I ran across this article with a clear message than oil cooler's on any modern day v-twin are an unneccessary addition. Please read and provide your comments...



Your American V-Twin is a time-honored, incredibly good-looking design, which incorporates an air-cooled motor. Confused yet? Yes, air does cool your motor, but it’s also the oil in your motor that is circulating and dissipating the heat being generated. Most V-Twins have only a 3-quart capacity of oil that circulates in and out of the motor. If you’re a quart low on oil, you’ve reduced your cooling capacity by about 30%. That’s why it is very important not to run your bike low on motor-oil; even more so when it’s hot out. The oil is also flowing at a relatively low pressure in your motor. The oil pump, depending on the oil temperature, generates only 5 to 15 pounds of oil pressure. If your oil is extremely hot, you’ll lose oil pressure, which results in engine damage. Sounds like you need an oil cooler, right? Well, not so fast.

Air is the key to cooling your V-Twin. That’s why your motor has large fins all around the cylinders, which add more surface area. This additional surface area that you see on your Harley-type motor works just like a radiator on the water-cooled motor. Air passes over the fins when you’re moving and that cools your engine and it’s components, including the oil circulating from your oil tank into your motor. If you’ve got an oil cooler, it will add an additional “radiator” type contraption to your oil circulation system to dissipate the heat stored in the oil.

As much as you’d like to run out and buy an oil-cooler, I’d advise you to keep your wallet in your pocket. An oil cooler only works if you’ve got air blowing through it. When you’re moving, an air-cooled V-twin motor cools just fine because you’ve got air blowing through it. The same principal applies to your accessory oil-cooler; it needs air to circulate through its radiator to cool your motor. The problem is that I’ve yet to see an oil cooler designed for a V-Twin that includes an auxiliary fan, like a water-cooled radiator.

About the only time your bike is going to overheat is when you’re sitting still, low on oil, and thinking about another route to take to avoid the traffic jam you’re stuck in. If you’ve got an oil-cooler on your bike, sitting still with your motor running, you’ll be reducing the oil pressure by forcing the oil through the cooler. The whiz-bang oil cooler won’t be cooling your oil because it has no air circulating through it, so you’re in double ‘heat’ jeopardy. Plus you’ve added about 4 more oil hose fitting locations creating more places for oil to leak from your bike. If you’re leaking oil, you’re loosing the cooling property and contents of your oil-bag and reducing the ability of your air-cooled motor to cool properly.

Last but not least, I can hear all of you ‘Oil-Cooler Advocates’ yelling right now that it’s 120 degrees out here in the desert, you need all the help you can get. Bah-humbug. Your V-Twin is well designed to run at around 215 degrees of oil temperature. If the ambient air temperature is 90 or 120, your motor really could care less as long as it has air blowing through it regardless of the air temperature. I’d rather have more oil pressure lubricating my internal combustion engine to keep me going, than a $150 oil-leaking accessory bolted to my bike that’s not helping me cool my motor.

In summary, I think the best thing you can do here in the Desert Southwest is change your motor oil often, make sure your oil level is topped off, and avoid traffic jams. I also run 25/60-weight oil in the summer, vs. the standard 20/50-weight oil normally used in your late model bike to add an extra margin of heat protection that the higher viscosity oil will provide. I say keep your money in your pocket next time somebody tries to sell you an oil-cooler.

 

hmmm.. its like hes sayin that oil coolers are not effective cooling devices... and ambient temps do not effect the overall temp of your engine... i think i disagree... i also got the feeling that he is not very good mechanic wise as apparently his crap keeps leaking...

 

Oil coolers work even without airflow, they just work better with more airflow.
Oil coolers don't lower your oil pressure.

 

If that was true, then he's never drained hot 50 weight when it runs like water. Some engines aren't stock. Mine has 10.5:1 compression. More compression = more heat. Before I added an oil cooler, I could hear my lifters when I pulled up to the guard shack at the Badlands (450 miles @ 98+ degrees). Now it purrs.

Also, most H-D's carry 4 quarts of oil, not 3.

 

I know riders who have spent big bucks putting all sorts of $hit on their bikes to cool them down. Including oil coolers and stage ones.

Their bikes run at the same temperature as my stocker. Hot. LOL.





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2008 Heritage Classic: His
2008 Deluxe: Hers

 

i don't know, i'm not an expert, but one thing he did say stood out to me, about no oil coolers having a fan, I think I read a post on here recently where there was such a product, fwiw

 

remember Sam Kinissan...??
YOU LIVE IN A F*%@&ING DESERTTT!!!!
MOVE TO WHERE THE "COOL" IS!!!!!!!!!


ErrRGARRRGH,,,,,,,,,,, ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!!!!!!

 

That's the law of the universe,a pro and a con to everything.To me the pros out weigh the cons,I run a cooler on my eg after my famous Vegas trip,also syn.oil.On the Sportster I use syn.with no oil cooler,I'll see what happens in a couple of years.So far so good.

 

IMHO the oil cooler just having fins will disperse more heat then not having one. Of course it will work better when there is air moving over it but to have the extra area for heat to disperse is worth it. As far as the pressure dropping, yeah if you don't put in enough oil to take up the space created by the cooler...if the cooler holds 1/2 qt then put in that much more when you change the oil...some people are just dumbasses...then again I don't run one...LOL...I may now that I have the high compression big bore but will wait and see how it runs when it's hot...these pigs do love cold weather though!!

 

That's okay .. I'll stick with my oil cooler. Got one on my V-Twin monster .. stock with no fan, and it has an aux fan water radiator on it as well.