[Vwdiesel] Oil Light/Buzzer

[Harmon Seaver]

On Fri, Feb 14, 2003 at 06:02:17PM -0500, Val Christian wrote:
> >     You still need oil heavy enough to provide lube when it gets heated up, and,
> > after all, the engine is going to be every bit as hot in January at -20F as it
> > is in July at 100F -- once it's up to operating temp, or at least if you've got
> > the proper thermostat.
>
> Actually, there IS a difference.  And it can be quite a bit.  Aircooled
> engines may have an oil temp guage...but my VW diesels have not had one,
> except as an aftermarket item.  At -20F, going 40 MPH, a typical temp
> might be 100F or so, even AFTER warm up.  On that 100F day (we don't have
> many here), a typical temp might be more like 300F or 350F.  More blowby
> and other factors will change things.

    I really think any engine that got 300F oil temp would be toast. Geez,
that's more like normal head temp on an aircooled engine. I had both head temp
and oil temp (and oil pressure) gauges on my VW bus (aftermarket, of course) and
needed them. Oil temps would run about 225F for the most part (and this was when
I was living in Mobile, AL and in the Summer, 100-110F outside), but, when I
pulled off the freeway onto the exit and stopped in traffic, would hit 250F,
which freaked me, because everything I'd read back then said oil broke down at
225F.
   That's when I first changed to synoil, and it dropped my oil temps down to
200F-210F most of the time, although it would still hit 230F or so when at a
stop sign after highspeed. Head temps would be, as I said, around 350-400,
sometimes hitting 600 on a hot day and hard running, like 80-85 on the freeway.
   I don't think you're going to see anything like those temps on a watercooled
engine. Oil, even without an oil cooler, is still going to radiate a lot up into
the block and into the coolant. And visa/versa, in the Winter that coolant can't
leave the block until it's 190F and the block is going to heat the oil as well.
  I'm planning on getting a full set of gauges for my diesel westy just because
I like to monitor what's really going on, but I'd be amazed if it ever got to
200 oil temp.

>
> Oil pans in the slipstream are good radiators, and contribute to cooler
> oil temperatures.  From what I've noticed on temp guages, 400F appears to
> be considered a redline on several engines.
>
> Val

--
Harmon Seaver
CyberShamanix
http://www.cybershamanix.com