor Sport remote oil thermostat, FSM-215, by Improved Racing Products, so that my oil temperature will remain at optimum temperature of 220 degrees F.
 
Related Topics
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
TISGOD
Stock Problems/Issues
21
07-10-2017 12:59 PM
Dennis Bratland
Drivetrain (Cooper S)
2
09-12-2016 04:44 PM
Ministrater
Stock Problems/Issues
5
05-03-2011 10:37 AM
kenshin
Stock Problems/Issues
6
02-15-2011 07:57 AM
VtwinPower
Stock Problems/Issues
6
10-26-2010 09:44 AM



Quick Reply: JCW JCW owners running engine oil cooler?



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 05:23 AM.