Safe oil temps for daily driving and spirited driving off the track?
 

I have searched around for good oil temp levels to make sure my car stays at, 2019 brz. I had Tomei UEL catless headers and a simple sticky heat shield thing slapped on the oil pan, and I saw my oil get up to 237F with some hard driving on the back roads. I swapped back to stock headers and kept the heat shield on, and then took it off, and I'm getting the same peak oil temps. Is 230-240F a safe operating temp for the oil under stock or stage 2 conditions? It seems like my car likes to heat the oil up pretty fast even with a small amount of hard driving. Should I be worried about long term effects at all or invest in a cooler even if I'm not tracking it? Thanks.

Hum...
My guess you are way overthinking this oil temp thingy.
If you do want piece of mind an oil cooler would do the trick. Or just put some vents in the hood.

But if it was me, I'll burn the car. No point in trying to sell it. Once the oil heats to those levels it's only a matter of time before the engine blows up.

But hope is not lost. You can pick a nice Civic Si new or used with out worry about silly high oil temp. Trust me these new turbos smoke any 86 out there, even with a forced induction kit.

Funny enough, I was just doing a bunch of research about oil temps yesterday.

It seems like where you're at is perfectly fine.

https://www.pointmeby.com/2016/09/18...z-frs-gt86-86/
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93127
https://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forum...topics/3741394

230-240 is perfect. It needs to get warm enough to work correctly. Quality oil can survive occasional spikes of 300, but sustained temps over ~275 would start to become concerning to me, and definitely time to invest in a cooler of some kind.

What are you smoking? 240F is about the cut off point to when severe pressure drops occur. The issue with oil temps on this platform isn't the oil temp itself (as far as damaging the oil), it's the effect on oil pressure. If you're regularly going over 240F and not doing anything about it, say goodbye to your rod bearings.

Honestly, people, search the forums. Get an engine oil cooler. It's one of the first reliability mods you should do if you're going to be canyon running or putting the car on track.

A thermostatically controlled oil cooler is much cheaper than playing a guessing game :) I bought the Mishimoto oil cooler and haven't looked back. Even for dd, it's nice to know I don't need to worry about it. My temps barely cracked 210-220 with a hardcore pounding when I was using catless UEL headers with no heat management.

I ran my car up to 250F at the track, and pitted to cool it down. I wouldn't go beyond that my self as the pressure drop can Nuke your bearings.

If the car is out of warranty consider switching to a 5w30 or 0w30. It will hold oil pressure for longer. Beyond that a oil cooler is a good idea if you regularly push the car up to those temperatures.

Did you not read any of the links that suggest and prove otherwise?

I bet you suggest to only use the black tokyo roki filter too or else it will damage your engine. :lol:


100-169F Warm Up Phase, high oil pressures
170-189F Near Operating temps, oil pressures still higher
190-225F Normal Operating Range, oil pressures normalize
225-245F Middle End of operating range for track use, 5% drop in oil pressures
245-255F Upper End of operating ranges for track use, 10% further drop in pressures on 0w20
255-265F Red Zone of operating ranges for track zone, 0w20 starts to thin, oil pressures drop to questionable range.
265F+ Playing with fire on 0w20

Keep in mind the data above is oil brand dependent. Different oils breakdown at different temperatures.

Amsoil Signature Series, synthetic *Onset Thermal Breakdown @ 295*
Renewable Lubricants Bio-SynXtra Super High-Performance Motor Oil *Onset Thermal Breakdown @ 275f*
Quaker State Ultimate Durability, synthetic *Onset Thermal Breakdown @ 260f*

What oil weight were you using?

Sent from a potato

You need an oil cooler.

I wouldn't recommend ever going over 240F unless you don't mind significantly accelerating the wear and tear on your car.

I think there's a very good reason why a lot of track cars often aim for under 225f for oil temperatures when considering cooling options. Temperature is only 1/10th the picture, pressure is what's actually important. Most cars will be hard pressed to actually bring oil to breakdown temperatures, but by that point one is typically already employing oil cooling so even if the pressure isn't good, it'd be almost impossible to "cook" the oil. But it's the lubrication and pressure that matters and balancing that with oil weight selection, alongside flow.

If the driver's manual recommends ~10psiX1K RPM, then I would aim for that, and even the better case scenario readings are pulling readings below that (IE, 60PSI at 7K RPM).

Here's just some threads that discuss oiling and pressure...

https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=63723
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134863
https://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=131419
http://www.ft86club.com/forums/showthread.php?t=76760 <-- the most clearcut one IMHO, for what it's worth


And while these are extreme examples of usage I think they, alongside the numerous anectdotes everywhere on the forums or otherwise paint a clear picture to warrant a more proactive approach to cooling.

Well, now you know - :D

Since you live in Oregon (where the temperatures don't usually get that hot) and you don't track the car and assuming you don't spend all day running up and down Mt Hood in August, I would think that you wouldn't need an oil cooler.

My take is that, for average driving (some spirited), with a stock engine, one shouldn't get all carried away with all these aftermarket gadgets that measure too damn much stuff and just alarms people.

Think, back in the day, we just had a speedometer/odometer, a gas gauge, a "real" temperature gauge, an amp meter and a "real" oil pressure gauge, and we got along just fine.

:iono:

(it must be closing in on ma nap time)


humfrz

NOBODY CARES ABOUT BREAKDOWN TEMPS. It's about pressure, which I literally and clearly stated. If your oil is getting to a temperature where breakdown is occurring, you've already permanently and irreversibly damaged your engine (even if it's not showstopper damage).

As snarky as you're being in your response to me, you'd think you might have spent an iota of your precious time doing a little research on something other than oil company data sheets.

I didn't bother reading your links intially because:

1) You're absolutely incorrect about 300F being a cut-off point of problematic temperature.

2) I already know, because I actively beat the piss out of my car and I data log. I can see for my own self what temperature and pressure and RPM have as a relationship and I know that an oil cooler was not only necessary, but essential in a spirited application for this platform.

3) Telling someone not to get an inexpensive reliability improvement mod who drives spiritedly is nearly malicious in its ignorance.

Your links don't even agree with your statement, now that I've read them. In fact, the link to pointmeby makes a point of saying 60psi is an important pressure to hit, which required him to keep oil below 245F to reach it at 7000rpm.

You are correct. I picked out parts of each and failed to put them together as a bigger picture with pressures included.

However, I did not suggest that the OP should not get one, just that his temps were acceptable to drive without one. The OP only saw temps up to 237F, which even by your account, doesn't necessitate at oil cooler.

By all means, if he wants an oil cooler to stay safe, he should get one.