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I've only ever seen temps that high when racing and lots of sitting about idling/moving waiting to race again etc.
During normal driving slow or otherwise it's never got that high. I run coolant around 175-180degF though.
If this does creep up higher, naturally oil temp gets higher too and it can take a little longer to come back down when moving but always does once moving.
238degF isnt too bad with a good oil. Over 250 and I'd be concerned although even some good oils are apparently ok with that too. I wouldnt want it like that on mine though
For a hot climate though an oil cooler can never be a bad idea.
I've only ever seen temps that high when racing and lots of sitting about idling/moving waiting to race again etc.
During normal driving slow or otherwise it's never got that high. I run coolant around 175-180degF though.
If this does creep up higher, naturally oil temp gets higher too and it can take a little longer to come back down when moving but always does once moving.
238degF isnt too bad with a good oil. Over 250 and I'd be concerned although even some good oils are apparently ok with that too. I wouldnt want it like that on mine though
For a hot climate though an oil cooler can never be a bad idea.
I have a stock 180 thermostat, a Be Cool HD radiator and stock fans to which I added some sealing strips to make sure air flow goes through. Coolant temp per the stock gauge remains slightly below the halfway mark between 160 and 210.
My former C4 Corvette had a factory oil temp gauge (with selectable digital readout in part of the dash) and it was always hotter than the coolant gauge- which would display around 197 down the road with a 180 t-stat. As I recall, it ran around 220 oil temp with the sensor in the same location, the C4 had a HD aftermarket aluminum radiator as well.
I think the sensor is being influenced by the header and no airflow while sitting still. If the car was really that hot the gauge would have registered higher when the sensor was on the cooler output.
I fabbed up this cooler/fan setup last weekend for my oil system to go underneath the passenger seat.
Unfortunately I don't have any data to support what my oil temps are other than the pressure drop I experience when I'm hammering on it or when to ambient temp. is high.
I'll be curious so see if this helps since it will be on a 180 degree thermostatic switch as well as manual switch to cool the oil off before shutting down the car.
The car is down for the winter and I had this laying around but I also feel like this will help extend my oil life and it can't hurt right?
Interesting idea for location. I take it this is a track-only car?
I had considered adding a small temp-activated fan on top of my cooler but decided against it.
Actually this is a street oriented car and actually didn't see a track this year.
I drive the hell out of it though, I went on a 400 mile trip this summer with it plus beating on it around town.
I'm of the frame of mind that the turbo HAS to be adding heat to the oil, I don't see how it couldn't and as such an oil cooler could only help extend oil life and keep my pressure stable in all conditions.
We will find out either way.
I'd have two concerns over having the cooler inside the passenger compartment for a street-driven car:
1) Oil leaks and
2) Where is the heat going? AC is on my to-do list as soon as I can afford to get it fixed, I wouldn't want even more heat.
I agree the turbo will add heat so a cooler is a good idea.
I thought I'd add another reference that i just remembered. I added a mechanical temp gauge to my riding lawnmower a few years ago when I replaced the 20HP Briggs motor with a 26 HP Kohler (air cooled 2 cylinder). It also has a thermo filter adapter and I rigged a small power steering cooler over the cooling fan in the intake airflow. When it is at idle here in FL on a 90+ degree day it will see 190-200, and while mowing under load it will go 220-230.
I've always been under the impression that keeping the oil ~ 220*F is ideal. Cooler than that and and h2o from combustion gases will not come out of the oil.
I'd have two concerns over having the cooler inside the passenger compartment for a street-driven car:
1) Oil leaks and
2) Where is the heat going? AC is on my to-do list as soon as I can afford to get it fixed, I wouldn't want even more heat.
I agree the turbo will add heat so a cooler is a good idea.
Sorry, bad description.
It's underneath the car underneath the passenger floor board.
There's a large hump in the floor where the catalytic converter used to reside where its mounted.
I'll get photo's of it when it's complete.
From the research I've done oil temp needs to reach 180' to burn off any condensation in the oil, that and the Setrab temp. switches I found were offered in 160' and 180' temps so I'm thinking that's correct.
I opted for the 180' switch plus a manual switch so I can cool the oil down after a beating before shutting the car down.
I should have the car fired up this weekend so we'll see how it turns out.
Here is a pic of the cooler installed in the car.
It's mounted right under the passenger floor board with a bracket I made.
I didn't get it wired up yet but I test fired it and there are no leaks which is always a plus.
I'm gonna have to wait until summer to test it out unfortunately so look for this post to be raised from the dead in 10 months lol.
Thanks for the update. That makes sense now LOL. Looking forward to see how well it works next summer.
As a semi-update on my car, I've built a combo 52mm oil temp/air temp/humidity/heat index gauge with OLED display for another car. If it works as planned, I'll make one for the TA and replace both of my A-pillar gauges and make room for an AFR gauge.
The gauge design thread with file and pic links is here. The case is still not 100% right but with some trimming it worked OK. Total cost for parts was around $65-70, but some of the items (microcontroller, wire) will give you enough for a second gauge. My other car is still not running yet so I don't have any installed pics as yet, but it bench tested OK when I powered it with a power supply.
The above gauge used a common GM coolant temp sensor. I made an oil temp sensor out of some 5/16" brass rod and a 1/8 x 1/4 pipe bushing. See this link for the draft project using a gutted 1/8 NPT sensor. I've attached a pic of the completed sensor with wiring connector. I silver soldered the rod into the bushing and then drilled a 5mm hole in the rod to mount the thermistor. I soldered 3x 22 gauge TXL wires onto the thermistor leads. I used some JB Weld to seal the wiring at the top and covered the wires with a couple layers of heat shrink. Unlike commercial gauges, it will display oil temp from like -40 to 302F. The beauty is that it uses a thermistor that is about $1. The bushings are available at any hardware store and I got the brass rod at McMaster Carr.
I had an issue with my oil temps reaching 250* and coolant temps at 210* just from a casual 20 mile drive to work, no boost pulls, last summer here in TX in my turbo 6.0 240sx . My car has been down for a few other things but i've added a B&M 70273 cooler and Derale 180* oil themostat so hopefully that'll help
I had an issue with my oil temps reaching 250* and coolant temps at 210* just from a casual 20 mile drive to work, no boost pulls, last summer here in TX in my turbo 6.0 240sx .
My first foreign V8 swap was a Gen 1 383 into a 1st gen RX7. I never could get it to run cool here in Florida and sold it to someone up north. In my experience, cooling is always an issue when adding a SBC to an import. Also IME, the 280Z is the only one that really has enough room in the engine bay and also room for a decent radiator and fan (Lincoln MK8).
I had an issue with my oil temps reaching 250* and coolant temps at 210* just from a casual 20 mile drive to work, no boost pulls, last summer here in TX in my turbo 6.0 240sx . My car has been down for a few other things but i've added a B&M 70273 cooler and Derale 180* oil themostat so hopefully that'll help
Yeah see and for me if I ***** footed it my hot pressures would be 35ish idle and 60 ish at higher rpm.
If I was into boost a lot and beating its *** it would drop to 25ish idle but still maintain 60ish at higher rpm which makes me think the oil is getting hot.
Plus a friend of mine has a PT88 408 combo that he also experiences oil thinning with when he hammers on it.
I bought the biggest cooler I could find and added a fan so we'll see how much that helps because it certainly won't hurt.
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