my girlfriends forester has an oil cooler...I have never seen something like this (especially not in a soob)

it s california car,,,,but to tell you the truth, our summers here in south eastern NY are by far hotter than where she is in the LA area

 

anyone ever use one?

what if I brought the car here where we have 10 degree winter days? Is there any detriment to having it? (oil NOT getting hot enough to burn off fuels etc?)

they came stock on the forester and now come on every turbo subaru puts out. i dont know about the n/a newer ones. shoudnt be a problem if you let the car warm up as per owners manual.

The oil cooler has been used on the EJ's since they were designed - just not on many US models. The first US model (and only one till I think the Forester's) to have the oil cooler was the '91 Turbo Sport Sedan (I own one) - they were dropped from the SS/TTW after the first year. The oil "cooler" is technically an oil-over-coolant heat exhchanger that keeps the oil temp closer to the coolant temp by circulating coolant through that "sandwitch" between the block and filter - it can be installed on any EJ engine if you buy the right part number water pump, the coolant sandwitch and it's associated coolant tubing and hoses.

 

GD

they came stock on the forester and now come on every turbo subaru puts out. i dont know about the n/a newer ones. shoudnt be a problem if you let the car warm up as per owners manual.

 

stock??? interesting...I did not know that

Doesn't it seem strange that subaru thought it worthwhile to put an oil cooler in one vehicle and not say ...in the outback wagon? they are fundamentally the same vehicles...

Why they put them in N/A Foresters? Got me.... I think they were afraid of something that didn't end up being a problem - the Forester and 2.5 RS both got the SOHC EJ25 phase-II one year before the Legacy line. Probably some kind of CYA thing.

 

Mostly it's a turbo-only item.

 

GD

my girlfriends forester has an oil cooler...I have never seen something like this (especially not in a soob)

it s california car,,,,but to tell you the truth, our summers here in south eastern NY are by far hotter than where she is in the LA area

 

anyone ever use one?

what if I brought the car here where we have 10 degree winter days? Is there any detriment to having it? (oil NOT getting hot enough to burn off fuels etc?)

 

I use the factory one in my Baja. The Subaru oil coolers circulate engine coolant around the oil in the filter head. This makes it more of a 'moderator' than a 'cooler.' Frankly, it's going to spend at least as much of its time warming the oil up as it is cooling the oil down, in much (most?) commuter service. I'd leave it on, as it'll be beneficial in the winter time.

The H6 cars have them stock also.

 

In the winter, it's an oil-heater.

 

Dave

I am thinking adding one of the oil cooler from 98 EJ25 to a 95 EJ22 legacy. Is it a good idea? Would this setup help increasing engine life?

Is it worth all the trouble?

Thanks

I'm running one on my 99 obw with a 95 2.2. Figured it couldn't hurt.

nothing wrong with it but not worth the trouble, nothing to gain by installing one. my H6 has one and im' not removing it, but i just wouldn't go through the trouble to add one. it's not like foresters make it to 300k and Legacy's don't. i have a blown motor 2000 forester in my garage right now. there's higher risk - more points of failure for something to leak.

They help a lot if you don't use synthetic oil. They keep the oil temp much lower (around 60 to 70 degree's lower) and this reduces varnish formation. The cleanest engines I've seen were ones run with synthetic or an oil cooler or both.

 

GD