IE oil cooler cap

[blkbma]

Hi all,

I recently picked up a IE oil cooler cap http://www.iemotorsport.com/bmw/E36-...lcooladpt.html and oil cooler from another forum member and have a couple of questions...

I am not ready to install the oil cooler yet however I do want to install my also newly purchased Auto Meter oil pressure and oil temp gauges and run them off the cap.

As a temporary (~2month) solution would it be detrimental to plug the oil line ports on the cap and run the gauges off the two accessory ports? (probably not ideal in a perfect world, but for 2 months and about 150miles of driving it should be ok..)

Should I buy an oil distribution block (bimmerworld for example) and attach from there? (seems kind of pointless to spend more money when I have the cap to run everything I need already!)

Or should I just wait until I am ready to install the cooler and run everything through the IE cap? (most logical, but I want to finish my gauge install ASAP, I'm sick of looking at the HVAC panel with missing/un-working parts!)


EDIT: I am aware I need a 1/4 to 1/8 reducer to run pressure/temp off the IE cap

Let me know your thoughts!

Many thanks
David

[FLG]

From reading on there site it would seem oil runs from filter to cap and back to engine so, plugging it would result in zero oil pressure and you needing a new engine. Either wait or run a hose to loop the Ports

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2

[blkbma]

That's a great observation and one I didn't even pick up on. I just had a look at the cap and if I plug it there will definitely be zero pressure!

Thank you for the tip.

Cheers
David

[butters]

technically there would be extreme pressure and no flow ;)

[blkbma]

For final clarification here is info direct from IE;

Hi David,

You would need to loop the large inlet and outlet ports for the cooler in order to run without the cooler, otherwise the circuit is blocked as it is intended to be a zero-bypass arrangement.

It is safe to use the auxiliary ports for gauges or pressure switches, but I would not attempt to use them as a bypass as the passages are too small/restrictive to act as a bypass for lubrication.

In short - you can go ahead and install the cap, but it is vital that the main lubrication passages be looped until a cooler is fitted.