@$^*&$# oil cooler!

It's a GM engine right? Can you get the oil cooler from a GM dealer or at Schucks or other similar place? I don't really know if the engine is off the shelf GM or if it's based on a GM engine but modified by Saab.

I already bought the cooler and installed it, so it's a moot point. The only US car it might have showed up in was the Cadillac Catera. I didn't think to check at the time.

It's the idiotic design that bothers me more than anything else. An air-to-oil cooler was fine for the turbo cars, and for just about any other engine I've seen. Why bury a cooler in the V of the engine? I've heard of these things failing in as little as 18,000 miles.

I suppose I shouldn't be surprised after the timing belt fiasco....

Thanks again, GM.

The advantage to a water-oil cooler is that the oil is maintained somewhere around the temperature of the coolant, slightly higher, continously. With the Saab Turbo-type air/oil cooler, the oil can be overcooled in high-speed low-load (ie coasting at 100 mi/h) situations, while it can overheat in high-load low-speed situations (dicing through traffic, towing a trailer uphill).

I don't know of many turbos used to tow. I would never consider using a SPG turbo to tow.

Another GM design winner was putting the lower radiator hose close to the exhaust system. So when the cable tie breaks the hose touches the exhaust system with the expected result. This is a tow in job at best or an overheated engine if the hole is burned through in rush hour traffic.

OK, fine, it has advantages. You could still do it external to the engine block. Mixing oil and coolant inside the engine block is just a bad idea, IMHO. In fact, other than my VW GTI, this is the only car I've ever owned with an oil cooler of any kind. This is a 170 HP V6, not a high-revving 4 cyl turbo motor with all the added heat of the turbo. The oil cooler would have been an $1800 dealer repair. That would pay for a whole bunch of oil changes.

indication of a leak is a Super-size milkshake in the coolant recovery

previous

But apart from that, was it a good day? Cheers

Yeah, the "Check Wallet" light went out yesterday, so I guess I'll have a good weekend.