Those laser temp guns are VERY nice to have.I have a mustang and its weird but the by thermostat housing bolt in a certain spot reads dead on to the coolant temp,the trans bolt is under 5 degrees of the transmission temperature,and its nice to monitor underhood temps in turbo cars and trying to reduce heat from wraps/airflow and see the benefits.I use it all the time.

IMHO oil coolers ae very much in the "it depends.." category.  A warm (hot?) climate + any sort of sustained running = a definite yes for a cooler.. I always use one but blank it off for winter.. 

Oil does need to get hot to boil out contaminates like water and fuel .. and to reach a proper operating viscosity... but it doesn't need to be "that" hot.  In my experience, sustained running at highway speeds (using dyno oil) without a cooler will soon see the oil pressure start to wilt... Cue Hunter's experience...

These days a good synthetic is much more immune to heat.. and has the benefit of a lower start up viscosity.  Win/win.

I would be a little surprised if oil heat was the basis of Alex's problem.. "The long hot and fast drive back from Belgium last year effectively killed Betty's engine, and the oil turned from shiny brand new do dark black in the space of a few hundered miles..."  "Killed" = ruined bearings or lost compression???

Burned oil goes a shiny brown colour while black indicates a lot of carbon ..  A detergent oil in an old engine (+ a good hot run) will rip all the built up carbon from the engine (which ends up in the oil). Some of the carbon lives under the piston rings and removing it causes loss of compression ..and smoke  BTDT.   

I would also think very carefully about the magnetic oil traps (if I could find it you could have mine).  Once the engine is installed they are pretty well impossible to remove for cleaning.  I did think of cutting a window in the firewall that I could poke  socket through but didn't get around to it.  When I did remove it, the amount of swarf attached was quite alarming.  I think if you're really concerned then a remote oil filter is the way to go....  but then, maybe you're better off just budgeting for an engine rebuild every 20 years or so..

As I started..the decision to fit an oil cooler depends on where you live and how you use the car.. Yer pays yer money and takes yer chances....

Cheers, Ian

Yes the 911 is "air cooled" but a stock early engine has 9 quarts of oil.  Most early cars now are upgraded to an additional cooler located in the right front fender, which mine has, capacity now up to 11 quarts.  These work well but have poor air flow, like the radiator in the Mini, so many owners go to the racing style with the cooler in the middle of the front spoiler.

I just wondered because a lot of the Mini engine pics don't have a cooler like mine.  Just curious.

I think if you check that 911 you will find it has two oil thermostats built in. And it could be an oil cooled engine call it air cooled if you like, which makes everything air cooled. Steve (CTR)

You can use a laser pointer thermometer to check the temperatures of all sorts of parts of your car. It is a useful tool. 

I can can assure you that there are people who do not have an oil cooler fitted and make that choice based on regular assessment of the drivetrain's actual needs. 

If there is no oil temperature sender, the key indicator of overheated oil is falling oil pressure as engine collant temperature rises.  Crude but reliable.  Better to have an oil temperature sender.

Does anyone actually know the temps of their oil before putting these oil coolers on? Does it get that hot considering it shares the same oil with the transmission? I think most people probably dont know that if the oil is too cool it makes things worse?

You should be able to find one of the J spec ones in your neck of the woods Rick as a lot of them seem to be imported into the West coast of Canada.
The general consensus is the rear sway bar is the best bang for the buck on a Mini and for a street car a front sway bar is not necessary.

And I need one of the better ones...sump guards that is...getting the Aussie Van ready for the ALCAN 5000 Summer Rally 2018.  Van will have extra rad & oil cooler (& oil temp gauge).

Also looking at rear sway bar as the Moulton cones allow more rear roll.  Koni Sport adjustable dampers up front work to keep front stable.  Thoughts anyone?

Most of the Moke steel sump guards if not all of the ones i have seen are solid across the front and sides with no air getting to the fins whereas the later Rover Jap spec and aftermarket aluminum ones have holes in them across the front and the sides are open to aid with cooling.

I have used an oil cooler in hot weather driving (such as crossing the Mojave Desert, southern Nevada, northwestern Arizona in 2006 & 2012)...easy to block off.

And, I wonder if the sump guard restricted airflow to Diddy's transmission led to the over heating that 1) blew a head gasket, 2) cracked the block between lined bores #3 & #4, and 3) cracked the head between intake/exhaust seats in #4.

What I know for sure is that after we got the extra rad out in the airflow, we got 1,800 miles to home without further issue...yes Diddy's damaged engine made it all the way to British Columbia from Arizona with just that extra cooling.

With extra rad, oil cooler & electric fan in the wheel arch, my 1380 had no issues in the super hot weather in 2012.

PHOTO One:  The Extra Rad I loaned Diddy is behind his grill as we headed south in Washington State

PHOTO Two:  The Extra Rad is out front in the air flow and the grill is gone as we light out at 3 a.m. to recross the Mojave on the first leg to Canada

Once I've got the Goodwood & Silverstone preps out of the way, I'll be back onto building a handful of engines & 'boxes for assorted vehicles in the fleet.  On the to-do list is fitting thermostatically controlled oil coolers to Betty & Tubbs.

The long hot and fast drive back from Belgium last year effectively killed Betty's engine, and the oil turned from shiny brand new do dark black in the space of a few hundered miles...

At the same time, I've picked up a couple of these to try:  //www.minimania.com/part/HPS5/Magnetic-Oil-Trap-With-Filter

 

Other than the very early brass synchro three synchro boxes, most are indeed cast iron, or sintered iron, and that is where the common "beard" on the drain magnet comes from.  Magnets "all over the case" will HOLD onto this debris so that is NOT a good idea at all.  Even the magnet kits in the oil pickup pipe junction MUST be cleaned out, or debris will go into the oil pump a large lump at a time, with the potential to do much more damage quickly than the normal incremental crumbs that the oil pump is able to ingest without damage.

At huge risk of getting sucked in where I absolutely avoid.... Rob (or Tony?)... Do you ever READ what you write?  Despite all I've tried to help you, every time you open your mouth, your foot goes in!  You should consider SAYING NOTHING like I've told you MANY times, rather than just spouting off and looking STUPID!  You DON'T NEED TO COMMENT on EVERY POST!!  You just have NO IDEA what you're talking about, so keep QUIET for gods sake!!!   In two seconds, I could delete you and all your idiotic posts, again, so lets see if you can avoid annoying us for a little while anyway.

--proceeded to my little space--

Most of the crap running through a mini engine is from the syncros - brass which is non magnetic.  Sure there is other magnetic stuff from gears being polished but for the most part the filter will take care of anything out there that is damaging to your engine.  So in my humble opinion a drain plug magnet only is just fine.  Save the magnets for your tin foil hat.  

As far as the Mocal water over oil cooler, I have seen them on race cars over the years and could probably be convinced that there may be some value but in the end the juice probably isn't worth the squeeze.  

Lastly,  a cooler is a wonderful repository for debris.  I have seen where people get real anal about cleaning their engine and trany components during a rebuild but just run solvent through the cooler and blow out the lines.  Nope, bad mojo.  If in doubt, throw it out. 

Cars with a sump gaurd may need an oil cooler as airflow over the case case is reduced.

Without the sumpguard, the gear case does an excellent cooling job.

To Quote Alex "utter bollocks"...... For an engine to get that hot it would be junk.

Use magnetic oil drain plug and slap some thick neodymium magnets underneath the oil filter and crankcase to trap the metal shavings and dont float around the oil system. 
Aluminum shavings?? Ahh dont worry about them, they're soft they can dissipate in extreme heat. 
If you see my mini, it has a total of about 20 neodymium magnets scattered outside the crankcase, at least  im sure that my oil is debris free

Ok I was just curious since this is not a stock 93 and maybe it is a 1380cc.  As far a oil coolers, of course with my Porsche 911 I've dealt with them for a long time.

Make sure you know the history of the the oil cooler from new if you must use one, I read on this site there is no way to truly get one clean should it have been on an engine that died, as temp cycling will keep it releasing metal bits into your oil system. I eliminated and trashed mine, one less worry.