Oil Cooler Priming

[Struggler]

Is this a thing?

The way I see it the oil cooler will be dry. You can crank the engine to get some oil flow but with the thermostatic sandwich plate this is surely all going to bypass the actual cooler.
How do you prime the actual cooler core so it does suddenly open at a certain temperature and push the volume of air in the core through the system causing it to run dry for a few seconds? Am I worrying about nothing here?

 

[RSRowe]

Crack the line loose on the return side and turn the engine on. Obviously once the thermostat opens and the cooler fills, then tighten it back up.
(this is why it's useful to have the lines at the top of the cooler)

 

[Struggler]

is the thermostat on the return flow from the cooler? surely with this off it will just piss oil out as soon as the engine runs?

I probably need to get my head around how these thermostatic plates work. Do they send 100% of the oil out the pump through the cooler? or just bleed a portion off and mix it back in post cooler?

 

[JamesBryan]

Thermostatic ones are never fully closed, they have a slight bypass otherwise you'd have a dump of cold oil going in when the stat opens up.

Fill the cooler with oil before nipping the lines up and crank engine over with injectors disconnected.

 

[Struggler]

sounds good! thanks!

Thankfully for me I have fuel on its own switch so cranking with no start is easy.