oil temp. how hot is too hot?

1303wasserbug · Post by **1303wasserbug** » Sat Dec 01, 2007 10:45 am

at what oil temp should i be worried? had my car ticking over in the drive, 1.9 wasser turbo, no oil cooler. and at the same temp that my water radiator fan cuts in my gauge was reading as shown

normally when driving about the water gauge doesn't get much off the bottom mark and oil is just off the second mark between 80 and 130

51MAN · Post by **51MAN** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 7:39 am

Have you checked calibration of the sender and gauge loop?

Put the sender in its wiring in a kettle of boiling water... (100 degC)
You will have to run an earth wire back tot he car though... it will give you a good idea how accurate it is... I would like to see 80-90..

I persononally, wouldnt like to see more than 110... most modern oils dont like above that..
even fitting the "2.1" warmer/cooler, may help, but it would be worth using a fan on a air cooler... with a Tstat...

Tencentlife has done a good bit of work on oil temps and effects...

I have been thinking about this myself... maybe someone will have comments on this...
If the oil is coming back from the engine at say, 110, do you cool it to 80, or do you cool as much as poss?
if you cool it to 50 the oil coming back from the engine should be better...
Or is it all done on the oil temp coming to the oil cooler? ie you control the oil to 80-90 coming from the engine...

fastback · Post by **fastback** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 9:36 am

i would also check if your sender is OK as our french man suggest.
In my turbo wbx engine (2.2 with the watercooled oil cooler) i have not reached above Oil temp 80° , even on long trips in hot summer air.
i have 82° water thermostat .

i'd recomend installing the watercooled oilcoooler anyway.

(when cruisng Autobahn last summer in my friends Audi A6 TDI , when driving hard ,the Oiltemp was around 130°...and not even on the red mark)

51MAN · Post by **51MAN** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 10:46 am

Where do you get an 82 deg T stat? I could really do with one, especially when the 2.3/2.5 is done...

AMBROSIA · Post by **AMBROSIA** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 1:34 pm

The VR6 engines run a little hot so you can get an 82 degree one which is the same size as the wbx thermostat.
I'm getting one of these for my 1.9 wbx beetle ride.
I've already fitted an 82 degrees fan switch.

fastback · Post by **fastback** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 2:32 pm

51MAN wrote:Where do you get an 82 deg T stat? I could really do with one, especially when the 2.3/2.5 is done...

I bought it on a local parts shop. i have the partnumber ...somewhere..

Think it was a Tridon brand

tencentlife · Post by **tencentlife** » Mon Dec 03, 2007 8:56 am

There's also an 80C t-stat available, at least here in the states:

http://www.van-cafe.com/vanagon_parts.j ... =689045760

I have one. Used it for a little while until I put in my oil/air cooler, when I switched back to the 87C. I don't need the engine to be cooler, I just needed the lubrication to be stable, and now that's under control. The FI is calibrated around the 87C figure, and I would rather run the heads and cyls hotter for best combustion efficiency.

When I still had only the OEM water/oil heat exchanger and using the 80C, I didn't see any real improvement in OP under the conditions where I was having OT-related OP problems (I added the OT gauge with the new cooler, so I only have the OP to go on from back then). Still would lose pressure under sustained high-rpm freeway driving.

The oil/air cooler has done away with that. OT never goes over 220F (104C), OP is always better than 50psi while cruising, using 15w40 Delo dino oil. Now I've switched to 5w40 Rotella synth (due to the new SM/CJ-4 ratings on Delo), haven't driven it much on this oil, but so far there isn't a noticeable difference in OP, just a little lower on startup as you'd expect.

Post by **Piledriver** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 4:48 pm

Didn't you keep the stock cooler as well?
(Speeds warm up, very helpful)

tencentlife · Post by **tencentlife** » Fri Dec 07, 2007 4:55 pm