Oil Cooler Bypassed?

[Coonass77]

I have an m1114 that has a large, unfixable hole in the engine oil cooler. One a scale of 1 to 10, how dumb of an idea is it to just cap off the ports in the engine block and run without the cooler plumbed in? Anyone actually tried this? Could the cooling system keep up? The truck isn't armored, won't be pulling/hauling anything and will be used almost completely offroad on private property for light'ish duty trail riding.
Unless someone has done this and knows it won't work, I'm thinking it's at least worth a try. If it won't keep cool enough, I can always add a new cooler later on. Stupid?

 

[Coug]

I think it's a bad idea. A search of the internet also says eliminating an oil cooler from a 6.5l diesel is a bad idea.

The coolant really only cools the heads and cylinders. The oil is what keeps the lower end cooled.
It's highly recommended everywhere I can find to keep the oil cooler to help keep the rods, crank, and pistons cooled.

You could probably get away with it for a while, but your oil will break down much faster from the higher heat and it's an engine replacement just waiting to happen.

edit: the turbo is also going to be adding a lot of heat to the oil, causing even faster oil breakdown.
At minimum you'll want to switch over to full synthetic oil to deal with the additional heat the oil will have to deal with, but I would only run it without an oil cooler in an emergency situation.

 

[Mogman]

9

 

[Mainsail]

I think all motor vehicle forums have these questions - whether it's cooler thermostats, different weight oils, or bypassing coolers.

I approach these things by asking myself if I really believe I have more knowledge than the automotive engineer that designed the system; and yes, it's all part of a system. Tampering with one component of a system affects the entire system, and would prompt a full FMEA prior.

When I'm tempted I bounce the idea off a trusted friend and let them talk me off the ledge.

Maybe a compromise? If you can't find the exact cooler, think outside the box a bit and walk the wrecking yards, you might find something close enough for gov work. An oil cooler a little smaller than stock will be better than none, at least until you can source a direct replacement. But then, I'm not an automotive engineer (although I have had my morning coffee already).

 

[Retiredwarhorses]

I’ve bypassed the oil cooler many times, I had trucks on base that had leaks, I went To a fittings shop and was able to get a threaded adapter to connect both oil cooler ends and truck was operational Till the new cooler was installed…I still use them today in my shop to run engines when the radiator stack is out of the truck

 

[cwc]

Check out AC Delco part 15557751. You can see applications on O'Reillys website for example. It fits lots of 6.2/6.5 models, also 5.7/7.4 gas applications, probably easy to find in a junkyard.

Sent from my motorola one 5G UW ace using Tapatalk

 

[86humv]

Eng oil cooler is on left side..trans cooler on right side of cooler assy......temp bypass ok for oil side...trans side should not
be bypassed .

 

[Mogman]

The 6.5L uses oil to cool the pistons (jets oil up into the bottom of the piston), this removes a large amount of heat from the engine via the oil, as a temp solution to be able to move it around the yard would be OK, hitting the road would not be advisable.

 

[Coonass77]

I've been traveling and away from the laptop for while, but I wanted to close the loop on this...

I appreciate the advice and feedback. I've got the oil cooler temporarily bypassed so I can work on the rest of the truck. I'll source a replacement cooler and won't drive the truck anywhere except around the yard until I can get it replaced. Thanks again for the help.