Oil Filter Housing/Oil Cooler Removed

[jag09]

I had picked up a 90 325i a couple of months ago as a beater/project car. I had replaced the timing belt, water pump and some other stuff. I took it to a well known e30 shop and they gave me back the list of things needing fixed/replaced. The one the stuck out to me the most was that the Oil Filter Housing and Oil Cooler are missing. How worried should I be? Is anyone else running without either of these and not experiencing problems? I havent noticed anything crazy happening with the engine except its noisy which they think could be due to needing a valve adjustment

[Seawolf]

If the oil filter housing is missing what is the oil filter attached to ? Or is that also missing ?

[essi1553]

ETA's didnt have an oil cooler, maybe they just used the fitting from an eta and the filter now mounts directly to the block. You'll get varied opinions on how required they are, but if you drive spirited you most certainly want to have one. More than likely you won't notice any negatives with not having a cooler. If you choose to install one just make sure you get a oil filter housing with a thermostat in it, as your oil cooler isn't supposed to be circulating cold oil around the motor constantly. (It'll increase the time your car takes to warm up)

[jag09]

Its just a screw on filter straight to the block.

[Northern]

I wouldn't worry about it. The stock M20 cooler apparently does very little for cooling the oil.

[jag09]

here's a picture from the shop


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[TobyB]

No panic.

If you track it, then it's worth adding a cooler- but then, for your money,
an aftermarket cooler in a cooler (heh) location probably will be a better investment.

It certainly won't hurt itself in normal driving.

t

[jag09]

Ok thanks guy! Now onto the bigger problem dealing with my fuse box in another thread


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[jeffnhiscars]

The oil coolers rarely open but IIRC, if younrun without one you have to bypass it rather than plug it otherwise, if it does open you lose it pressure with disasterous results. I believe this tidbit comes from Jim Levy who, as we know, makes stuff up just for fun :)

[ForcedFirebird]

Don't sweat the oil cooler, even with spirited driving. All our endurance cars have them deleted and do very long races in the FL heat.

Its just a screw on filter straight to the block.

You need part number 11112140435 to do so, as the block and filter both have female threads.

[jeffnhiscars]

Don't sweat the oil cooler, even with spirited driving. All our endurance cars have them deleted and do very long races in the FL heat.



You need part number 11112140435 to do so, as the block and filter both have female threads.

Do you plug them or bypass them

[ForcedFirebird]

Do you plug them or bypass them

Neither. Use the eta part number 11112140435, mount the filter directly to the block and over-fill by 1/2 qt. Our used (200+k miles) engines have been lasting at least a full year. We only lost 2 engines because of rental driver error in ~4yr - they weren't paying attention to the gauges after a meeting with a wall/car. The cars do about 3-4 endurance races (10-24hr), and about 20-30 40min races/sessions per year, several in the dead of summer.

[Kershaw]

Jim Levy says the oem oil cooler is good for 5 degrees of cooling in the track. So it's definitely not essential.