Can an oil cooler effect oil pressure? Low(er) oil pressure issue
 

I posted this in the FI section (as that's where I normally hang out), but a fellow member suggested that I post up here for more info....

I recently switched my oil cooler setup. I ditched my Setrab oil cooler in favor of the Jackson Racing radiator/oil cooler combo, now I'm seeing lower oil pressure than before.

Cold start oil pressure is ~60psi
Warm idle pressure is 18-22psi
Both of those readings seem normal/good to me. Where I'm seeing a difference is cruising and under load oil pressure

Cruising oil pressure 60-75psi
Under load/Vtec crossover ~40psi

With the Setrab setup I was seeing 80-95psi cruising

So my big question is....can switching from a bar and plate cooler to a flow thru cooler lower my oil pressure?
On the plus side, my oil temps are staying lower/more consistant

Scott-

Yes

Not surprising to see that result. Notice any difference in your coolant temps so far? Why did you switch from the Setrab setup?

is this a problem? does this guy have to worry about it?

I haven't noticed much difference in coolant temps, but I did not have an issue with coolant temps prior to switching to the JR radiator (I was running a Koyo)

My Setrab setup wasn't mounted in an ideal spot, so it wasn't getting much airflow over/thru it (so I was seeing higher oil temps than I was comfortable with). Instead of trying to build air ducts or mount fans on the Setrab unit, I decided to try the JR unit. My car is a weekend cruiser/show car, so keeping the engine compartment clean and uncluttered was a priority.

You were seeing oil temps you weren't happy with on a street car..... What exactly were these oil temps you were seeing? Setrab makes a really nice cooler, I don't know what kinda core the JR unit uses, but if your getting an oil pressure drop over a setrab it would concern me a bit.

I'd also suggest sending an oil sample into blackstone. I had quite a bit more oil pressure then you've got and blackstone came back with a bunch of bearing material in the oil. Mine is a K series (but the oil systems are similar), and I was ~90psi at cold start, 50psi at hot idle and 90psi anything over 2k rpm.

I was seeing 235 after hard pulls....even up to 240-250 on occasion. I run Amsoil dominator racing oil, so I think the oil can handle those temps....just worried me a bit. Now I haven't seen anything over 220, and oil temps def recover faster

Those oil temps and your concerns make me laugh especially on a weekend/cruiser car.

Yeah isn't 280F when most syn oils start to break down some? 200F is like the min heat you want just to safely run the motor through its paces. 235-250F would seem right in the middle of the good range. But I'm no oil expert.

Glad I can amuse you......are these temps not high enough to worry about?