[Sankar]

How important is an Oil Cooler? The new Swift doesn't come with the oil cooler like the old Swift did. Fiat cars with the 1.3MJD's do come with it even now. The new swift has the oil filter assembly but minus the oil cooler in front. The old one had the oil filter assembly with a small cooler in front.

The only reason i can think of why Maruti removed the cooler unit was because of few cases of oil mixing with coolant and expensive engine jobs when it goes undetected. Coolant and oil mix because of the cooler core damage due to corrosion.

Old Oil Filter Assembly with Cooler



New Oil Filter Assembly without Cooler


Oil Cooler Core Cross Section


Is the absence of oil cooler one of the reasons why Maruti changed the oil spec from 15w40 mineral to 5w40 Synthetic? The synthetic oil can handle higher temperatures better.

[deetjohn]

Originally Posted by Sankar

Is the absence of oil cooler one of the reasons why Maruti changed the oil spec from 15w40 mineral to 5w40 Synthetic? The synthetic oil can handle higher temperatures better.

Don't know whether that is the reason for the switch to synthetic. And its no longer mandatory. The onus is with the customer on the choice for oil.

I just checked our Nov 2011 ZDi and the oil cooler is missing. The car came with 15w40 mineral from the factory and had the first oil change at 1000 KM. I have always continued with the same, although at 5K interval.

[aaggoswami]

The Oil Cooler is aluminium made, which means corrosion is not the matter, but rather if coolant mixes with oil, the chemical properties change which leads to erosion of aluminium. Its bit difficult to explain for me, but what happens is that the thickness of aluminium used will get reduced over a period of time and may get accumulated in the plumbing.

[kutlee]

what about Hyundai CRDI engines? do they have similar oil cooler designs?
I feel it is removed to avoid coolant, oil mixing.
I guess good design of Sump is enough to keep oil temps down.

[Rahul Rao]

Maruti is recommending an oil change at 10000 km against 15000 by both Fiat and Tata for the same engines even with 5W-40 synthetic oil. This is probably due to the absence of the oilcooler.

Rahul

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by deetjohn

Don't know whether that is the reason for the switch to synthetic. And its no longer mandatory. The onus is with the customer on the choice for oil.

I just checked our Nov 2011 ZDi and the oil cooler is missing. The car came with 15w40 mineral from the factory and had the first oil change at 1000 KM. I have always continued with the same, although at 5K interval.

Thanks i wasn't aware the owners could choose to fill mineral even when the factory fill was synthetic. I thought all cars which had syn should opt for syn during the changes. This is good news as it will bring down the service cost when combined with the cartridge only change for diesel filter.

Originally Posted by aaggoswami

The Oil Cooler is Al. made, which means corrorion is not the matter, but rather if coolant mixes with oil, the chemical properties change which leads to erosion of Al. Its bit difficult to explain for me, but what happens is that the thickness of Al. used will get reduced over a period of time and may get accumulated in the plumbing.

Thanks aaggoswami, by mentioning corrosion (incorrectly) i meant the damage of metal which you have rightly pointed out as erosion.

Originally Posted by kutlee

what about Hyundai CRDI engines? do they have similar oil cooler designs?
I feel it is removed to avoid coolant, oil mixing.
I guess good design of Sump is enough to keep oil temps down.

No idea as of now, i will need to find out if Hyundai CRDi engines has an oil cooler. While on the subject will try to find out if VAG 1.6/1.5 TDI engines too have an oil cooler. Will also need to find out if the sump design remain the same or if there are any differences between the 1.3DDIS with and without oil cooler.

Maybe Suzuki has found out the driving cycles in India doesn't warrant an oi cooler and the associated risk and may have decided to do away with it.

I am thinking of retrofitting the oil cooler in my car because its running a slightly aggressive remap and i have topped it off with a tuning box (temporarily).

Originally Posted by Rahul Rao

Maruti is recommending an oil change at 10000 km against 15000 by both Fiat and Tata for the same engines even with 5W-40 synthetic oil. This is probably due to the absence of the oilcooler.

Rahul

Maybe, or maybe because they decided to keep the same intervals for both petrol and diesel motors.

[sagarpadaki]

Hyundai diesels , atleast the 1.4,1.6L CRDi mills dont have oil cooler.

[tharian]

What about a Swift 1.3 P engine?

Just the other day a colleague was telling me that MASS has diagnosed coolant mixing with oil in his car and recommended a expensive job to replace the head gasket. He wanted a second opinion before he went ahead with it.
His car has run less than 50k kms. But there is no engine overheating or any other noticeable issues while driving.

[Jaggu]

How important is? Well depends on the temperature range, under normal tropical range of 20-40 deg C might not really matter. Only if the weather gods decide to jack upto to 50 deg then one has to keep an eye out on the temperature gauge.

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by tharian

What about a Swift 1.3 P engine?

There is no oil cooler in the Swift Petrol - 1.3 or K12M or K14B.

[kutlee]

The old Getz CRDI had a similar oil cooler and one of the cars i had seen had oil mixed with coolant. Get an oil temp gauge and see what temps you run. Then you can see. I guess Unless you are driving through TN or AP aggressively, you would not require one. I had fairly high oil temps passing through TN. But that was mostly due to insufficient engine coolant. I am in process of changing some designs to get even cooler engine temps.

[kutlee]

The turbo Vtec running 220whp (more hp more heat) does not have oil cooler. Get an exhaust wrap to keep hood temps down. and a liner under the bonnet to keep heat away. These are done on the Vtec to keep temps down. A nicely drafted cold air will keep cylinder temps down which in-turn keeps all other temps down.

[tharian]

Originally Posted by Sankar

There is no oil cooler in the Swift Petrol - 1.3 or K12M or K14B.

Any idea how coolant can mix with oil in a 1.3 P ? The MASS said something about replacing the head gasket.

[Sankar]

Originally Posted by kutlee

The turbo Vtec running 220whp (more hp more heat) does not have oil cooler. Get an exhaust wrap to keep hood temps down. and a liner under the bonnet to keep heat away. These are done on the Vtec to keep temps down. A nicely drafted cold air will keep cylinder temps down which in-turn keeps all other temps down.

In the Swift D i have seen water temps peak upto 96degC through OBD. Unfortunately oil temp is unavailable unless i plug in a gauge. I'm getting an EGT gauge installed soon. The exhaust wrap will be done on the new downpipe i'm getting. Wrapping the log manifold will not be easy because of the lack of clearance.

Originally Posted by tharian

Any idea how coolant can mix with oil in a 1.3 P ? The MASS said something about replacing the head gasket.

A bad headgasket will allow the coolant to mix with the oil. In case of the Swift P which doesn't have an oil cooler the headgasket is a possibility, head also needs to be checked for any warping.

[VeyronSuperSprt]

The oil cooler has not been removed. It is only the rectangular box with the fins which contained the heat sink that has been removed on account of the corrosion as mentioned.

For reference, the oil cooler of the earlier swift (with the fins) has the part number 16500M86J20 and oil cooler of the new swift has the part number 16500M86J60.