whats considered hot for oil temps
 

My car runs at about 220 at most on hot days. Is this considered to hot? Not sure if I need an oil cooler for where I live which is wiconsin.

No, that's about the higher side of normal. If you won't be tracking your car, you won't need an oil cooler.

Especially up here in the north. But if you are really pushing it on a Wisconsin back road in high temps and humidity just watch the gauge. Then again there is nothing negative about running cooler oil...so...

220 is fine. hell, mr.tam was running 260 in the canyons without limp

I seen up to 250 yesterday, the only effect I had was the AC turned off when that happened. lol had to roll the windows down in that heatbox.

If outside its 60 and your seeing 220 you better be in a horrendous traffic jam.

If its 95 out and sitting at a redlight i wouldnt be too surprised at 210-220 even with an oil cooler. If i was floggin it previously of course.....

Mine is a 13 with the crappy stock cooler and I see 220 every day no matter the outside temp. A little lower on the freeway, but not much. Obviously the stocker doesn't do much, since I still see the same temps as pre cooler models. Could be different track wise, but don't think so.

Nothing to worry about. I was at the track a couple of weekends ago and the car drove fine with oil temp hovering a little above 270 (air temp around 92-93 degree F).

High Temp motor oil Wear Testing-Myth vs Reality (very long) • Speed Talk

THERMAL BREAKDOWN

I also heated the oils and observed the temperature at which they started to vaporize/smoke, which indicates the onset of thermal breakdown. Thermal breakdown is the point at which the composition of the oil begins to change due to the temperature it’s exposed to.

The official test for this is called the NOACK Volatility Test. In this test, the oil is heated to 302* F for one hour. The lighter oil fractions will vaporize, leaving thicker and heavier oil, contributing to poor circulation, reduced fuel economy, increased oil consumption, increased wear and increased emissions. The test reports results in the percentage, by weight, lost due to "volatilization."

Before July 1, 2001, 5W-30 motor oil in the United States could lose up to 22 percent of its weight and still be regarded as "passable." Now, with GF-4, the maximum NOACK volatility for API licensing is 15 percent. European standards limit high quality oils to a maximum of 13 percent loss.

Here are the approximate observed temperatures at which the various oils started to vaporize/smoke, which indicated the onset of thermal breakdown:

5W30 Pennzoil Ultra, API SM = 280*

5W30 Mobil 1, API SN = 265*

10W30 Lucas Racing Only = 290*

5W50 Motorcraft, API SN = 275*

10W30 Amsoil Z-Rod Oil = 300*, the BEST in this test

20W50 Castrol GTX, API SN = 275*

5W20 Castrol Edge w/Titanium, API SN = 280*

10W30 Joe Gibbs XP3 NASCAR Racing Oil = 280*

5W30 Castrol GTX, API SN = 280*

10W30 Valvoline VR1 Racing Oil, silver bottle = 260*, the WORST in this test

0W30 Brad Penn, Penn Grade 1 = 280*

5W30 Royal Purple XPR = 285*


Here are the “averages” for the onset of thermal breakdown with these 12 oils:

Full synthetic oils = 282*

Semi-synthetic oil = 280*

Conventional dino oils = 272*

Ditto... 220 in traffic, 180-200 when I finally have some free space. I love the part of my commute when I get to watch the oil temp drop.

220 in traffic is the norm here!

No redline 5w30 or 5w40 :(

That was published by 540RAT. Go on the Corvette Forum in the C3 section and see what they have to say about his oil wear testing.

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c3-t...test-data.html

There is more than one engineer in there who will not endorse his findings. Just sayin'.

With the air to oil cooler the oil temp will be 210 - 220 if you're pushing it at all. That is actually a good temp for oil. You don't want it to be too cold, either. Over 180 as a rule.

Without the oil cooler it will tend to fluctuate a bit more. Unless the car is hitting limp mode a lot (which shouldn't happen on the street) then I wouldn't worry about it too much. I mean, you don't want to run 5,000 miles at redline on oil that has been to 300 degrees every day but you don't need to worry about occasionally getting up to 250 - 260 degrees at all IMO.

I use to see 220 in stop and go. Now I'm around 185-195 w/ a 19 row. My highest has been 205.