What's the temp?!!!

[vincent9993]

I now have an oil temperature gauge, I realize that not all gauges and sneder units are created equal but what temperatures should I be seeing in my stock 1600 engine? I bought this new zero mile engine in 2003. We drove 300 miles this weekend and the gauge read between 200F-220F with peaks just above 230F. After a 10 minute turned off, the temp reading went back to below 180F. The air temp was in the 90s. I mounted the sensor on the exit of the oil pump. As I said, I understand that gauges are not the most accurate, but I'm trying to get a feel for how much heat my little 1600 is enduring. Any thoughts welcomed.

[Lee]

Vincent, From what I have been told, your temperature readings are perfectly normal for the conditions you described. You are measuring the temperature in a good spot. A friend had the sensor mounted on a T along with the oil pressure sender, and it would hardly read anything. His sensor was at a virtual 'dead end'. It sounds like you have your sensor in a steady stream of oil, after it's been through the engine and before it goes through the cooler. That's perfect. I understand 230 is the max you want to see for oil temp, but it's perfectly understandable that it would hit that mark with ambient air temps in the nineties. We simply cannot drive our air cooled vehicles the same way we can our watercooled ones. At least you now know when you have to take your foot out of it. As a point of interest, I have a CHT gauge, but no oil temp. It is common to see a CHT of just above 400 when cruising on the freeway fully loaded. When it starts to creep up to 425, it's time to back off! The freeway seems to get the engine hotter than anything else. On the trails or in the city, I rarely see a CHT of over 300. Jump on the freeway and put it in fourth, here comes 350-400! I use the oil pressure gauge to determine oil temp. If you have at least 10 PSI for every 1,000 RPM, the oil temp is in the green. If it drops below that, it's too hot. In any case, it's a good idea to run 40 weight oil when the air temp is in the nineties plus. Some guys run multi-weight diesel engine oil (Chevron Delo), which also works well. Conventional multi-weight oils tend to have problems when they encounter the high temperatures the air cooled heads run at.

[vincent9993]

I actually installed an oil pump cover with full flow outlet and screwed in an oil sensor in the single outlet. Seems to be working well, the sensor is just the right length for the opening. As for Oil pressure, I seem to be in the green per your specs, 40psi at 3,300RPM at 60MPH in 4th. I'm currently running 10w30 but was thinking of going synthetic... Any thoughts? I can run diesel 15w40 and have for many years before I changed my dead engine. While I'm on the subject, given that 4th is way up there in lala land, what should I keep my RPMs to when shifting? I've been pretty good at keeping them below 3,500 but what is considered safe? Remeber I run a stock 2003 1600cc. Thanks!!!

[L0084MC]

you said you had a engine with 0 miles. don't use synthetic oil until it is broke in with at least 3 or 4000 miles on it. synthetic is too slick for a new engine and will not get a proper brake-in on the rings, valves, cam, lifters and so on.

[vincent9993]

Thanks for the advise but I guess I'm good to switch... Had the engine since 2003 and put about 7000 miles on it since.

[Lee]

Vincent, Here's a good article on using synthetic oil in an aircooled VW: http://aircooled.net/gnrlsite/resource/ ... nthoil.htm Regarding your other question, you should be safe if you keep the RPMs down below 4,000. I like to shift around 3,500 so I'm not lugging the engine on upshifts. I cruise for hours at a time at 3,500 RPM to do 60 MPH in fourth gear, and the engine seems happy. A blip up to 4,000 when passing someone is fine, but I won't keep it there for too long.