Is This My Oil Cooler

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Just bought a new 2015 Tacoma with Off Road, and the towing package. In looking under the hood, I noticed two hoses to/from the filter housing base. They look like they lead to the water pump, but it is crowded under there, not to mention too cold to stand outside like a dang fool looking under the hood of a new truck.

Is this my oil cooler? Are these vulnerable to failure of any kind? The hoses sort of worry me.

Now I have a 2nd Tacoma to keep my 1st one company. Can't stand the idea of parting with it, but the access cab no longer accommodates my kids.



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Yes, most Toyota's with a towing package and some without use an oil to coolant heat exchanger between the block and filter.

No, not prone to failure. Hoses carrying coolant are pretty common under the hood, why worry about these and not those running to the throttle body or heater core?
 
My 4 Runner has the same setup: water cooling through the filter housing, although mine is on the side of the block, not in a nice easy access place like yours. After 25 years, there's been zero issues.
 
Originally Posted By: bepperb
No, not prone to failure. Hoses carrying coolant are pretty common under the hood, why worry about these and not those running to the throttle body or heater core?


True. Just more hoses to burst, I guess.

Do you know if there is a thermostat involved here? Looks like you're a Toyota owner.
 
Originally Posted By: JerryBob
Originally Posted By: bepperb
No, not prone to failure. Hoses carrying coolant are pretty common under the hood, why worry about these and not those running to the throttle body or heater core?


True. Just more hoses to burst, I guess.

Do you know if there is a thermostat involved here? Looks like you're a Toyota owner.


No, there isn't a thermostat involved. After a cold start the coolant will warm faster and the het gets transferred to the oil. When driving high RPM or load, the oil will get hotter and the temp will be brought down close to the level of the coolant.
 
Many vehicles have this type of arrangement, much better in my opinion to the Air to oil radiator.

Only Low pressure coolant in the hoses.
 
Check how the hoses are routed and see if they'll rub against anything. It doesn't look like they'll rub anything based on the pic.

If are rubbing anything, cover them with split loom to protect them.
 
My new Ram has one of these, they are not too prone to failure.

The only ones I see failing are home made models or DIY that were simply poorly done...
 
On a side note, when you take the oil filter off does it make a mess or does it have a drain hose to get the oil down to a drain pan?

ROD
 
Originally Posted By: rrounds
On a side note, when you take the oil filter off does it make a mess or does it have a drain hose to get the oil down to a drain pan?

ROD


I only have 90 miles on it, but apparently there is a capped drain port to which you attach a hose down to a container. So, it doesn't come with a drain hose, but it does have a means to attach one.
 
Take the rubber cap off of the bottom of the catch flange, I snake a small coffee can under it to catch the oil. After the new filter is on a couple of quick squirts of brake clean rinses any residual oil into the can.

My FZ1 bike has the same type of oil cooler.
 
VW makes a large number of engines this way. The 2.Slow and 1.8T are the first examples that come to my mind. In some of those VW engines, there was a nut where the filter was threaded on. If that nut ever got loose, the cooler would split open and spill oil.

However, since VW stopped using spin on filters, they had to use a different kind of oil cooler.
 
I put a Ford cooler like this on my Hyundai Genesis Coupe. The newer models have one from the factory.

Taurus SHOs have had these since 1989. Some Lincolns and Mustangs too. Never had a problem other than sourcing replacement hoses.
 
Originally Posted By: artificialist
VW makes a large number of engines this way. The 2.Slow and 1.8T are the first examples that come to my mind. In some of those VW engines, there was a nut where the filter was threaded on. If that nut ever got loose, the cooler would split open and spill oil.

However, since VW stopped using spin on filters, they had to use a different kind of oil cooler.


I use that VW cooler (from a 2.0L Golf on my Triumph Spitfire.
I don't understand what you mean by the cooler splitting open?

The cooler is a single unit with a welded seam. It is secured to the engine block by a threaded tube adaptor that also receives the Spin on oil filter canister.
 
Originally Posted By: asand1
Looks like a remote filter with a single set of hoses to me. Could it actually be a coolant filter?


No, it's an oil to coolant heat exchanger.
The hoses carry coolant that exchanges temp with the oil, as it passes to and from the filter.
 
They do a good job of heating the oil when you first start up the car. Mine cut the warm up time in half for the oil. The amount of cooling they do is not so much. But with a 180F-185F coolant temp I didn't see oil over 200F last summer.
 
Originally Posted By: expat
Originally Posted By: asand1
Looks like a remote filter with a single set of hoses to me. Could it actually be a coolant filter?


No, it's an oil to coolant heat exchanger.
The hoses carry coolant that exchanges temp with the oil, as it passes to and from the filter.


Thank you, I understand how oil coolers work. My point is that it is mounted on a bracket at the valve cover, and has no oil lines. To be an oil cooler it would need to be connected directly to the block or have four lines.
 
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