QuestionI have this Yamaha with a four stroke motor,the bike only has three hundred miles on it. The engine holds a little over a court of oil. The engine gets extremely hot when sitting in traffic on a hot summer day. I would like to put a oil cooler on it. there is no kits available for this bike. I can fabricate one using parts from other bikes. There is an external oil line going from the crankcase to the head. I would like to tap into that for an oil cooler . Do I need a check valve? Do I need to worry about the oil pump handling a few extra ounces of oil. It would be a small oil cooler fastened to the motor. Should I mount High or low below the oil sump? any suggestions? thanks!
AnswerChristopher,
-all air cooled engines get hot when sitting still,
adding an oil cooler would do very little
to cool the engine in those circumstances.
-Oil coolers need air flow same as the
engine cooling fins.
-Engines are designed to run best when quite hot,
running cool can result in damaging deposits on the piston
valves and cylinder head. These deposits can
increase the engine heat.
-The volume of oil is very low on the oil line
you mentioned, this means very little oil would
be flowing through your oil cooler.
-The benefits to doing this modification would
be far less than keeping clean 20W50 oil in the
engine, making sure carb boots or rubbers are not
leaking air, perhaps raising the carb needles
by lowering the clip a notch to richen the fuel
mixture.
-These things will likely cool the engine enough
without causing harm from running cool.
-Cool running also allows condensation to corrode
internal engine parts.
-excess engine heat is mainly a result of lean jetting.
