Im wondering what happens to the engine if I run an oil cooler all the time?
Will this cause the enging to wear down more or less?
Are there any benifets to an aftermarket air oil cooler?
I have one installed and it makes a mess in my enging bay. Im thinking of getting ride of it.

 

Your engine oil temps. can be to cool. But I doubt a hopped up LTx in Florida has that problem.
So, if your oil temps. are within normal operating specs. Running a cooler will have no effect on the engine ware.
There are benefits to both air/liquid and liquid/liquid coolers, if you need them.
I would suggest that in your case it probably wouldn't hurt.
If your cooler lines are making a mess than fix them.
However an air/liquid cooler does have a couple of advantages. The installation is usually easier/cleaner, and it does not transfer the heat into your cooling system.

 

You want the metal to be cool, the oil warm, and the water hot. Generally speaking, you do not want the oil cooler than 180 degrees.

Rich Krause

 

How can I get a measurement on the oil temps? Car needs to have air flowing threw the cooler to make sure oil is not getting too cool. ???

 

To monitor oil temperature, you can install a sensor in the line going to the cooler or in the pan, and install a gauge in the car. Some people have also used the spare block tap right above the oil filter for a temp sensor, although that might be influenced by heat soak from the block.

What kind of cooler do you have: oil-to-air; oil-to-coolant???

What "makes a mess in my enging bay" - the appearance of the system; leaks from the system???

The higher the velocity of air flowing through an oil-to-air cooler, the more heat you will remove from the oil.

 

The mess if from a leaking fitting or a possible crack in the cooler. I removed the fittings once and put new pipe tape on them. Bottom of car still gets a lot of oil thrown around and the top felt hoof cover is covered half way back. It was a pain to mount and route the lines. I'd have to remove it to even locate the leak.
Cooler is air to oil cooler. B&M eng oil cooler.

 

The critical temps be to concerned with, are at the bearings. The further away, from the critical heat source locations, the less important the temp readings become. The question is, do you want to know what is going on in/near the 'heat of battle' , or do you desire a 'doctored' reading on the gauge, taken from a remote location?

 

I just want to know if I'm running too much oil cooler or not. If my cooler is keeping the oil at a good working temp then I'll keep it in the car. If it's bringing the temp down too low then I may need to block part of the air flow threw it or remove it and get a smaller one.

 

I would suggest that this is to low. The oil needs to be at least 212* to "burn" off the water(condensate). Normal temps are in the 220*+ area.

 

You can install the corvette oil temp sender and tap it into the PCM (there is a pin for it, and it DOES kick it out in the datastream... but you'll need to do some work in regards to a cockpit gauge). As for a target temp, oil's typically 30* or so higher than the coolant temp... so I'd wager 180*F coolant is plenty to get the job done... especially under vacume (at idle the PVC evacuates vapour into the manifold so there is a slight vacume in the crank case... at WOT it's a different matter though).