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[prstaples1911]

I live in St Louis. My bike regularly hits 250 degrees during my commute as measured by my oil temp dipstick . I find the bike so hot that I am considering trading it in on another bike or possibly getting a smaller displacement commuter bike like a Bonneville.  Before spending that kind of money I thought I would spend the $400 in parts and labor on an HD oil cooler.

So I thought I would ask if anyone has experience with adding a cooler and if it makes a meaningful difference in dropping engine temps.

[cpm83]

As you know,  a traditional oil cooler only cools when the bike is moving.  I recently installed a Jagg Fan Assisted oil cooler on my bike....in fact the photos of the softail on their website are of my bike.  I was the first to install one of these and they asked for photos of the install.  I don`t have hard numbers for oil temperature, but I feel like this system makes sense and can only help prolong the life of my oil and engine.  Take a look at Jagg.com.  I think it is around $500 and I installed it myself.

[Charlie]

I live in St Louis. My bike regularly hits 250 degrees during my commute as measured by my oil temp dipstick . I find the bike so hot that I am considering trading it in on another bike or possibly getting a smaller displacement commuter bike like a Bonneville.  Before spending that kind of money I thought I would spend the $400 in parts and labor on an HD oil cooler.

So I thought I would ask if anyone has experience with adding a cooler and if it makes a meaningful difference in dropping engine temps.

I Live out in Dubai and as you can imagine it gets pretty dam hot!
I installed the HD Premium Oil Cooler and the Wards Parts Werks Cylinder Head Cooling Fans!
My logic is when im moving the oil cooler should work and when im in stop and go traffic the fans should do their job!
very happy with the results, the bike has never once gone into safe mode since the mods were done,

A shot of the Fans!

[Charlie]

A shot of the Cooler and Fans on my Bike,

[Charlie]

With the above said, i am looking to make one more cooling mod!
Looking at adding the Jaggs Fan assisted Oil Cooler also! i want to run the Jagg in a loop with the HD Oil Cooler! if i can do that i will be happy i have all the angles covered!

[prstaples1911]

With the above said, i am looking to make one more cooling mod!
Looking at adding the Jaggs Fan assisted Oil Cooler also! i want to run the Jagg in a loop with the HD Oil Cooler! if i can do that i will be happy i have all the angles covered!

That sounds like a sound belt and suspenders approach.  With that level of required cooling, I would think a V-Rod would have been a better approach.  I will wait until my next customer appreciation day and see if I can get the HD component 20% off.  It looks like the HD and Jagg units both hang outside the frame, rather than between the downtubes.  I know this probably increases flow, but it is not as nicely integrated into the bike.  I wonder if HD does not recommend or support a mount between the tubes.

[Charlie]

That sounds like a sound belt and suspenders approach.  With that level of required cooling, I would think a V-Rod would have been a better approach.  I will wait until my next customer appreciation day and see if I can get the HD component 20% off.  It looks like the HD and Jagg units both hang outside the frame, rather than between the downtubes.  I know this probably increases flow, but it is not as nicely integrated into the bike.  I wonder if HD does not recommend or support a mount between the tubes.

I am mad about cooling! here in Dubai the heat is extreme! 20c min in winter 50 C in summer! have seen days at 55 c in peak
The HD cooler is misleading! in the catalogue it says the central mounted cooler wont fit with ABS but the ABS system is hidden on the Convertible so its not a problem!

A shot of the HD fitted on my 2012 Convertible, between the downtubes!!

[Thermodyne]

Your money would be better spent on a set of cooling fans for the heads.  The oil is being heated in the heads.  It carries some of the heat away, but is a poor conductor of heat.  And while an oil cooler is not a bad thing to have, you should address the source of the heat first.  Take a look at the head fans offered by Wards, they will keep your oil temps down by keeping the heads cool.  They cost less than a good oil cooler and they are easy and quick to install.  My 11 103 came with an oil cooler, and I still saw the same temps that your are reporting, and even a little more in traffic.  Thing is, after building heat in traffic, the oil temps took forever and a day to come back down once I got moving.  And the normal temps were in the 220 range, even when it was cool out.  The MoCo coolers don't flow oil till it reaches 180f, by which time the temps seem to be beyond the coolers ability to manage.

I went with the Wards fans this just a couple of weeks ago.  Fans and a 160f tstat for the oil cooler.  Wish I had done it two years ago.    

[prstaples1911]

So I don't want to stir up any trouble, but if the engine needs an oil cooler (or at least would be better with it), why did HD not fit one at the factory for a few extra bucks on a $30k motorcycle.  At the risk of getting philosophical, where is the over-engineering that I see from folks like BMW.  Just because it does not meltdown, doesn't mean it shouldn't have had one.  I noticed the touring models have them.

[Charlie]

So I don't want to stir up any trouble, but if the engine needs an oil cooler (or at least would be better with it), why did HD not fit one at the factory for a few extra bucks on a $30k motorcycle.  At the risk of getting philosophical, where is the over-engineering that I see from folks like BMW.  Just because it does not meltdown, doesn't mean it shouldn't have had one.  I noticed the touring models have them.

No Excuse!!!! All about the extra $$$, as soon as i picked up my Convertible the dealer said "you should get a Oil Cooler Fitted"

[Midnight Rider]

So I don't want to stir up any trouble, but if the engine needs an oil cooler (or at least would be better with it), why did HD not fit one at the factory for a few extra bucks on a $30k motorcycle.  At the risk of getting philosophical, where is the over-engineering that I see from folks like BMW.  Just because it does not meltdown, doesn't mean it shouldn't have had one.  I noticed the touring models have them.

Is this your first Harley?  HD does not put anything on their bikes that they feel is not absolutely necessary to sell it.  That includes CVO bikes.  They know that most riders are going to put the oil cooler on and the dealer can make money off of the purchase and installation.  Pretty simple.  SHOULD they put it on there....YES!  But they don't, so your choice is to do it yourself or not.

However, an oil cooler, while helping the oil stay a bit cooler, will do very little at reducing the heat you feel while riding or sitting at a red light.  Much of the heat you are feeling is coming off the catalytic converter and exhaust system. A good exhaust system and tune will help that.  A 110" air cooled motor is HOT, and on a HD it is exposed, and you're sitting on top of it.

Harley is known for style and tradition.  Form over function.  If you're looking for state of the art engineering and R&D, you're looking at the wrong manufacturer of motorcycles.  They are what they are.  If you want it to run a bit cooler, you're simply going to have to spend some more money.  No if's, and's, or but's.

[prstaples1911]

Agreed on all accounts.  At the suggestion of forum members I replaced the stock exhaust with a set of V&H staggered Big Shots and bought a PCV with richer map.  That helped a little, but the bike still runs hot.  I will start with an oil cooler as it appears to be a reasonable first step and cannot hurt.

[Charlie]

Agreed on all accounts.  At the suggestion of forum members I replaced the stock exhaust with a set of V&H staggered Big Shots and bought a PCV with richer map.  That helped a little, but the bike still runs hot.  I will start with an oil cooler as it appears to be a reasonable first step and cannot hurt.

If your worried about the stop and go traffic it would be more prudent to start with the Cylinder Cooling Fans with Thermal switch from Wards Parts Werks! it made the biggest difference IMO and i have done both!!

[grc]

I agree with Terry (Midnight Rider).  If you want top notch engineering and a priority on function, you bought the wrong brand.  Harley manages to make huge profits selling "style" and "tradition", so they see no need to offer state of the art function.  Besides, the average Harley customer rides less than a couple thousand miles a year, so the bikes don't have to be very good to last long enough to get them out of the short two year warranty.  Oh, btw, they do install a so-so oil cooler on Touring models at the factory, but not the Dyna's or Softails. 

If you aren't seeing oil temperatures higher than 250°F in the tank, you don't really need an oil cooler.  The Twin Cam engine design calls for a normal operating oil temperature of 230°F at a standard ambient air temp (approximately 70°F).  And you don't want an excessively low oil temperature, since the oil must get hot enough to drive off the water and fuel that collects in the oil due to the natural operation of the engine.  If you decide to install a cooler, get one with a thermostat so you don't have to worry about overcooling in cool weather conditions.

We get a lot of discussions on the site about heat, and many folks fail to differentiate between the temperature of the actual parts, and the heat felt by the rider (comfort).  An oil cooler can help extend the life of the oil and reduce the amount of heat induced viscosity loss, but it won't do a thing about how hot the rider or passenger gets.  For that matter, those engine fans that blow on the heads also won't keep the rider and passenger cooler.  They will help maintain a more consistent temp of the heads, which is a good thing and a sort of mechanical insurance policy.  That's one reason why a good water cooled engine can be set up with tighter tolerances and can last much longer than an air cooled engine, "consistent operating temperatures".

Jerry

[Jasray]

Excellent points by GRC and Midnight Rider, IMHO I completely agree.