Is it safe to have an external oil cooler lower than the OEM oil cooler location?

Question

I'm replacing my oil cooler housing and wish to add an external oil cooler to it. I'm curious if it's safe to set the external oil cooler lower than the original OEM location. The OEM oil cooler works on a water/oil based. The external cooler will work air based. I'm planning to put it close to the bottom of the engine bay where fresh air will arrive from.

A few things that I thought of that could happen.

• Oil cooler lines are longer, could this lead to lower oil pressure?
• Oil cooler is lower in the engine bay, which causes the oil pump to work harder to push the oil against gravity
• Oil wouldn't be drained in the oil cooler when doing oil changes

I've added pictures with the OEM filter housing and OEM oil cooler, the new filter housing with OEM oil cooler and the new filter housing with an external oil cooler sandwich plate.

OEM filter housing with OEM oil cooler

New filter housing with OEM oil cooler

New filter housing with sandwich plate for external cooler

Answer 1

Oil wouldn't be drained in the oil cooler when doing oil changes

If any part of the new cooler system is below the lowest drain point, then that portion of the system won't be drained during an oil change. You'll have to determine how much oil will remain and whether you consider that an issue.

Some points to consider when making that determination:

• You never completely drain the old oil out of the system when doing an oil change.
• The aftermarket manufacturer is likely to have tested their system and they don't seem to consider oil remaining in the cooler an issue.
  • If they provide any sort of warranty, look to see if it covers your complete engine. If so, it's a major pain if something goes wrong, but at least repair/replacement is on their dime.
  • It may be worth asking the manufacturer for their thoughts on draining oil in regular oil changes.
• Is there a possibility of installing a drain point closer to the bottom of the newly installed system?