IS THE OIL YOU USE THE KEY TO A COOL RUNNING VIPER?

[King GTS]

I need the help of the experts on this board please!


A buddy told me today the the oil that you use is 100% integral to your Viper running cool! I had no idea! I always thought it was the rediator. But I bought an aluminum radiator back in 1997 for my then GTS & it didn't help. My Viper Tech at that time told me I should always stick w/ the factory radiator. Today, my friend told me that the radiator has NOTHING to do with it - it's 100% the oil! He uses an oil called Royal Purple R41. Has anyone out there used it or heard of it? Is what my friend saying true?


Any knowledge you could share would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Alternative]

I've heard of Royal Purple before. It's one of those high dollar synthetic oils like Redline, and Amsoil.

If someone here can do an independent test about these high dollar oil compared to Mobil 1, I'd be happy to send a gallon of Amsoil synthetic. The only test I've seen with a wide variety of oil was at this site (Amsoil biased?): http://www.guarding-our-earth.com/amsoil/fastfour.shtml

I'll start using Amsoil oil and filter soon, since I can pretty much get it for free (friend is an Amsoil dealer).

 

[treynor]

What Sheyster said, except add in a 180-degree thermostat and a Valaya fan kit. I've proven on the dyno that our cars make much more power (10-20 RWHP) when they're @ 180 degrees than they do @ 200.

 

[onerareviper]

The cooling system (Radiator, Water Pump, Thermostat, Cooling Fans, Hoses, Antifreeze, etc...) is what cools your engine. Oil helps keep the motor lubricated, which indirectly helps cool the motor. No oil in the motor, it would fry. Switching brands of synthetic oil would do very little as far as temperature difference, IMHO. A couple degrees if any.

Tell your buddy to remove his cooling system and just use oil (Royal Purple) engine oil to keep the motor cool. He might go a few blocks before meltdown.

P.S. - All engines are designed to run at a certain temperature, hence the stock thermostat. An engine that runs to cool is not good. The proper operating temperature of the engine ensures a clean burn, and preventing deposits from building up. What the exact proper operating temp. of the Viper is, I am not sure. Maybe one of the experts can chime in. My point is cooler is not always better.

Later

 

[King GTS]

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by onerareviper:
The cooling system (Radiator, Water Pump, Thermostat, Cooling Fans, Hoses, Antifreeze, etc...) is what cools your engine. Oil helps keep the motor lubricated, which indirectly helps cool the motor. No oil in the motor, it would fry. Switching brands of synthetic oil would do very little as far as temperature difference, IMHO. A couple degrees if any.


Tell your buddy to remove his cooling system and just use oil (Royal Purple) engine oil to keep the motor cool. He might go a few blocks before meltdown.

<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

That actually makes alot of sense! Thanks buddy.

 

[onerareviper]

Trey,

Take a look at my P.S. above. I added some important facts to my post.

Later

 

[King GTS]

onerareviper:

I couldn't have asked for a better explanation than that! Thanks a lot.

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

The oil does cool the engine, it pulls a significant amount of heat out. Because it falls into the pan, which has air blowing across it, it rejects a big chunk of the total heat. Running a quart low (admittedly in 5 quart systems) will increase oil temps because there's less heat transfer fluid.

Heat transfer coefficient between mineral and synthetic or different types of synthetic oils - you won't see it. You'll get a few degrees higher if you use a straight grade (harder to pump around.)

If you want to lower underhood temps to an extreme, install a bigger oil cooler also. But running oil at less than boiling temperature of water allows condensation to accumulate, which leads to a host of other problems.

 

[artman]

There has been some flack over the use of redline water wetter, but I have used it in all of my previous water cooled cars with success. I added two bottles to my '00 and the temp gauge stays rock steady in the middle even with AC full blast (we had some 90deg days here recently). Before water wetter I'd say I was running 10-15deg hotter than it does now. IMO, the stuff works.

 

[Ron]

<FONT face="Comic Sans MS">AJ;

If onerareviper is correct on the oil temp issue, why did Dodge install an oil cooler? If oil didn't help cool the engine, it wouldn't heat up. In fact, oil splash on the bottom of the piston is the primary source of piston cooling.

Sure, the radiator dissipates more heat than the oil overall, but to Tom's point the oil picks up a significant amount of heat. It's even more important in air cooled cars like the VW Beetle (old) and the older 911's.

It's more than just friction reduction! </FONT f>

 

[onerareviper]

Ron,

Yes oil does help cool. But it's PRIMARY purpose is lubrication. Less friction, less heat. Helping cooling the motor is the by-product of lubrication, although I've been wrong before. The oil is being splashed on the pistons for what reason? Lubrication, right? Of course this will help keep the motor cool as well, as the oil will absorb some of that heat. I guess the cooler the oil, the more heat it could absorb. Hence, the oil cooler. My point was IMHO, I don't think different brands of synthetic oil will alter the temperature the engine operates at. Assuming the engine is 100% oil capacity, the most important part of keeping an engine cool is a properly functioning cooling system. I'm sure you would agree with this....

I'm no expert, just my .02.

Later, bed time. Gonna try and make Mid-Ohio as a spectator, if it doesn't rain to much....

 

[King GTS]

Thanks guys, I appreciate it.

 

[AJ]

onerareviper explained it well. the oil has very little to do with cooling (as long as enough oil circulates the engine). a thicker oil (say 10w50) will prolly run a little hotter, but thats about it. what i am saying is that as long as you have good synth oil in the crankcase, the brand does not matter.

it is that simple.

alex
02 gts
few other cars

 

[Tom F&L GoR]

We're down to picking nits, which means everyone has it pretty much correct.

The oil is often sprayed at the bottom of a piston in turbocharged cars for extra cooling. It's actually important to aim correctly, because flooding the cylinder walls could increase oil consumption. Large diesels to small turbo rice cars do this.

The oil is sprayed on valve springs in NASCAR engines to cool them. Without this (or if the nozzles get plugged or aren't aimed well) the 9500 RPM they run quickly causes valve spring failures. Further, these engines run several gallons of oil in dry sump systems which also helps carry heat out of the engine.

The momentary high pressure the oil sees in a hydrodynamically lubricated bearing causes exceptionally high temperatures, so simple lubrication does produce heat.

Any synthetic and any mineral oil will do all this just fine. And the usual story about synthetics being "better" has something to do with the tolerance to heat (not breaking down at high temperatures.)