Oil coolers....a must or no for a local cruiser

[DJinNH]

Just wondering what you guys and gals thought about the oil coolers. My XS1100SG is just used for cruising around New England. No fairing or saddlebags. My longest rides may be 200 miles if I cruise up to the White Mountains but usually I am just riding the seacoast area.

Should I be looking at adding an oil cooler or do you all feel these bikes do fine without them?

Don

[fredintoon]

Hi Don,
my XS11SG did not have an oil cooler when it came to me (it didn't have some other things either) and I have never fitted one.
Two summers ago I took the bike complete with a sidecar, my wife and her idea of a minimal week's worth of luggage on the 7 day "Geezers on Wheezers" tour through the side roads Northern Montana in daytime temperatures as high as 105ºF. Although the 3 pm tour stops and an immediate dip in the motel swimming pool kept us from heat exhaustion and mutual murder the bike never showed any signs of heat distress. So I'd say, no, you don't really need an oil cooler on a solo XS11 in New England.

[randy]

No, Dan, you don't really need it, but the plumbing looks cool!

[cywelchjr]

In a related direction, just how hard is it to mount (properly) a cooler on a bike that doesn't have one? I just bought an engine that comes with the cooler to replace my knocking engine and I want to make sure I mount it CORRECTLY.

[DGXSER]

Hey Cywelch,

I am not familiar with the setup, but it seems to me you got the hardest part whipped be having an engine designed for the cooler. No creating of connection points required, so it should just be routing the tubes along the frame and mounting the cooler up high from the ones I have seen.

[DiverRay]

In a related direction, just how hard is it to mount (properly) a cooler on a bike that doesn't have one? I just bought an engine that comes with the cooler to replace my knocking engine and I want to make sure I mount it CORRECTLY.

Should be easy! Cooler mounts to the two capture nuts in the top of the front down tubes, same mount used by the FACTORY fairing mounts. Hoses will route one in front of each down tube, and then to the adapter plate.

[trbig]

My question is...

Do you guys think an oil cooler will help with the longevity of a motor?


Tod

[madmax-im]

My question is...

Do you guys think an oil cooler will help with the longevity of a motor?


Tod

I'd say yes, but are you speaking of an XS or XJ motor? It seems to me that the longevity of our motors isnt in doubt. Thus my feeling that the XS/XJ motors dont really need them. That is not to say an external oil cooler wouldnt contribute to the life of the motor,as I am sure it would help.

[trbig]

but are you speaking of an XS or XJ motor?

What difference does that make? Anything that gets oil to it is the same thing.


Tod

[DGXSER]

Hmm...interesting concept. An oil cooler will of course keep the oil cooler, and therefore more viscous.

Soo, depending on the temps your running at, it could actually be detrimental if it kept the oil TOO cool and viscous as it would work the engine harder and perhaps not get into the places you want it to go. Kinda like running 20W50 in the cold winter months in some areas of our viewers. Yeah that is perhaps less likely, but a thought none the less.

[Montreux_Blue]

So, bad for north, good for south!

[TopCatGr58]

The OEM oil coolers have a bypass valve in the adapter plate in case of filter clogging, but run/cool all the time. There are Thermostat valves that can be gotten and put on to keep the oil warm during colder climes and allow it to flow thru the cooler when it gets hot.

But yeah, if you need to switch to 10-40 or so oil for winter, then you probably live where it's quite cold, and with properly timed oil changes, you probably wouldn't experience enough viscosity breakdown in the warmer times to contribute much towards any accelarated engine wear.
T.C.

[lakecountrydave]

I have thought about adding one to my bike. I was wondering if I needed to add a pump to push the oil up and through the cooler? Also, I assume that if I add the S.o.f.c.a that would provide the necessary plumbing points? I believe that a PO had a fairing &/or oil cooler on her before as it has the bolts in the frame already.

[trbig]

No additional oil pump is needed. The gear driven pump on the XS is more like an automotive pump and is plenty stout enough for what you're planning. I've never heard of one of these oil pumps going bad..


Tod

[DJinNH]

My question is...

Do you guys think an oil cooler will help with the longevity of a motor?


Tod

I guess that's what I was getting at with my question.

Thanks for the answers guys.

Don