Man…I have the size somewhere after I found it on the internet once…but since I haven’t been able to find it again I got this repair kit

https://zzdiesel.com/collections/sub...vice-kit-xd227

 

Yeah, I’ve mainly heard of a ton of leaks with their oil cooler stuff. But like I mentioned, lots of people say sinister Diesel stuff is bad, but I’ve had good stuff from them. Who knows lol

 

With the beautiful weather this weekend i was able to get the truck outside to do the coolant flush. I did 2 flushes, which came out pretty clean. I then parked the truck for the night. The next morning I backflushed the oil cooler, heater core and radiator, all of which came out fairly clean. I then did another flush, followed with a vc9 flush, which definitely brought out some light rust colored water. I followed that up with 2 more regular flushes. The first was pretty clean and the second looked fine. Unfortunately while running the truck at hi idle during one of the last flushes, I was still getting about a 25 degree delta, so it appears the oil cooler is completely done.

I am currently leaning towards a riffraff coolant filter, BPD remote mount oil cooler setup with factory oil filter and a BPD H core egr cooler. I am still debating if the remote mount oil cooler is worth the extra ~$1600 over just replacing the factory oil cooler. Any one have the remote mount setup and think it's worth it? Any one had to do multiple oil coolers and wish they had gone remote mount? Any other recommendations on these parts?

Thanks,

Baatzy

 

Opinions are going to be all over the map on oil cooler choice.

@joe blow really likes the "one and done" external BPD oil cooler. It is nice. I've had the OEM oil cooler (the one upgraded w/ the extra coolant row) for over 12 years and am very happy with it (at least so far, lol).

 

The price difference is the obvious deal breaker for many. I will whole heartedly say it was one, if not the best upgrade I made to my truck for longevity and peace of mind.

Install is not hard but very time consuming and tedious

10 years plus, no leaks, no re-work and not one issue. The OEM cooler when working, does a fair job of cooling until you push your truck to the limit when towing in hotter weather, then you see the performance difference between the two. Just my opinion but I would do it again without hesitation.

 

I've been curious how well the external cooler handles towing heavy and high external temps? With my factory cooler i have seen temps max around 235. How high have you seen temps get with the external cooler? Do you run any sort of coolant filtration as well?

Thanks,

Baatzy

 

Absolutely phenomenal and in my opinion untouched by the OEM heat exchanger setup (based on temps before and after for me). Some have mentioned the AC system is affected in stop and go traffic but they could also have a near clogged condenser or other factors.

I see coolant temps in the 220* -225* range but that is under pretty extreme grades, constant pulls and high ambient temps. Since deltas don't matter, I'll see EOT a tad higher but that is normal and acceptable. Mind you, I don't hammer the throttle like a crazy man up hills but maintain a constant RPM and constantly eyeing the ECT......my main concern and I regulate it with the throttle. Recovery is very quick once your hard pull is over and ECT drops quickly. EOT not so much but again, I don't really care about that.

I paired it with the Hayden mechanical clutch, Performance aluminum radiator and got rid of that POS temperamental visctronic fan that never worked correctly. My engine and coolant system are very healthy and the need for an external filter came to an end last year. I was just lazy but finally removed it.

Others have great luck with the OEM setup but for me I would never go back to OEM or use a heat exchanger in a remote location (BPD remote kit). The heat soak within the exchanger (coolant/engine oil) is massive, sometimes uncontrollable, and I would rather keep both systems separate and controlled.

Just my opinion

Good Luck
Joe

 

Is this the OEM 'Made in China' oil cooler?

 

No, it was one of the early ones when the extra cooling row first came out.

 

Wanted to follow up on this. I ended up going with an oem oil cooler from riffraff and a BPD EGR cooler. I did miscellaneous other fixes while working on it as well. I am disappointed I didn't go with the upgraded BPD egr to oil cooler cover little blue hose. I didn't know about it until after I was done and discovered a small leak there. I was able to adjust the current hose and the leak stopped, but I'm sure some day it will leak again.

My delta runs about 5 at the max right now. My coolant pressure does get all the way up to cap release pressure now though. I'm hoping it's potentially an air bubble in the system as I haven't put a huge amount of miles on it yet, but with my luck I'll be needing to do head gaskets.

Baatzy

 

Where do you have the coolant level in the degas bottle?

 

I filled it to just over the min level on the sticker after idling for an hour or so checking for leaks, as I did install a riffraff coolant filter as well.