Safe for 6k rpm at what Coolant Temp?
 

I'm wondering, since supposedly the majority of wear on modern day engines occurs before the engine is at its proper temperature, what place on the Engine Coolant Temp. Gauge is it safe to rev up to +6k rpm? When the Gauge is at the 1/3 mark? 1/2 way?

I would love to know because this car, to me, is perfect for going 10/10 ths, legally on public roads.

when the oil is up to temp is when you want to make it sing

this.

The coolant gauge is pretty much worthless.

You're coolant gauge could read in the middle and your oil could still not be warmed up.

But then how do you know when it's safe?

You can redline it the instant you turn it on.

Would I do it? No, but you can.

About 1/2 is where my car is up to temp in Texas 100 degrees ℉ outside. But honestly, with a little 2.0 liter, modern engine technology, and the synthetic the dealer puts in our cars. It takes no time flat before the oil is everywhere it needs to be, and the temp isn't a big deal. With that said, I'll be letting my car reach operating temp before reviving past 3K. To each thier own.

Torque app

I live in Houston as well... takes about 10 minutes normal driving keeping it under 3k to get the engine oil above 190 degrees, with water at about 193... Scangauge II is a good thing:

http://vracer111.smugmug.com/photos/...-4gLhb6g-M.jpg

http://vracer111.smugmug.com/photos/...-RXV48QN-M.jpg

http://www.scangauge.com/products/scangaugeii/

I always see the phrase "up to temp" tossed around. What temperature is "up to temp"?

Same as coolant temp which means 190F as that's the temp the t-stat operates.


The oil temp isn't what you're really worrying about, it's the temp of all the different parts in the motor that are expanding. Oil temp is just a good judge of the temp of those parts as the oil contacts all of them while the coolant doesn't.

Then why don't we have an oil temp gauge? Does the coolant's ability to quickly heat mean it's a better indicator if the engine is overheating?

Yes, and as a general rule we're seeing less and less gauges in cars...


Hell, the Versa (the cheapest new car in America right now) doesn't even have a coolant temp gauge:iono:

+1 for Torque.

To expand on that, the car has an oil temperature sender, and that data is available to the engine computer. It just doesn't have a gauge to display it.

However, you can buy a $10 OBDII Bluetooth adapter that plugs right into the OBDII port under the dash, just to the right of the steering column. Then you install the $5 Torque app on your Android device and set up custom gauges on the screen. For less than $20 (assuming you have an Android device already) you can have a full gauge package including all the gauges missing from our dashboards.

Here's mine:

http://i315.photobucket.com/albums/l...lTimeInfo1.jpg

That's an old pic, and I'm running some different gauges now, but what has not changed are the coolant and oil temp gauges. They are right there where they have always been.

What you can see in that pic is that the car had just been started, and the coolant temp was rising faster than the oil temp. The coolant gauge on the dash will actually show "normal" even before the coolant gets up to temp. At that point, the oil temp will still be lagging behind, and it will take several more minutes before they are both at the ideal operating temperature.

When it's fully warmed up, the coolant temp will be between 190° and 195°, and the oil temp will be up to around 210°. I generally drive easy until the oil temp gets up above 190°, and by that I mean I usually keep the revs down below 4000. If you do a lot of high-rev driving, you'll see the oil temp increase. I've had mine up over 220° before when really flogging it.

In addition to oil temp, there is a LOT of other data Torque can display for you. The one thing it can't do is show you oil pressure, because the car's oil pressure sender is only an on/off switch that can't send pressure information. If you want to monitor oil pressure, you have to install an aftermarket gauge.

Torque will also read and clear codes when you get a CEL, which can be really handy. And it has a whole screen just for running emissions checks, to give you some comfort that you'll pass a smog check if you live in a nanny state. There are other systems that will show you all this stuff (see the scan gauge above), but not nearly as inexpensively. And once you buy Torque for ONE Android device, you can download it into ALL your Android devices without paying extra. I have it running on different devices in both my vehicles for the same price.