We all know that as the car goes on, the internal temperature of the engine increases gradually and continuously because of metal friction and other reasons. So car manufacturers must stop this from happening. So the oil cooler was born, so what is the role of the oil cooler? How does an oil cooler work? Here is a small edition to explain it to you.

The function of the oil cooler is to cool the lubricating oil and keep the oil temperature within the normal working range. On high-power reinforced engines, oil coolers must be installed because of the large heat load. When the engine is running, the lubrication ability is reduced because the oil viscosity becomes thinner with the increase of temperature. Therefore, some engines are equipped with oil coolers, whose function is to reduce the oil temperature and maintain a certain viscosity of the lubricating oil. The oil cooler is arranged in the circulating oil circuit of the lubrication system, and its working principle is the same as that of the radiator.


But to prevent the oil cooler from over-cooling the oil, a thermostat can be used to help maintain the temperature. That is, when the oil is lower than the oil temperature, the thermostat will close the oil cooler, and conversely, when the oil temperature is too high, the thermostat will reopen the oil cooler.

Types of oil coolers

1, air-cooled oil cooler

The air-cooled oil cooler is much like a small radiator, and the core of the cooler is composed of many cooling tubes and cooling plates, which use the head-on wind of the car to cool the oil. This oil cooler has a large heat dissipation capacity and is mostly used in racing cars and supercharged cars with large heat loads. However, the air-cooled oil cooler needs a long heating time after the engine starts to make the oil reach the normal working temperature, so it is rarely used on ordinary cars.

2, water-cooled oil cooler

The oil cooler is placed in the cooling waterway and uses the temperature of the cooling water to control the temperature of the lubricating oil. When the temperature of the lubricating oil is high, it is cooled by the cooling water, and when the engine starts, the heat is absorbed from the cooling water to rapidly increase the temperature of the lubricating oil. The oil cooler is made of aluminum alloy shell, front cover, back cover and copper core tube. In order to enhance the cooling, the tube is equipped with heat sink. The cooling water flows outside the pipe, the lubricating oil flows inside the pipe, and the two exchange heat. There are also structures that cause oil to flow outside the tube and water to flow inside.

According to its classification, it can be divided into 5 categories: but the most common and most widely marketed are the first 2 categories of oil coolers.

1) Engine oil cooler: cool the engine oil, keep the oil temperature reasonable (90-120 degrees), reasonable viscosity; The installation position is in the cylinder block of the engine, and the installation is integrated with the housing.

2) Transmission oil cooler: the lubricating oil that cools the transmission is installed in the sink of the engine radiator or the outer side of the transmission housing, if it is air-cooled, it is installed on the front side of the radiator.

3) Retarder oil cooler: the lubricating oil used to cool the retarder is installed on the outside of the gearbox, mostly shell type or water-oil composite products.

4) Exhaust gas recirculation cooler: It is a kind of cooling part of the exhaust gas returned to the engine cylinder and the device, the purpose is to reduce the nitrogen oxide content of the automobile exhaust.

5) Cooling cooler module: It is a device that can simultaneously cool cooling water, lubricating oil, compressed air and other objects or some objects at the same time. The cooling module adopts a highly integrated design idea, and has the characteristics of intelligent and high efficiency.