9000th oil temperature thread
 

Hello,

I couldn't find a specific answer to my question so at the risk of getting roasted for a duplicate thread, I'm posting.

Specs:
2017 86, MAPerformance oilcooler, ft86 catted header, ebay exhaust, just installed ecutek. Pennzoil Platinum 5w30.

Situation:
Over the summer my oil temps have been 180-190ish and autocross puts me in the 215-220 range

Today I peeked at temps and it seems I'm in the 160s and that's after 15-20 minutes of driving. It was about 50f this morning.

Questions:
Is my thermostat working? Are these temps normal?

Do I just block off the oil cooler with a piece of plastic and not worry about it? Is my engine being appropriately lubricated with oil temps at 160f?

thanks!

160F is definitely not normal and on the low side. It's not awful, but certainly on the low side. Others can pitch in on what changes you should make, but running on 0W-20 would benefit you quite a bit at those temps. Either way, you want to see higher optimal temperatures of at least 180F. Your summer and autocross temps on the other hand are very nice and ideal for your current oil weight.

Subscribed for info.

I plan to install an oil cooler this winter in preparation for track days next year. I also plan on looking at the MAPerfoamance unit.

My thinking is if I'm still NA, with an oil cooler, there is no reason to run anything other than 0W-20.

I’m interested as well to see if anyone has ever put something like cardboard or some sort of cover over the oil cooler core for winter driving.

I experience the same thing every winter here in CA with my Perrin Frankenstein cooler.

I have a piece of plastic with holes at the edges I can zip tie to my oil cooler once the ambient temps regularly start hitting 60F or less. The issue with low oil temp is it doesn't get hot enough to boil off the moisture that accumulates in the oil from condensation.

Edit: Even oil coolers with a thermostatic plate still trickle a small amount of oil through the cooler.

In winter months, I needed to block my oil cooler off with cardboard to prevent it from overcooling. Even with a thermostat it was helping too much. Even driving on the interstate, when it was -15f here, I would need to leave the car at 6kRPM to get over 150f on the oil temp. Idling and not moving allowed the oil to heat up plenty, though

IIRC the factory oil temp sensor is down stream of the oil cooler so the oil exiting the engine into the oil cooler would be 20-25 degrees hotter than the temp you see. IF that is the case it would put you at 180-190F which makes sense that the thermostatic valve be open allowing circulation. FWIW I just duct tape up a potion of my cooler in the winter.

Yes, I think I've read that as well I want to say from @CSG Mike ? Accurate?

160F seems low, you could always pull the tstat out of the sandwich plate and put it in some hot water to see if/when its opening.

Your oil cooler looks like it uses a Mocal sandwich plate, which come with a 80C (180F) tstat. My first winter I struggled to get my oil up to temp as well with a FBM cooler. I switched to a 92C (197F) tstat (https://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/p...kit-m-otsp1-sk) which i got here https://www.merlinmotorsport.co.uk/p...kit-m-otsp1-sk

I also blocked off my cooler with a sheet of rubber I zip tied to it. That along with the hotter tstat kept my oil around 190-200F all winter. Also I would run 0w-20 in the winter

I've learned to correlate oil temp with pressure. It's pretty amazing how quickly the pressure drops off as temp rises above 90C. Oil cooler doesn't do much at autocross speeds unless it's mounted right up against the stack AND you're running the fan.

I agree with others. Just cover it during winter and chive on.

It is normal. The stock oil temperature sensor location is such that it is post cooler.

Want to test my statement? Park your car when it's fully warmed up. Take a hose and douse your oil cooler with a lot of water to cool the oil in it.

Go in your car and start the car, and watch your oil temp. It'll briefly plummet as the sensor sees the cooled oil in your cooler, and then go back up as hot oil cycles through the system

You don't need to have 212F to evaporate off water.

Ever see vapor rising from hot, but not boiling water? Or steam from a hot shower that is obviously WAY less hot than boiling water?

I usually like to see 180-190F oil temp. My car runs really cool on the highway since I added a splitter. I have seen water temps down to 156F after a 3 hour drive on the freeway in cool weather.

I was aware of this, though I figured it may still be a little low in this case? Is the general idea then, based on what someone said above, that true oil temp is about 20-25 degrees hotter than the reading on the dash at ALL times? Or is there some type of non-linear relationship here?