oil temp debate

V8Killer

Hmm so 180 is too low? Will the thermostatic adapter work with my stillen oil cooler?

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"Punch"

Too much to list and a baby shot of nitrous....

Pelican170

180 - 200F is optimal i would say. Think of the thermostatic as an air conditioner for your oil, only kicks on when it reaches a certain temp...

wstar

Yeah 180+ is fine on temps. The thermo plate helps mostly with two things: street driving in cooler weather, and warmup times. Without a thermo, it takes significantly longer to bring the oil up to temp from overnight cold, and highway drives in cool weather can suck oil temps down to 160 or lower (probably much lower, if you live in a state that has a real winter).

Another alternative is to velcro a block-off plate over the cooler in cold weather conditions on the street.

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Red__Zed

Where do you guys get your info?


I wouldn't be comfortable seeing 180 as my cruising temp. Anything under 190 at cruising speeds is a problem.

V8Killer

My buddy who installed my oil cooler, I asked him this and he said 180 is good.

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"Punch"

Too much to list and a baby shot of nitrous....

wstar

Well for that matter, 180 is what the standard Mocal thermo plate centers on, so that's what it will tend to stabilize on unless there's enough heat or cooling to push you away from that (with our cars, there's often enough heat to be considerably higher).

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jay4500

can the ecm be reprogram to raise the limp home mode temp, so that it can reduce engine horse power at a higher temp

moto_italia

Call me old school (or just old), but I was always told that unless oil temperatures periodically exceeded 212 degrees (F), water inside the engine from sources such as condensation would fail to evaporate, and ultimately cause problems. So, I always smile when I see 215 degrees on my oil temperature gauge. :-)

Here's a little article about what sludge is, and how sludge forms in an engine, sometimes as a result of failure of the oil to ever exceed 212 degrees:

Sludge in gasoline engines is usually black emulsion of water and other combustion by-products, and oil formed primarily during low-temperature engine operation. Sludge is typically soft, but can polymerize to very hard substance. It plugs oil lines and screens, and accelerates wear of engine parts. Sludge deposits can be controlled with a dispersant additive that keeps the sludge constituents finely suspended in the oil.
"Black Sludge" is defined as thick to solid material with low water content, of dark color, light oil insolubles, and typically found in rocker cover, cylinder head, timing chain cover, oil sump, oil pump screen, and oil rings in variable quantities.
Sludge in diesel engines, is soot combined with other combustion by-products which can thicken the oil to gel like sludge. This sludge is typically soft, but can also polymerize to very hard substance. It plugs oil filters, oil lines and screens, and accelerates wear of engine parts.

What causes "sludge"?
Sludge formation is the result of one or more of these factors:
- severe service driving with improper drain intervals

- mechanical malfunctions

- inadequate engine maintenance


Severe Service Driving:
The term “severe service” refers to:


1.) Short Trips - Engine Coolant and Engine Oil never reach the "normal" operating temperatures (170º F to 190º F for coolant and over 212º F for motor oil)
2.) Stop & Go Driving

 - Slow driving speeds and long idling periods lead to high under hood temperatures due to limited air flow
- The "average" miles per hour run time is low and engines accumulate many engine run hours for the relatively low number of miles driven, thus typically exceeding the safe number of hours for which particular motor oil was designed to operate ( Typically service life of premium motor oils is not more than 212 hours )

3.) Extended Idling

- sitting in traffic

- delivery truck operation
- The "average" miles per hour run time is low and engines accumulate many engine run hours for the relatively low number of miles driven, thus typically exceeding the safe number of hours for which particular motor oil was designed to operate ( Typically service life of premium motor oils is not more than 212 hours )

4.) High temperature operation
- driving at high ambient temperatures
- towing
- driving at maximum engine power output (high speeds or up hill)


5.) Extreme Cold
- starting engine below 0º F
- Engine Coolant and Engine Oil never reach "normal" operating temperatures 
 (170º F to 190º F for coolant and over 212º F for motor oil)

6.) Heavy Loads

 - operating in hilly regions

 - trailer Towing
- oxidation rate of conventional motor oils doubles for every increase of 15º F to 18º F, therefore motor oil that is fine for thoushands of miles at "normal" operating temperature can fail in just few hours if it is overheated to over 300 F.

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Red__Zed

Hitting195 or so is usually sufficient to boil the water out, since the water is usually hitting 212 at that point... It's lubrication is also better there-- usually ideal from 200-235 or so.

wstar

Yeah the water thing is definitely real. Especially with the oil I use (Motul), failing to boil the water out of the oil regularly is bad. But I hit 220 pretty regularly in the summer, just not always on long smooth highway cruises.

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kosstick

I run motul as well but are you with a oil cooler? I am thinking about going back to Pennzoil platinum since I saw this thread :-\

wstar

I use Motul's 300V racing oil, and it's known to be more hygroscopic (water-attracting/trapping) than most consumer oils, as well as low on detergents. It does need to be regularly heated to keep from building up moisture, which will make the oil acidic. In general it's probably really not a good oil to use for normal long change intervals (months), or a car that does short cold trips and/or sits idle for days, or gets parked outside in cold weather (condensation). It's also kind of expensive.

All those negatives aside, it's a very high quality oil, and it's manageable if you're willing to get the oil over the 212 mark regularly, garage the car, and change at 3K like clockwork (or shorter if you're not putting on many miles per week, or the oil gets abused by track conditions).

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V8Killer

Right now since their isn't any hard driving on my car should I be worried? Right now I have Redline in my vehicle. My concern is this, I am currently overseas at the moment and once a week my girlfriend starts the car up let's it sit for about 15 mins then takes it for a short spin then parks it. Right now the only reason she is driving it more often is to break the clutch in but she says she hasn't seen it go above 180 yet. Suggestions?

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"Punch"

Too much to list and a baby shot of nitrous....

wstar

I wouldn't worry too much about it. It would be better if she'd get the oil temp up higher though. You don't have to drive like an idiot to get the temps up, just stay 1-2 gears lower than you should be in while you cruise the small roads. Even at light throttle on a slow road, just keeping the engine up around 3-4K+ instead of 2K while cruising will raise the temps pretty quick.

Just be sure that oil gets changed out every few months, too.

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ChrisSlicks

I would be more worried about the hurricane that is heading right for your house!

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