help on oil cooler/ temps

[fazlo]

Hi all,
The other day I had to remove the lines "to" and "from" of the oil cooler, at the oil cooler, in order to access the bolts of the vacuum pump. The line "from" was surprisingly empty and dry. When i removed the "to" line, some oil flowed down the cooler from the "from", not surprisingly.
Now that I have put back everything in order and test flight the plane, I get significantly lower and abnormally low oil temps (140's vs. 165 before + significantly longer time to warm up)...
Does anyone have an explanation?
Also, what is the easiest solution to make the oil cooler less effective?
Thank you very much

 

[Carl Froehlich]

With no photos or other data, my wild guess is you have the cooler mounted such that oil comes in the top and out the bottom. Doing so can trap air and reduce your cooler effectiveness.

Standard practice on any liquid filled heat exchanger is for the fluid to come in the bottom and out the top.

For oil cooler control, nothing beats a butterfly valve on the oil cooler air supply, like this: http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalog/elpages/tcwcvservobv.php?clickkey=102546

Carl

 

[fazlo]

thanks Karl. Yes, it is an upside down cooler as you describe it. The odd thing is that it is more/too effective today than it was before. Perhaps, it was simply inoperative before?
Great recommandation , this butterfly valve, thanks