Lubricating oil cooling system for rear or mid engined vehicle

Abstract

In a rear engined or mid engined type of automotive vehicle in which a liquid cooled internal combustion engine is mounted at least partly behind a passenger compartment, and a radiator for cooling the cooling fluid of the engine is mounted in front of the passenger compartment, with a mechanism being provided for conducting flow of cooling fluid between the cooling fluid jacket of the engine and the radiator in both directions, a cooling system for lubricating oil of the engine includes a heat exchanger formed with a cooling fluid passage and a lubricating oil passage arranged to exchange heat therebetween to conduct respectively a flow of cooling fluid and a flow of lubricating oil from the internal combustion engine, wherein the cooling fluid passage of the heat exchanger is a part of the cooling fluid flow conducting mechanism, so as not to the heat exchanger without substantially increasing the flow resistance of the cooling fluid flow conducting mechanism. Optionally, the cooling fluid passage and the lubricating oil passage of the heat exchanger may be provided by a plurality of coaxially arranged cylinders wherein the cooling fluid and the lubricating oil flowing axially through the respective cylindrical passages are brought into mutual heat exchange across a cylindrical heat conducting separating wall.