Oil cooler questions

[lancia7550]

Hi,

One of my oil cooler hoses on my S1 Rallye S perished and started spraying oil al over my engine bay. In restrospect I should have replaced these sooner, but they looked okay vissually. Getting the car going temporarily prompted a few questions:

1) Is it successful to have them remade by a hydraulic hose supplier using the original fittings or is it better (and possible?) to buy new ones from a Fulvia specialist parts suppliers?

2) Most importantly, can you block off the hoses if you are stuck beside the road? E.g. will oil still flow to all parts of the engine if you block rather than connect the two hoses?

3) Does the oil filter base have a thermostat or any mechanism going to the oil cooler and does this ever need servicing/ replacement?

Thanks in advance!

[Huib]

I would remove the cooler. Around 1970 engine oil became better. The 2nd series did not have an oil cooler at all. With the cooler installed you risk bad hoses, leaking cooler and if the thermostat does not close an oil temperature which is too low.

REMOVE THE THERMOSTAT if you close off the holes on the oil filter base. The thermostat is a three way valve. When it opens the channel to the cooler it closes the internal by pass.

If you drive a lot in the mountains at high temperatures, consider a good 10W60. I use the Millers 10W60 synthetic with 3 esters and nanotechnology from rebuild (no running in oil). The engine easily does 500.000 km.

[lancia7550]

Thanks for the useful advice as always, Huib.

I can see the benefit of removing the oil cooler but I am in two minds if I want to modify the car from original, as the oil cooler (and brake booster) is unique to the Series 1 Rallye S.

I see Rosso Corsa in Italy stock new hoses so at least that will alleviate my concern around having new hoses made with the old fittings, but I guess the quality remains unknown.

At this stage the thermostat appears to work judging by the low temperature of the oil cooler when the car is warming up. I have come across some new oil thermostats online, but I am yet to enquire about the price.

[Huib]

I can understand. On the other hand I have seen a few blown up engines because of mishap in the oil cooler circuit.

The oil cooler may be original to the 1.3S but in those days there was no 1.3S with a 50+ years old oil cooler.

I have seen complete sets (cooler + hoses).