I've heard two different stories.
One, the oil cooler on this car is run from the filter, to the cooler, back to the fitting above the filter, and into the engine.
The other is that it is a heat exchanger that uses engine coolant, which I don't believe is correct.

But I'd like to know the truth. I'm thinking it's actual OIL going through there... seems reasonably smart.

 

Look at Abubaca's attached picture in this thread, heater hose routing?.

I have attached a factory drawing below.

And yes, engine coolant flows through a sandwich adapter to cool the oil on the factory setups.

 

yup coolant defently flows through it, i have one sitting in the parts box downstairs if you'd like a pic, let me know.

 

The coolant that flows through it is the coolant that is exiting the heater core. It gets diverted through the "sandwich" cooler before it gets back to the radiator.

 

so I don't even have to connect the tubes to anything if I don't want to use it?

 

pretty much. Might as well just take it off if thats the case.

 

absolutely useless idea for an oil cooler, wow. I always thought that was oil to run in there... hence OIL COOLER. Gahh damn, the only thing dumber than that is the way GM designed its window tracks.

 

Actually, for what it is, it's not bad, and better than nothing. Also can potentially help the oil come to temp quicker keeping it (potentially) cleaner.

 

Almost useless in terms of cooling the oil considering GM thermostats run over 200 degrees. A remote mount oil cooler with thermostat would have more cooling capacity (about $100).