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Oil temp?
laptoprob - 15/7/12 at 06:39 AM

What oil temps are peeps seeing on track and road with a car engine fitted?

Ive had a few issues lately with the water boiling up and turned out to be my oil overheating.

Could just do with knowing what other cars are showing so i can keep an eye on it.

Just for reference mine is an XE engine.

britishtrident - 15/7/12 at 07:08 AM

Oil temp should usually be within 10 degrees of normal coolant temperature ie oil temp should be in the range 80 to 115c.
Oil that is too cold kills many more engines than oil that is too hot.
Synthetic oils are much more resistant to high temperatures than mineral oils.

snapper - 15/7/12 at 08:39 AM

If you don't have an oil cooler the water and radiator is the only thing that cools the engine.
Oil overheating is just a symptom of water cooling system not providing enough cooling

laptoprob - 15/7/12 at 09:02 AM

quote:
Originally posted by snapper
If you don't have an oil cooler the water and radiator is the only thing that cools the engine.
Oil overheating is just a symptom of water cooling system not providing enough cooling


That was the problem primarily but have fitted one now which hopefully will solve it.

The radiator is a 4 pass Pace product so should be more than ample.

Just need to keep my eye on temps when on track but am curious what temps other people are seeing when driving on track?

britishtrident - 15/7/12 at 09:20 AM

To put it another way the ammount of heat energy that goes into the oil should be very small compared to the ammount of heat energy that goes into the coolant.

Coolant has more than twice the specific heat capacity of mineral oil.

High oil temperature would not be the cause of the coolant boiling unless the engine was actually seizing up.

laptoprob - 15/7/12 at 10:47 AM

quote:
Originally posted by britishtrident
To put it another way the ammount of heat energy that goes into the oil should be very small compared to the ammount of heat energy that goes into the coolant.

Coolant has more than twice the specific heat capacity of mineral oil.

High oil temperature would not be the cause of the coolant boiling unless the engine was actually seizing up.


Intersting point!

As its a new engine i doubt headgasket failure and to compound that i had the same trouble last year on my previous engine.

The rad is for sure a tip top item and the piping is the same as every other XE install ive seen.

My only other concern is that i have a rather large fan strapped to the back of the rad. Do you think this could be an issue?

britishtrident - 15/7/12 at 11:56 AM

Remove the thermostat and try drilling two or three 2 to 2.5 mm holes in the thermostat valve plate to allow some by-pass flow round the thermostat.

laptoprob - 15/7/12 at 11:59 AM

Took that out on the last track day