Blending the oil cooler

In cold weather I guess what the GRiSO needs the least, is the oil to be cooled down. Mayonaise under the valve covers and elsewere is an indication on this.
And if I understand Beetle correctly, the mapping is also mainly designed for temperatures above 12-15 degrees C.

So I found a very simple way of blending the oil cooler, - not the most elegant way, but it works.

Cut a piece of plastic of an empty oil canister...

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... bend it into the slits of the air intake...

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... and slide until it closes the intake.

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It weighs nothing, costs nothing, takes up no space and is easy to install and remove.

I did the same. I also blend the other side of the cooler. (So do both sides)
Also got a temp oil dipstick. Looks like with normal riding a cooler is not needed under 15 celsius.
Till now never above 110 celsius oil temp.

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I did similar on my Stelvio, used a Neoprene Mouse-Mat, held in place by the Alloy Shield I made to keep c**p off the Engine.

That was until I made and fitted a Thermostat for the Cooling Oil Circuit, as Mark has done too, and a few other 'enlightened' owners.

It's the only real way to give your Engine a fighting chance of having a long and happy life.

If you don't have an Oil Temp Gauge (another of my early mods), how will you know when to fit the Blanking Plate?

It really needs to be adjustable, for different Ambient Temps, as you'll often need some Cooling Airflow, but not the full flow.

Thermostat really is the only way to go for long-term Engine health . . .

Doc. wrote:

I did similar on my Stelvio, used a Neoprene Mouse-Mat, held in place by the Alloy Shield I made to keep c**p off the Engine.

That was until I made and fitted a Thermostat for the Cooling Oil Circuit, as Mark has done too, and a few other 'enlightened' owners.

It's the only real way to give your Engine a fighting chance of having a long and happy life.

If you don't have an Oil Temp Gauge (another of my early mods), how will you know when to fit the Blanking Plate?

It really needs to be adjustable, for different Ambient Temps, as you'll often need some Cooling Airflow, but not the full flow.

Thermostat really is the only way to go for long-term Engine health . . .  

You are right. Best way is to place a thermostat like Marc and you did. Remembering Marc, its best, but expensive?
Thing is that with a thermostat no oil goes through the cooler(when cool)  Blending method alway have oil flow through the cooler.
The way i do it is looking at the thermp gauge once in a while.

There is always *some* oil going through the cooler. I think the bypass rate is about 10%.

Deepdive wrote:

You are right. Best way is to place a thermostat like Marc and you did. Remembering Marc, it's best, but expensive?
Thing is that with a thermostat no oil goes through the cooler(when cool)  Blending method alway have oil flow through the cooler.
The way i do it is looking at the thermp gauge once in a while.

There's always oil going through the cooler. As Pete says, with the thermostat, the bypass rate is 10%.

Of course a thermostat is the ultimate solution.
However, blocking the inlet with a plate is a simple way of giving the engine a chance of reaching sound operating temperature on short trips, especially during spring and autumns, as well as on mountain crossings. And combined with a temperature gauge it must be better than doing nothing...
At least for us living next to the polar circle.

Considering the thermostat. think max 300 euro investment. Why not removing the RH horn for extra space? The thermostat is located next to the exhaust.

Sump oil temperature is not useful. You need to know the temperature going into the heads. I do not recommend leaving the oil cooler blocked all the time. I have done this myself many times when needing to get the engine up to temperature quickly when I was developing the GRiSO maps. In cooler temps, partially blocking it is better than completely blocking it.

As for the thermostat? I didn't want to remove the horn. It's not too close to the exhaust, and it would potentially only be a problem if you sat idling for a long time, but we don't do that, do we?

Before the Thermostat, I only covered my Cooler completely when the Ambient Temp was less than about 8°C.
That kept the Oil Temp up at around 110-120°C, as long as I was moving.
Even with the Cooler completely covered, it will still give a fair amount of cooling, while moving.

Got stuck in London Traffic one February, Oil got up to around 145°C before I whipped the Cover off.
That's still well within Fully Synthetic Oil's 'safe' temp range, but I didn't know how long I'd be stuck in the crawling traffic.

Not sure what the bypass percentage flow is on mine, but I did design the internals so there was some.