Oil Temp Sensor Question
 

I am assembling a DIY oil cooler set up and I have come to a stumbling block. I was looking at the highly recommended MoCal sandwich plate, but it looks to only have an in-out lines on it. Where do you guys recommend placing the sensor? I have seen some sensors placed where the oil drain plug was, but I understand that is not ideal for accurate temp readings?

You can get AN adapters that have a 1/8 port in them. So your oil temp would then be inline with one of the lines coming out of the plate. You want to make sure you're reading the sandwich out --> cooler in line so you know how hot it is coming out of the block. I ran my temp sender this way when I had an oil filter relo kit on the car.

On our cars I don't know that the oil pan is a bad place to get the temperature reading. When reading oil temp at the filter, that oil has already passed through the stock oil cooler sandwich plate (unless it has been removed) and therefore has already transferred some heat, so the reading should be lower than actual.

I am interested in seeing where those who track more often / harder than I do mount their sensor.

I am too, I'm still learning as much as I can do I can do this right once. I went to CalSpeedway on a stock cooling system in 100 degree ambien heat...it was an eye opening experience.

I think with an adequate cooling system, 200whp should be reliable quite easily.

I want to hear others suggestions as well. This us on my list this winter to attack all my cooling and get real gauges as well.

Just as an FYI, if you're talking about the Mocal plate which has a built-in thermostat, it was my experience that the thermostat bypassed quite a bit of oil into the cooler even when "closed", with the result that oil warmup in normal street driving was severely degraded. As in oil temps barely hitting 160 degrees at the end of my 5 mile morning commute.

This is isn't a primary vehicle for me anymore but this has been something I've considered. How much of an issue is this for something I still drive for fun on the weekends?

I like the sensor in the pan. However an eBay plate with sensor hunts and a Mocal in-line thermostat loop switch thingie is a good idea. Make sure to use #10 lines too.

I guess it depends on what you weekend fun runs look like.

All I know is that when I had one of these on my DD, my oil temps never came up to normal on a typical 5-6 mile drive, regardless of outside temp.

I removed the whole system and installed an OEM 1.8-style water/oil exchanger from a later model engine. Not only did that keep my oils temps well in check for both AutoX and hard summer drives through the mountains, but the oil warmup time in the morning was decreased relative to stock (makes sense- the primary cooling system comes up to temperature much faster, and transfers heat into the oil when it's cold.)

FYI, with my old oil cooler setup my temps were 160-170 around town, but they would climb up into the 240+ range on the highway in 100+ degree heat, and at the track they were routinely 275F or higher.

Before removing my cooler, I used the license plate to block the flow through it on the street. It took the oil temps from a max street of 160 up to 180. Once the oil cooler was removed, oil temps rose to 210-215.

Sav, what oil cooler do you use now?

I've heard horror stories of the eBay plate leaking which has scared me away from them. Have a lot of people used them without issues?

For autocross I'm sure it would be fine but this car sees HPDE's and eventually it will be doing the Miata Challenge so I don't think that will be enough.

Hmm, where was your sensor located?

I am not worried as street driving at this point will be longer cruises and romps in the mountains. I have a daily for the quick trips around town, especially with door bars in the way.