The reason for the oil cooler is to add life to the motor. You pull a part a motor with 100K on it that has been run hard with a cooler in may not look to bad, You pull one a part that was run hard at 100K without the cooler it could be shot. You are not going to “see” difference in the short term. If you drive Your Camaro like Gamma there is no reason for a oil cooler. GM just assumes if you are buying a sports car you are going to run it like a sports car.

You never said if you have coolant/water in the oil, Remember if that is where it is going that mean ALL the water you put in your system is in your oil, It should be VERY easy to detect. Even a single quart of water would be very noticable on the dip stick. If you run the motor at all since the problem started your motor oil would look like a milkshake.

If you borrow a pressure tester from Autozone and do the pressure test, then remove the filter. If it is the adapter the water should come shooting out.

Good Luck

 

coolant is going somewhere, once you find out where you will have a better idea of what it could be. have you found where the coolant is going yet? oil cooler leaking would show oil in the coolant when motor is run, oil pressure is higher than coolant pressure. better be careful when turning motor over after pooring a bunch of coolant in it. you may be filling a cylinder. turning over with cylinder full would be very bad