Water / oil " normal " temperatures, your input needed ! Options

[Culpable04]

I have a 3rd gen 3sgte with berk tech downpipe, 3" exhaust system, running ~ 15 psi at the moment.

since day one I have had my eyes glued to my oil temperature / pressure gauges.

it has been always ~ 210 degrees F ( ~ 99C ) once the car is warmed up

lately I've seen my olil temperature get up to ~ 220-230F ( 104-110 C ) while cruising at ~ 2500 rpms

I'm using Mobil 1, I'm trying to understand why I'm getting hotter readings than before at the same crusing rpms with no changes on my setup.

also what's the " safe " range for the oil temperature to be ?

I know the 3s has an oil cooler that uses coolant to cool the oil down, so I checked my coolant level and is fine, I'm not leaking / losing any coolant.

any input on this ?

[DEATH]

I've got no input as to the temps but the Oil Pressure at startup on mine is a solid 60PSI, drops to 20-40PSI when warm [depending on our wild temp changes here in Houston] and stays pretty much between 30-40PSI at anything other than idle.
Hope this helps in another way.

I can say this tho - As a Lubrication Engineer those numbers all seem high. I design Lube Systems for Cat engines as well as many other manufacturers you guys wouldn't have heard of most likely [Most of them Turbocharged] and I don't see any numbers that high in my tech spec sheets. Optimum temps for these engines are between 90*F and 140*F. Most of these engines are either Deisel or they use the process gas [Natural gas] as a fuel so temps WOULD be lower. This may or may not have any bearing on a Turbocharged 4cyl gasoline engine tho so take all of this with a huge grain of salt.

This post has been edited by DEATH: Oct 12, 2010 - 3:25 PM

[presure2]

that does seem a bit on the hot side to me stevenson, as for the change in temp, is that with fresh oil?
i've never monitored oil temp, so i have no hard data for ya, but 230* is definetly on the hot side for cruising oil temps, IMO.
does it rise any more if you get on it?

[DEATH]

does it rise any more if you get on it?

I'd say it def has to given the superheated oil from the Turbo being recirc'd back to sump and then to the head again

[Culpable04]

the temperature normally rises when I get on it, but i haven't press the gas when I notice those numbers at cruising speeds.

since I don't have an aftermarket coolant temp, I have no actual number on the coolant temp, but the only thing I can think of is my thermostat opening a little later than it should. does that sound right ? I know the OEM water temperature guage is almost useless, and it does stay right in the middle.

I wanted to order a TRD thermostat, but I'mm go ahead na install a OEM one for now to see if that solves my problem.

[BriinumsBo]

110 C was quite normal cruising at 100km/h (60mph) on my st185
ideal is 95-105
my st185 could go up to 125 very fast (3 laps around icy lake in winter), if i drove 120kmh+ it would go to 115-120. i dont know if this is normal, but definitely many 3sgte owners see their engine being more hot than others. make sure you have good coolant inside as the hot engine and oil cooler heat it up quickly when you drive aggressive. my radiator blew up when i was doing silly **** for ~7minutes - as soon as i drove off the area and rpms dropped, the coolant just heated up terribly fast and bomb..

silly ****: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNQDlZbmKI4

blowup: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9wlbd6dEoQ

[presure2]

are you running a water wetter of some sort in your coolant, stevenson?
i'd be curious to know if that would help at all, even if it is a little.

[Culpable04]

no, no water wetter, I can probably stop at autozone and buy one to test.

I'm flushing my coolant and replacing the thermostat this weekend anyways so why not.

[Culpable04]

ok, so I've been searching all over the place for different people's input on my oil temperature readings

aparently my readings are normal.

this is just one of the sites I read

Read here !

but this leads me to the next question, why was I getting readings around 190 F before ?

[presure2]

lol, i was just about to post the same, stevenson...went over to mr2oc and seems like most of the guys over there are seeing 220-230* cruising, and as hot as 250-60*F+ when tracking the car.

[stephen_lee]

DAMN, that oil is baking

[Culpable04]

this is a very good excuse to use Synthetic oil only, regular oil starts to degrade at 260F ( ~ 127C ) while synthetic oil can withstand temperatures of 310+ ( ~ 155C ) while still offering the same proctection to the engine.

This post has been edited by Culpable04: Oct 14, 2010 - 9:55 AM

[klue]

lol, i was just about to post the same, stevenson...went over to mr2oc and seems like most of the guys over there are seeing 220-230* cruising, and as hot as 250-60*F+ when tracking the car.

Yea these are normal temps for me, gen 2 3sgte, alloy rad, single 12 fan during summer so +25C ambient tempatures. When its cooler outside my oil stays MUCH MUCH colder. mostly below 180 sometimes 110

[DEATH]

Guys - Please note the locations of your oil temp sensor has alot to do with the temps the gauge will read. I'd only compare apples to apples setups.


This post has been edited by DEATH: Oct 18, 2010 - 10:46 AM

[klue]

good point, Im taking my measurements from the cylinder head where the oil pressure switch is, gen 2 3sgte

[Culpable04]

my temperature probe in right on top of the oil filter ( oil sandwich )