T4 Oil Cooler Upgrade

[NG2DP]

Hi Guys, I thought I'd share this little modification I developed whilst I had time on my hands during the numerous levels of lockdown...

I had read somewhere that the T4 engines are prone to running higher oil temperatures. I have no real evidence or temperatures to confirm this, but it gave me something to think about and it left me pondering if I could develop a homemade solution that didn't involve spending lots of money.

I recognise that there are aftermarket front mounted coolers available, but I wanted something a little more discreet.

So I started to look at the bigger/thicker coolers that are fitted to the 5 cylinder engines (including the Focus RS) and decided that the later (2007 onwards) D5 oil coolers were about 50% deeper, so I assumed that these might provide some improvement over the stock oil cooler.

I found one for sale on a well known bidding site (which came with the rubber hoses too), ordered it and then started to try and work out how to fit it. I quickly realised that I would need to manufacture an adapter plate. Whilst the oil ways were in the same place (relative to each other), the mountings were different and so also were the coolant hose connections.

I worked out I could probably chop the coolant hose connections of the D5 oil cooler and using a pair of 90 degree coolant hose elbows, make them join to the existing hoses.

I then set about making an adapter plate. I decided on using 10mm thick Aluminium bar. After some long evenings in my garage I finally had an adapter plate I was happy with. I did have to recess a couple of the fixing holes (10mm thick plate gave just enough depth for the recesses) and also used tapered head screws, to clear the oil cooler, but in the end it fitted really well.

I did have a slight panic that it would not fit within the engine bay and encroach the wheel well, but in the end it seemed fine.

At some point it would be good to measure the temperatures, with the stock and modified (D5) version, but for the moment it seems to work fine with no leakages or adverse affect on oil pressure, so I'll leave it fitted for the time being.

I have attached (hopefully) a document with some images and hope this is of interest to some of you. Please note this is for a Phase 2 (1948cc) T4, as I think the early Phase 1 engines had a different oil cooler arrangement.

Cheers

D

[Clan]

Originally Posted by NG2DP

Hi Guys, I thought I'd share this little modification I developed whilst I had time on my hands during the numerous levels of lockdown...

I had read somewhere that the T4 engines are prone to running higher oil temperatures. I have no real evidence or temperatures to confirm this, but it gave me something to think about and it left me pondering if I could develop a homemade solution that didn't involve spending lots of money.

I recognise that there are aftermarket front mounted coolers available, but I wanted something a little more discreet.

So I started to look at the bigger/thicker coolers that are fitted to the 5 cylinder engines (including the Focus RS) and decided that the later (2007 onwards) D5 oil coolers were about 50% deeper, so I assumed that these might provide some improvement over the stock oil cooler.

I found one for sale on a well known bidding site (which came with the rubber hoses too), ordered it and then started to try and work out how to fit it. I quickly realised that I would need to manufacture an adapter plate. Whilst the oil ways were in the same place (relative to each other), the mountings were different and so also were the coolant hose connections.

I worked out I could probably chop the coolant hose connections of the D5 oil cooler and using a pair of 90 degree coolant hose elbows, make them join to the existing hoses.

I then set about making an adapter plate. I decided on using 10mm thick Aluminium bar. After some long evenings in my garage I finally had an adapter plate I was happy with. I did have to recess a couple of the fixing holes (10mm thick plate gave just enough depth for the recesses) and also used tapered head screws, to clear the oil cooler, but in the end it fitted really well.

I did have a slight panic that it would not fit within the engine bay and encroach the wheel well, but in the end it seemed fine.

At some point it would be good to measure the temperatures, with the stock and modified (D5) version, but for the moment it seems to work fine with no leakages or adverse affect on oil pressure, so I'll leave it fitted for the time being.

I have attached (hopefully) a document with some images and hope this is of interest to some of you. Please note this is for a Phase 2 (1948cc) T4, as I think the early Phase 1 engines had a different oil cooler arrangement.

Cheers

D

if you need one with twice as many coolant channels use the high efficiency one from the V70 D5 twin turbo 2010 and later ..

[Familyman 90]

Nice work!

[NG2DP]

Thanks for the feedback (Clan). Having done the hard part and manufactured the adapter plate, I'll consider the later twin turbo D5 oil cooler for any further upgrades..... assuming the fixings are the same.