Been following all the threads concerning oil cooler upgrades. The preferred upgrade appears to be the cooler from a 6.0. I want to upgrade my 2000 f250 V10 and found a cooler made by a company called Replace. They are supposedly made to exact specs as OE but about 100 bucks cheaper. The have the "CA" (26 row) and "B" (31 row). Anyone have any experience with this brand? Any comments, good or bad, greatly appreciated !!! Thanks

 

The Dorman OE replacements are around $150. Haven't heard of that brand.

 

Think this is the same one I got from Rock Auto a few years ago.....Thin it was about 215 bucks at that time.

 

Can you share a link to these?

 

Right now on Ebay Motors as item # 231607660163 by an outfit called carid.

 

Never heard of the company but I can tell you that the 31 row was the first version in the 6.0 and the 26 row was the redesign (the cooler is a little smaller but provides nearly the same cooling).

 

I just saw a professionally produced YouTube video, where the show host bought a performance chip on eBay for his vehicle that was at least $100 cheaper. They went to a dyno to have it tested. No change in power. They then had an expert trace out the circuit board to the chip. The entire module amounted to no more than circuits to pick up power and ground for an LED light.

And the vendor sells dozens of these $200 promises with 20 cent parts, with no engineering, development, or validation costs. The business works because everyone wants something for next to nothing.

We can count rows, we can see big versus small, and we can see blinking lights. Profits are made based on what we can see... AND, on what we can't.

How are the rows to this cheaper cooler brazed? What is the flow turbulence of the passages inside the plates? Is there a bypass provision for self regulation? What is the pressure rating of the exchanger? What is the flow rate when the fluid is most viscous at cold temperatures? Has Dana Corporation, which owns Long Thermal Products, which holds patents on some of the plate manufacturing technologies used in some of the coolers used in Ford products, licensed these innovations to "Replace."?

I don't have a practical way of finding out the answers to all those questions. And even if I did, it would cost me more than $100 in time to make those determinations, and I would still be at the mercy of whatever representations "Replace" would make to me in order to sell their product. Representations like "Made to exact OE specifications." Sounds similar to that chip, where the vendor said "Gain 25 HP". Blink. Blink.

Ford requires suppliers to jump through hoops of fire in order to get that blue oval on the box. If the product fails, Ford passes the warranty buck right back to the supplier. That vetting and verification is worth $100 bucks to me. Especially to protect an item that costs $3,000 should it fail from overheating.

 

Point well taken. I was simply asking if anyone had any knowledge of this cooler and thoughts on it.

 

google the product and add "reviews" to the search window....i was near to buying new headlights from an ebay vendor, when i googled the product plus his store name i found tons of bad reviews. I dont know how they do it and have 99% perfect feedback on there. So do some google searches and see what u can come up with is my best advice, you can try their seller name, store name, product brand name, or their website if they have one.

 

I sometimes take it a step further than the word "reviews". To weed out Google's intentional preference to prioritize filtered vendor sites over real people talking about their real experiences, I'll do searches like "(name of product) sucks" or "terrible" or "piece of sh**", and any other viscerally expressed adjective you can imagine.

Right away, the vender websites disappear from the first 50,000 Google results, and I start getting to the good stuff... What real people experience with whatever is being researched.

 

so whats up with these Dorman coolers?

 

I haven't used the cooler (I have a Ford OEM 26-row) but I did briefly have the degas (coolant overflow) bottle. While I have used Dorman parts in the past I have learned over the last 8 years is that these trucks like OEM. I deviated from this for the degas bottle as I was looking to save a few bucks to sell my wife on the replacement since I was leaking from the top of the casing and needed to get it fixed sooner than later. Unfortunately my quest to save $40 has cost me an extra $80. The cap failed early (within a week) and the OEM cap I bought doesn't exactly match the Dorman threads on the bottle (very close but no cigar).


I am in agreement with Y2KW57 on the OEM quality. If Ford will stock it on the dealer shelves then that has to count for something.


I have had similar experiences with other non-OEM products and have relegated myself to very few exceptions besides fluids (I have a Dorman oil plug washer, a Goodyear Gatorback serpentine belt, and an A1 Cardone steering gearbox). Unless Clay at Riffraff Diesel or Bob at dieselorings.com sell it I will do plenty of research before trying to save a buck (which usually ends up that I get OEM parts from those guys instead of the dealership).


Just my experience and .02

 

I agree and that is what my original question was : research. I'm not one to try to "save a buck" when it comes to my Ford. I bought this truck in 2000 and have put every one of the 109K miles on it. It is just that with the technology that is out there today, I like to investigate a little and maybe find something as good or better.

 

Phil, that's awesome how you have 15 years and counting on owning the same truck. I do also. We are of the same mind... make it last.

 

Took the plunge and bought a 31 row cooler from the local Ford Dealer.Tossed around all the aftermarket coolers available but followed my gut and bought OE !!!! Thanks for all the input.!!!!