Oil temp jumps around… bad oil thermostat?
 

My oil temp jumps around sporadically at times… +/- 5°F at least. Could this be the oil thermostat? I already replaced the oil temp sensor, so I can rule that out.

Also, I’m noticing that my car seems to be running hotter than it did in the past. I’m wondering if my thermostat is not functioning properly, either not fully opening and/or opening & closing sporadically causing the oil temps to fluctuate quickly.

My car will quickly hit 200° on a 65° day, under normal driving, and I have a side mounted and ducted 34-row oil cooler. This also leads me to think that the thermostat is not fully opening. This temp seems to be hotter than it should be given the ambient conditions and my oil cooler setup.

However, oil cooler is hot to the touch, so maybe not a bad thermostat….

Anyone have ideas for what else this could be?


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You are too far north or else I would suggest removing the factory oil stabilizer. It just heats up the oil.

Do you mean the oil “cooler” on the 2012+ cars? I’ve got an ‘09 so don’t have that.


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Maybe I am thinking of another car that put one on. Your thermostatic plate may have an issue.

Yep, thought it might not be opening and/or not opening fully. But my cooler core is still quite hot after getting up to temp.

I generally see the fluctuations around 170-200°, so I’m thinking this is just the thermostat “doing its thing”


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What is the temp in your area? It is still 90 deg. down here. I don't even run a thermostatic plate on my car. It goes straight to a remote oil filter and then to the oil cooler. With all the hood vents and fresh air ducting to my intakes, I haven't seen mine get past 180 deg. in 95-100 deg weather.

Upper 60s up here in RI. I’m not super concerned about the temps seeing as I don’t have a vented hood or radiator ducting. Winter projects are to make a better (V2) oil cooler duct and add radiator/intercooler ducting.

I may also temporarily bypass the thermostat with some AN fittings to see if that is causing these fluctuations.


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