KV6 Engine Oil Cooler - Is it actually required?
 

My 75 2.5 V6 has the original type oil cooler bolted to the front of the sump. As these are a known weak point, I want to remove it altogether.

Is an engine oil cooler actually required on the KV6 or is it a "belt and braces" measure? Either way, I'm going to remove it as its just another possible coolant/oil mixing point.

If its absolutely required (which I don't think it is), I'll replace it with a bar and fin type generic oil cooler. That way, there is no coolant involved and therefore no chance of it escaping into the engine oil.

I would think it is mainly belts and braces, as only cars with the automatic boxes have them as far as I am aware.
Since all the plumbing is there from the pump, why don't you just go and get an air/oil cooler and mount it in front of the engine behind the fan or wherever it is convenient.
That's what I would do.:D

Thanks Kaiser. This is the engine oil cooler I'm talking about, there's a separate transmission oil cooler that is part of the radiator. I think the manual cars have an engine oil cooler too.

Yes, I should have said A/C. According to Haynes only cars with A/C have got them.

But, there is nothing that prevents you from doing an air to oil cooler in stead.

My manual 2.0 v6 has the oil cooler . I too am unconvinced about the need for it. There is a thread on here somewhere about a member doing his cambelts and I commented that the pics didn't show an oil cooler . Turned out a previous owner had removed and bypassed it , and the car was running fine without it :shrug:
The thread is here
http://www.the75andztclub.co.uk/foru...ght=oil+cooler
, but unfortunately the OP has removed his content and replies ( presumably due to a dispute )

KV6 engine oil cooler
 

I don't think they are. One member's became blocked after a sealing compound had been added to the coolant, and I can only remember one other case of a failure. That hardly amounts to a "known weak point".

You can bet your life that if it wasn't necessary MG Rover would not have fitted it.

Simon

I've read quite a few accounts of KV6 oil cooler failure Simon, on 75/ZTs and on Freelanders. I would definitely call it a weak point.

As for being necessary, it depends what you consider to be a necessity. Cooling the oil in an effort to lengthen service life of 10w-40 semi-synthetic oil by keeping it in viscosity range for longer may have been necessary in the minds of the powertrain designer. With my car never going over 4000 miles between oil changes and always using synthetic oil, I see the oil cooler as being far less necessary.

It appears to me that nothing good can come of leaving it on the car. I'm definitely open to education if I'm wide of the mark though.

Bit late to this 3 year old party, but I feel compelled to point out that two of my 3 75s are presently suffering from failed oil coolers...

One's an early type on a Cowley Connie, and the other is on a late Mk1 powered by a ZT 190 engine that came from a manual car. Fitted to a manual car too, so two myths exploded as far as I'm concerned. They are a weak point, and they were fitted to manual cars. I'm bypassing both while awaiting new items.

Two failures plus a couple of apocryphal references does not make a weak point / design fault or whatever. The oil cooler on my Cowley 2.5 is still going strong at approaching 94k so even if it failed now I'd consider it reasonable wear and tear. There's enough myth and rumour surrounding the reliability of our cars without conjuring up another one.

I have had two go on me, both the later type leaking oil into the water!

And I know one of the early type also going as I sold the owner involved a used one I had.

Tom.