Oil cooler?

[JonnyO]

Oil coolers are a recurring topic. There are two approaches, find an original Yamaha Venturer which came with an oil cooler and has the stock adapter. That bike also had a couple tabs welded to the down pipes to provide mounts for the cooler and tubing. Not many around any more. The second is to find one of member TC's adapters, made for a short time a few years back. He was selling them here in the forums (around $25 - $30) and maybe someone has one of these. If I recall they also used a spin-on filter. At least one member plumbed in a thermal bypass unit so the engine oil would warm up quicker in colder conditions before being sent to the cooler.

I would suggest that adding a cooler today will take some "cobbling together" as the original Yamaha lines are now over 40 years old and not reliable.

How effective are the coolers? While anecdotes are around, testing that I once saw indicated the coolers dropped the oil temps by about 15 degrees F when the ambient temps were around 80 degrees F. Oil has come a long way since the 80's and a cooler may not be needed any longer. I lived in Arizona for a few years (2001 - 2003) and ran the XJ, pulling my trailer in many instances, and had no problems. I ran Rotella 10W-40 and changed oil and filter about every 3,000 miles.

As many have stated, the XS11 engine will run for long periods of time if properly maintained. Adding an oil cooler sounds like a great idea but may have little practical value when using modern oils.

There is a joke about Arizona I heard when I was there. A priest was trying to set up a church, and after a few years had to head back east to update the church elders. He was having a hard time establishing a congregation and the elders wanted to know why. The priest replied that residents in winter had already seen heaven and residents in the summer had already seen hell. The church could not compete...

That's GOOD!

And seriously...I'm grateful for the wisdom of experience. Thanks! Now "out of the heat and into the family room"...:-D

[yamahansolo]

I have an extra oil cooler and the adaptor plate. Pm if interested