I was quite surprised to learn the S2000 doesn't have an oil cooler. Even my 16 year old MR2 has one from the factory - same with my dad's 18 year old Corolla. Have any of you track junkies observed your oil temps with a stock engine? Is an oil cooler necessary? I know it is with stock MR2 Spyders, so I would imagine the S2000 should have one too.

Given the nature of the S2000 I would really expect this to be standard. I'm shocked. I like not having to worry about my car when tracking it. The over engineered cooling system and built-in oil cooler in my MR2 go a long way towards confidence... until the head gasket takes a dive due to a shoddy rebuild. But I digress.

I don't suppose an oil cooler could be lumped into "comfort and convenience" in SCCA B-Stock as it relates to long-term reliability.

 

The MR2 would possibly require the cooler due to it's mid-engine location (less cooling air) just as the radiator would be in front (right?). Why the Corolla would need it is beyond me...

 

There is an oil cooler on the S2000. If you look at the base of the oil filter mount you will see coolant inlet and outlet tubes that provide coolant to this area of oil flow. Rudimentary? Perhaps. But apparently effective enough as I have not heard of any cases of serious overheating in the S2000 when used on the track.

 

We ran 3 races in October and November. Our oil temps got up to 290 (it was about 80 degrees ambient). For next season, we will be using an oil cooler. Temps were measured with an Auto Meter gauge - sending unit mounted in a Greddy oil filter adapter block.

-Pete

 

Thanks for the info. I must have misread a post somewhere - I thought I heard there was no oil cooler. It sounds like it has a similar setup to the MKI MR2, which has an oil line surrounded by a fat coolant pipe. It seems to be an effective solution as applied in the MR2.

My understanding is that any oil temps above 280F are a bad thing even with synthetics. Your 290F seems to indicate the stock oil cooler isn't sufficient.

I'm no expert but I don't know of any correlation between oil temperatures and coolant temperatures. I tend to doubt hot oil would make the car overheat - although it can do other bad things.

I don't think the MR2 needs one because of where the engine is - just because it's a relatively high revving motor (7600RPM was pretty astronomical for its time) that was designed to last. Part of that design probably included the use of an oil cooler to keep oil temperatures in check. As for the Corolla, it's the GT-S model so it had some mildly trick stuff for its day - front mount oil cooler, limited slip differential, etc.


I don't suppose there are any simple bolt-on oil cooler kits for the S2k?

 

The oil/water heat exchanger also aid to heat up the oil during cold starts. However, its oil cooling capability is easily over whelmed with long periods of WOT driving at the track. The problem lies with hot coolant cooling hot oil.

I have a similar cooler on my 00 Celica gts. At the track, oil temp still peaks at 280

 

Can you do that for me Raymund?


~Raymond