No Oil cooler

I noticed that a lot of XJ bikes have a oil cooler and mine doesn't????
Would it be better to have one and can I just install one on my bike?

 

Yes it would be a good idea, and yes you can install one. Our parts guru Chacal stocks everything you need for a good aftermarket setup or you can shop flea-bay or the local wreckers for the needed parts.

 

What does an Oil Cooler actually do? Name, obvious, but what other effects does it have on your bike
-SLKid

 

In the USA, 650 Turbo and 900RK models came with an oil cooler.

In the rest of the world, all 650's, all 750's, and 900's used an oil cooler.......but I'm not sure about whether the 550's "over there" had a cooler?

The coolers are "somewhat" interchangable between different engines; the 650 coolers were small, the 900's much wider, and the length of the hoses that connect the cooler to the oil filter adapter differ between the differing models. Other than that, everything is pretty much the same.

However, if your bike was not ORIGINALLY equipped with an oil cooler from the factory, then, depening on model, it may or may not have the cooler mounting bracket bolt bosses in the frame, in which case you will be fabricating it, but it's a pretty simple type of device to make.

Unfortunately, I do not have complete oil cooler systems available. I've never really liked the aftermarket (Everheart?) systems and prefer to stick with the factory units (used, obviously). That being siad, I can supply basically ALL of the items you'll need to add an oil cooler to a bike EXCEPT the radiator and the hoses.

 

I don't think the "Eurospec" 550s had oil coolers either, but the FJ600 did.

I wonder how a non-oil cooler equipped 750 ended up in The Netherlands?

 

He thanks for the info. My bike was imported from Canada, I think. There's a Canadian transport decal on the frame.
The frame is equiped with the mounting holes for the oil cooler.

Would be better to have one installed?

 

Living where you do (it's not exactly a "tropical" climate) I would say it's entirely up to you. I guess if you do a lot of extended high-speed running it might be handy, but I don't think I'd be too concerned not having one either.

 

SLKid-

An oil cooler does just that. Since our bikes do not use an ethylene glycol (anti-freeze/anti-boil) liquid cooling system, only the air and the oil cool the engine. The cooler your oil, the less harsh heat is to your engine. It's basically a life-extender. I don't think it would provide a performance benefit that you could perceive while you ride. The benefit is longer life, less maintenance.

Think of it like this:

Humans can sweat to dissapate heat. That involves water.

Dogs can't sweat, and only dissapate heat by panting.

I know, that's not such a great analogy but it's the best I could think of at the moment.