Motor vehicle engines and transmissions need oil for their lubrication and function. Starving these systems of oil will most definitely cause these systems to overheat, fail and break. The seizing of these mechanical systems, due to being starved of oil, will result in a very expensive fix-it bill.

The engine and transmission are designed to be lubricated with oil so that the moving mechanical parts are kept in clean, cooled, and top condition. Engine and transmission oils are designed to lubricate at some very high temperatures. However, if these temperatures are exceeded, the oil loses its effectiveness to lubricate and becomes a lesser lubricant for the moving mechanical parts. To keep the oil within the range of optimal lubricating temperatures, an oil cooler can be placed inside the circuit which the oil is being pumped through. Engine oil coolers are not prolifically found in your normal basic runabout. However, some high performance cars and racing cars will have an engine oil cooler built into the overall engine design. Because an oil cooler can be externally attached to the engine or transmission, an aftermarket oil cooler is easily attainable, and relatively simple to fit.

Most commonly found as part of the radiator design to cool transmissions, an oil cooler, as its name suggests, is a device that has hot oil pumped through it-and cooler oil pumped out of it. The cooler oil gets pumped back through and around the moving mechanical parts – heating up as it gets pushed around. However, as the oil is travelling through and around the hot moving parts and absorbing the heat, the oil will never exceed the upper temperature limits of the range it was designed for operating optimally within. This is because before it has time to get too hot, it is pumped through the oil cooler again. This oil cycle continues as long as the engine is operating.

We hope that helps answer the question ‘What is What is an Oil Cooler?’!

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