Don,

your original post had a certain bias against retaining the cooler.
If you mind is made up and you have the data about leaking coolers to
back up your opinion, why not remove it?

And you seem to know how many engines VW produced with and without
the cooler :)

I did actually address your question, the cooler does help.

alistair

PS you can even buy bigger versions of cooler, later model Passats,
and I think even Touareg. But heck, VW is just fooling around with
them, its just there to screw with our minds.

On 24-Sep-10, at 8:17 AM, Don Hanson wrote:

     I ask a real question and I get back "Well, VW went to all that
trouble, it has to be worthwhile"?  VW never makes a silly mistake,
tries anything without it being just perfect?  I dunno about that.

   No need to be sarcastic, Mr. Bell (grin).  I never said anything
about an analysis..I was asking if anyone here on the Vanagon list
had any input, prehaps someone HAS actually quantified the results of
one of these devices...  It occured to me, as I looked at that thing
and my whole little pint-sized motor hanging there on the engine
stand...The motor itself is just a large-sized coolant/oil heat
exchanger, too.  I looked. I thought. I cogitated. but I didn't
test.  I ask, right now...maybe later I might test..

   There are plenty of posts about leaking oil filter heat exchangers
on the various VW forums.

  I am a 'simpler is better' fellow. Simpler is less likely to fail
and requires less maintainence. For example,  I like to roll down my
windows when I get hot, rather than maintain a climate control system
in an automobile, and maintain switches and relays to control the
windows.

   If my other motor and millions of other VW watercooled motors run
fine without these heat exchanger oil filter mountings, and it's only
there, really, because "VW put it there, hadda be some good
reason"...I might opt to leave it off..and therefore eliminate an
extra complexity that may or may not be worthwhile..

   Is it really worthwhile?

   Don Hanson