Off With the Intek Plastic

[Pumper54]

Not sure if one would work for you all but an automotive transmission cooler can be had at a junk yard for next to nothing. Mount it to the mower somewhere that gets moving air and plumb it into the oil system. We used to use power steering coolers on Harley's back in the day as a cheap and easy oil cooler. Maybe a 12 ducted fan operating off a temperature sensor to move more air across your oil cooler?

Tom

 

[motoman]

Pumper, Yes, thanks, I am running an auto oil cooler and it is not the problem. I believe the problem is the Nissan fan is big but the fan hub is centered on the oil cooler finning so most air blast is passing outside the area, and there is also a problem of exhausting that air. My makeshift duct passes accross the back of the Intek , side to side, but a candle flame will barely flicker on the output end with the fan running. On the other hand with the tractor cover up the cooler/fan will pull heat out fast. On my new Husqy I will remedy these problems (hopefully) with a better fan combo and , hopefully, better exit of the hot coolerair. motoman

 

[Pumper54]

I see, don't you love it when designers put a cooling fan so close to what you need cooled that the fan itself blocks airflow?
Tom

 

[motoman]

Pumper, In this case I am the faulty designer putting a fan with ?12" blades smack up against a 4" wide cooler. But I was really pressed for space and I had the fan on hand. The Northern Hurricaine unit is the one I'm looking at which is an integrated unit, but pricey @ $200.

 

[Pumper54]

Motoman, I am thinking you might be able to fab up a duct to direct the airflow into the oil cooler? There has to be an after market oil cooler set up that would work for less the $200.00. That or I need to start building them. LOL

Tom

 

[motoman]

Pumper, I have looked at a lot of coolers and fans, both separate and "integrated." The problem with the two riders I have is "space" "space" "space" A typical cooler is too large and mating a fan runs a tab to $100. I have found some "tiny" coolers , such as the cigarette pak size which Briggs uses but not tiny fan. Next sizes are typically 9" x 12"which might work, but not as well as the Northern Hurricaine size of about ? 7" x 7" x 2". Since I have not solved the heat extraction I want during hard use I am moving closer to the $200 unit. It seems those with zero turns have more space and more swirling air available than rider owners, But before I add a cooler I will install an oil temp gauge to see if this Intek runs (somehow) cooler than my older one. Some have suggested mine is abnormally hot, We'll see motoman

 

[ken_clifton]

Some have suggested mine is abnormally hot, We'll see motoman

Motoman,
I don't think your Intek is abnormally hot. I read in one of the Briggs technical notes that the expected oil temp is ambient temp plus (190-210).
So, on a 90 degree day they expect to see 280-300 degrees oil temp, unless it is one of their engines with an oil cooler.

Another anecdotal bit, yesterday the ambient here was 90 degrees and with my setup mowing lush 12 inch tall grass, my oil temp was a stable 255 degrees after 2 hours and remained there for another hour.

Looks like I will be trying out the 2qt NAPA 1459 filter.

Best,
ken_clifton

 

[bertsmobile1]

Oil coolers were all the rage on motorcycles when I was young and knew better than all the BSA design engineers :laughing:
Years latter external oil coolers were revisited and when oil temps were properly being measured, my oil was almost always too cold.
On mowers the oil does next to no cooling in itself.
By far the most important thing is to keep the cooling finning on the engine clean and to do that you need to remove the blower housing regularly.
Every oil cooler set up, apart from the oil filter extensions I have seen makes removing the housing substantially more difficult to remove, so it does not get removed and the engine overheats because the air can not get to the bare aluminium to conduct the heat away.
I have even seen oil cooler fitted over the top of the fan intake or cut into the side of the blower housing, both of which seriously compromised the blower operation.
The owners were having overheating problems which they actually had created & I cured by getting rid of their modifications.
Two times I have reinstalled oil coolers , mounted on the rop, no fan fitted.
The owners were very happy with these ( motorcycle oil coolers with thermal bypass valve ) but in reality I rather believe that the extra oil volume was the only real benefit.

Now your situations could be substantially different, it gets hot here in summer with months of temps around the 30 C mark.
Harley owners seem to like to fit slip on oil coolers which are a finned alloy sleeve that slips over the oil filter itself to act as a heat sink.
You might like to try one of these which is a lot easier to fit and requires no modifications to the mowers blower system.
However, the black ones would be a better buy than the chrome ones .

 

[ken_clifton]

- my oil was almost always too cold...
- Every oil cooler set up, apart from the oil filter extensions I have seen makes removing the housing substantially more difficult to remove...
- I have even seen oil cooler fitted over the top of the fan intake or cut into the side of the blower housing, both of which seriously compromised the blower operation.

Agreed on mounting to the blower housing - I steered away from the O.E. Briggs cooler because it is mounted to the blower housing, this is also their design on the Vanguard vertical shaft engines too:


My setup does not involve the blower or the housing at all, it is mounted along with a remote oil filter to the ROPS. Photos at: http://www.lawnmowerforum.com/members/ken_clifton-albums-my-tiger-cub.html

Looking at the photos of Motoman's cooler, it is not mounted to the blower either.

My oil temperature measurements are from a mechanical boiler gauge mounted directly in the oil flow to the oil filter. I do not have trouble with the oil being too cool -- not at all.

And, I agree on keeping the fins clean. I specifically designed my air filter where the only thing that I need to do to remove the blower housing is simply loosen five bolts and remove the blower intake screen and screws. Of course the newer Intek blower housing also has two inspection covers over the top of the cylinder heads -- a lot of cleaning can be done through those as well.

ken_clifton

 

[ken_clifton]

Regarding the aluminium intake. I have replaced one other on a 26 HP Intek. Looking at the parts manual the same plastic intake is the same on the 26 and 27 HP as well as most of the Briggs models starting with 406777 and 407777.

As well as the 406777 and 407777 models the aluminium intake is also listed for the larger bore 44 Inteks:
44L977
44P977
44Q977
44T977

ken_clifton