robertw

Tried doing as much research as I could before posting a thread, but researching oil temps has my head spinning looking for an answer. I'm curious if anyone can has any insight into what kind of temps I should be seeing, safe temp and max temp, at the filter sandwich plate. I couldn't find any info regarding how much temps vary between reading at the sandwich plate (oil cooled via coolant, but pressurized) vs reading temps from the pan (not pressurized).

I attended a drift event 2 weeks ago, and I was seeing temps around 240 after a few hard runs, after which I did a cool down lap just to be safe. Normal driving around town, temp sits around 200-210 or so, no oil cooler besides the stock one. I'm using rotella T6.

Thanks.

AlwaysBroken

edit: nm

aidandj

iTrader: (5)

I wouldn't go above 240.

robertw

Ok, apologies for my ignorance. I was under the impression the oil running through the pump could raise temps a bit vs sitting in the pan with a larger volume of oil, and not provide an accurate reading. Thanks.

Gotcha. I've seen a lot of different opinions / conflicting information regarding oil temps. Some folks (primarily spec miata guys) see temps on hot days in excess of 270, and felt comfortable with those temps (not much they can do other than back off). Others suggesting that was high, others claiming synthetic oils are good to 300 degrees, etc etc. I came to the conclusion setting my oil temp gauge alarm to 260 was, ok. But I'll try my best to keep temps around 240 max, thanks.

Savington

iTrader: (31)

Depends entirely on what oil you are using. Some oil is perfectly fine at 275-280*F. Some oil I wouldn't push beyond 220*F.

robertw

I'm using Rotella T6, from my understanding that's a pretty stout oil.

AlwaysBroken

My feeling on oil is that:
-if you're worried about oil temps (which you should be at 240+F), do something about it- run an oil cooler with a fan. In my experience, getting ideal positioning if you already have an FMIC and huge radiator is really hard and the fan makes quite a difference. A small fan with 200-300 cfm is plenty. A water sprayer hooked up to a thermostat (instead of a fan on the oil cooler) would probably also work if you are just doing short but extremely punishing runs.
-an oil temperature alarm at 260 is actually a really good idea, but not for anything relating to oil temperature. It's a backup for when your coolant goes missing (ie, from a huge hole in radiator/hose/etc) and the coolant temp sensor doesn't have any coolant touching it anymore. Your car will overheat VERY quickly and the only sign will be elevated oil temperatures.
-if you run an oil cooler, run a thermostat, especially if you street drive the car at all. It's the difference between having room temperature oil for 2 hours vs 180F oil in 2 minutes.
-run a good oil anyway, rotella T6 seems to be the consensus. I have run mobil 1 15W50 in the past.
-keep an eye on hoses and belts for wear and leaks because swapping out a slightly frayed hose is cheaper than swapping out an engine. You should always route hoses to avoid wear and damage, but **** happens.