This might be a stupid question but when I was changing my oil for the first time I noticed a hose near the oil filter mounting base that looked kind of a like an oil cooler line. I've never read anything about a stock oil cooler but can someone clear this up for me

 

...Anyone? You can see the hose leading to the filter base in this pic:

 

Our cars has a small oil cooler where the base of the oil filter connects to. The hose you are referring to carries coolant to the oil cooler to cool the oil passing by. It's obviously not as good as an aftermarket oil cooler kit with a small radiator type device but for a street car it's plenty. Here's a pic.

 

That's exactly what I was looking for, thanks alot. So does this mean our oil heats up quicker on cold mornings because of the hot coolant running through?

 

Not sure about that. I think the flow of the coolant to the oil cooler is regulated by a thermostat so that hot coolant won't travel to the oil cooler. Otherwise what is the point then? If you look in the diagram it says the hose goes to a thermostat assembly.

 

Well the point would be that on very cold mornings the hot engine coolant will help the oil warm up faster, because the oil takes much longer to warm up to operating temp. But if the thermostat does not let hot coolant through, how can it cool the oil when the engine is at operating temp? I guess I need to learn a bit more about oil coolers

 

I believe the coolant going to the oil cooler is drawn from the radiator where it is cooler in temp than the coolant directly from the engine block. But that's just a guess on my part. Anyone with any knowledge of the system care to set us straight here?