Remote oil cooler & bypass filter?

[wydopenLb7]

Looking to install a remote oil cooler and keep my amsoil bypass filter that is already installed on truck. Oil cooler has an adaptor that attaches to the stock filter head similar to the way the bypass filter does. Not sure if anyone has ran a similar setup or has any suggestions on the best way to plumb it? Would it be ok to run the adaptor for the oil cooler with the bypass filter adaptor screwed into that? would have two feed and return lines right next to each other. Oil cooler is similar to the one pictured.

https://www.amsoil.com/p/gm-6-6l-dual-remote-bypass-system-bmk27/?code=BMK27-EA

 

[2004LB7]

Be careful with those adapters. Most are too restrictive and can drop oil pressure into the engine

 

[Bdsankey]

Do you have the dual filter element or single element kit?

 

[wydopenLb7]

Be careful with those adapters. Most are too restrictive and can drop oil pressure into the engine

That was my concern.

 

[wydopenLb7]

Do you have the dual filter element or single element kit?

Dual. Same as the one in the link.
https://www.amsoil.com/p/gm-6-6l-dual-remote-bypass-system-bmk27/?code=BMK27-EA

 

[Bdsankey]

Dual. Same as the one in the link.
https://www.amsoil.com/p/gm-6-6l-dual-remote-bypass-system-bmk27/?code=BMK27-EA

So it's already full flow.


Looks like you live in CA. You could easily make new lines and plumb your cooler inline with the full flow AmsOil filter setup and run your fan on a temp switch.

 

[wydopenLb7]

So it's already full flow.


Looks like you live in CA. You could easily make new lines and plumb your cooler inline with the full flow AmsOil filter setup and run your fan on a temp switch.

Aux fan on the oil cooler? Only setup I saw had it in front of the radiator drivers side above the trans cooler. The brochure for the brand I posted a pic of said that cooler oil will counteract the reduced flow to the radiator with the oil cooler in the way. Seems like a fan would be better though than putting something else in the way of the radiator. Then you could tuck it away under the frame. I have a third battery under there with a bus bar anyways, would be pretty easy.

 

[Bdsankey]

Aux fan on the oil cooler? Only setup I saw had it in front of the radiator drivers side above the trans cooler. The brochure for the brand I posted a pic of said that cooler oil will counteract the reduced flow to the radiator with the oil cooler in the way. Seems like a fan would be better though than putting something else in the way of the radiator. Then you could tuck it away under the frame. I have a third battery under there with a bus bar anyways, would be pretty easy.

I would run a cooler with a fan instead of adding more BTUs to the cooling stack.

Since there is no "kit" for these trucks you will have to choose all the items yourself. Make sure you size the cooler correctly in terms of flow. I've always targeted 15GPM+ of capability with a cooler. Also make sure you run a high quality cooler and not an amazon special. Fluidyne is very very hard to beat in my opinion.

 

[wydopenLb7]

So I was reading the very long oil cooling thread and I am torn on if I should use the sandwich plate or tee off the lines to the bypass filter and where to locate the cooler. The sandwich plate I have is a mocal duramax specific one with -12 fittings and lines and a 190deg thermostat and a port for the oil temp sensor which would make for an easy install. I figured if I tried it I would just have to monitor oil pressure and make sure it is similar to what I have now which is 60psi on startup and 44-50psi when cruising at operating temp.

Where I live it rarely dips below 50deg. In warm weather does the thermostat not offer much advantage? I don’t have an oil temp sensor right now so I’m not sure how long it takes to warm up. I usually start my truck 10min before I leave in the morning and my coolant temp is about 120deg when pulling out of the driveway.

The sandwich plate would make oil changes more of a pain though as you would have to remove the lines to the cooler to drain it and then warm it up until the thermostat opens to fill the cooler and then add more oil.

There were a post with someone using a similar sized cooler as I have with it mounted by the t-case with a fan. They were reporting minimal cooling of only about 20deg. Has anybody else had one mounted under the truck as opposed to in front of the radiator and how much cooling did you see? Since I’m not monitoring oil temps now I won’t have anything to compare it to..

 

[moparkxracer]

I am using the Mocal adaptor, I’m using a fluidyne cooler that is mounted behind the front bumper. The cooler does have fans but they haven’t turned on yet. My oil temp stays pretty low. I have no issues with oil pressure

 

[wydopenLb7]

I am using the Mocal adaptor, I’m using a fluidyne cooler that is mounted behind the front bumper. The cooler does have fans but they haven’t turned on yet. My oil temp stays pretty low. I have no issues with oil pressure

Thank you. Think I’m going to give that a try first. Do you unhook the lines and drain the cooler when you do oil changes? If you don’t mind can you post a pic of where you cooler is mounted? Think the fluidyne coolers I’ve seen are rectangular, mines square shaped.

 

[moparkxracer]

Thank you. Think I’m going to give that a try first. Do you unhook the lines and drain the

cooler when you do oil changes? If you don’t mind can you post a pic of where you cooler is mounted? Think the fluidyne coolers I’ve seen are rectangular, mines square shaped.

I do no disconnect the lines when doing an oil change. With the system having thermostat in it my thinking is. oil will not flow though the cooler till the temp is over 190 and the system opens to flow oil. I’d rather have the little bit of use oil than an air pocket. Some will attempt to argue that there is too much dirty oil left behind by not draining the cooler. My setup takes just abt 3 gallons to do an oil change. Some will also so the cooler doesn’t get air flow being where it is. My oil temps stay right around 20 deg over my coolant temp even towing.

 

[wydopenLb7]

I do no disconnect the lines when doing an oil change. With the system having thermostat in it my thinking is. oil will not flow though the cooler till the temp is over 190 and the system opens to flow oil. I’d rather have the little bit of use oil than an air pocket. Some will attempt to argue that there is too much dirty oil left behind by not draining the cooler. My setup takes just abt 3 gallons to do an oil change. Some will also so the cooler doesn’t get air flow being where it is. My oil temps stay right around 20 deg over my coolant temp even towing.

Thank you. Looks like can mount mine low enough and facing forward and it will get direct air through the slots in bumper on either side of license plate and not block the radiator. Was thinking I can put the fan on a switch in the cab and just turn it on when the temps creep up or I’m going up a grade.

 

[Bdsankey]

So I was reading the very long oil cooling thread and I am torn on if I should use the sandwich plate or tee off the lines to the bypass filter and where to locate the cooler. The sandwich plate I have is a mocal duramax specific one with -12 fittings and lines and a 190deg thermostat and a port for the oil temp sensor which would make for an easy install. I figured if I tried it I would just have to monitor oil pressure and make sure it is similar to what I have now which is 60psi on startup and 44-50psi when cruising at operating temp.

Personally I wouldn't "T" your full flow line, either run 2 sandwich plates or mount the cooler in a manner that makes it inefficient until the fan turns on at your preset temperature.

Where I live it rarely dips below 50deg. In warm weather does the thermostat not offer much advantage? I don’t have an oil temp sensor right now so I’m not sure how long it takes to warm up. I usually start my truck 10min before I leave in the morning and my coolant temp is about 120deg when pulling out of the driveway.

The thermostat will help regulate temps, too low of oil temp is also a bad thing as it takes heat to burn the moisture/condensation out of the oil.

The sandwich plate would make oil changes more of a pain though as you would have to remove the lines to the cooler to drain it and then warm it up until the thermostat opens to fill the cooler and then add more oil.

On the setups we've done I never drain that system. Like another member said, I would rather have some used oil in the system (another benefit of running high quality oil, not worried at all) than a nasty air pocket.

 

[wydopenLb7]

Personally I wouldn't "T" your full flow line, either run 2 sandwich plates or mount the cooler in a manner that makes it inefficient until the fan turns on at your preset temperature.


The thermostat will help regulate temps, too low of oil temp is also a bad thing as it takes heat to burn the moisture/condensation out of the oil.


On the setups we've done I never drain that system. Like another member said, I would rather have some used oil in the system (another benefit of running high quality oil, not worried at all) than a nasty air pocket.

What oil do you run? Ive just been running rotella t4 and changing every 5k. I figure with the added filtration of the bypass filter I should be good. That's what they carry at the autoparts store I use and they give me a 40% discount so it would be hard to use something else. I drive allot so 5k miles comes quick.

 

[Bdsankey]

I've been running a ton of Hot Shot's lately and it's what I prefer to use in just about everything as well as CenPeCo has been great. Realistically any oil when changed on time will work properly in these trucks since they are quite easy on oil. Personally I stick to the non-emissions approved oils simply because they have a better anti-wear package in my opinion and since you have an LB7 you don't have any issues with the newer emissions systems that don't like some of those additives.

We run Hot Shot's green diamond in all of our vehicles at work on a 5k interval. Personal truck I will be running black diamond for it's additive package once my engine is broken in. It is, in my opinion, one of the best oils for these trucks but it comes at a hefty price.



I forget which item but the older anti-wear package had properties that when burned would cause issues with DPFs so the formulations switched up.

 

[PureHybrid]

Like Brad was getting at, the zinc and phosphorus in the older oils will mess with anything emissions related in the exhaust. For "pre 2007" type exhaust you can run whatever. If you want higher zinc levels at a decent price look into Lucas Magnum HD, local farm stores sell it for under $20/gal. The Hot Shot Black / Blue Diamond oils are a step above being a class 4 PAO, but $$$. $50/gal is not in some peoples budget

 

[Bdsankey]

Like Brad was getting at, the zinc and phosphorus in the older oils will mess with anything emissions related in the exhaust. For "pre 2007" type exhaust you can run whatever. If you want higher zinc levels at a decent price look into Lucas Magnum HD, local farm stores sell it for under $20/gal. The Hot Shot Black / Blue Diamond oils are a step above being a class 4 PAO, but $$$. $50/gal is not in some peoples budget

For sure, it's some pricey stuff.

 

[wydopenLb7]

Update on this incase anyone is looking to do something similar..

Zero change in oil pressure running the Mocal sandwich adaptor in line with the bypass filter adaptor with -10an lines/fittings.

I had originally planned on running the oil cooler under the trans cooler but when I first installed it the lines were too long so I ran it next to the trans cooler temporarily zip tied in place. I drove it like that for a week or two with no grill and oil temps never were higher than +5deg of coolant temp.

Last weekend I shortened the lines (Pain in the ass with steel braided lines, I actually had some hydraulic lines made that weren't cheap but they were too thick and made routing them difficult so I went back to the steel braided ones.) Mounted the oil cooler under the trans cooler so it is partially blocked by the bumper aside from the two slots on either side of front license plate.

I've gained about 8-10deg of oil temp, I haven't towed heavy yet but I purposely let it lug up a big grade around 60mph on a hot day to get the fan clutch to kick in and as coolant temps dropped to 185ish after I crested the oil temps hovered around 200deg. I think I should add a fan that I can turn on manually but I'm not sure if I have enough room with where it is mounted. Have a long trip with our big trailer coming up with a huge grade where it will most likely be 100+deg and I am contemplating moving the oil cooler back up next to the trans cooler. I didn't notice any increase in coolant temps with it there.

This is with compounds and fairly mellow tuning.