Oil temp with stock guage
-
Alan F
- Posts: 11
- Joined: Sun Aug 19, 2012 9:21 am
Oil temp with stock guage
1975 1.8 with stock oil Temp guage (no numbers). It tends to run between 3/4 and 4/5 of Max but never in the red. All the owners manual says is as long as it doesn't hit red - you're good. But 3/4 to 4/5 seems a little high? I wonder if the sending unit is a little off. I run super and middle grade fuel and it doesn't seem to change the temp that much. Ideas ? Thinking about replacing with a VDO with numbers to get more accurate readings.
-
Piledriver
- Moderator
- Posts: 22520
- Joined: Sat Feb 16, 2002 12:01 am
Re: Oil temp with stock guage
What I did was to compare that gauge to a proper calibrated TC setup stuck down the dipstick hole, and make a mental note of how they correlated. (same location, give or take a cm)
I found on MY vehicle the oil gauge redline was ~240F, but VDO is not known for accuracy... or consistency, so YMMV seriously.
Any decent oil you are putting in your car should be able to deal with that w/no issues.
(Please search the web or here for "oil and zddp" as most "modern" oils will shorten our engines lives, possibly dramatically, we have flat tappet lifters)
You can get a decent temperature compensated TC probe setup/meter for your toolbox fairly reasonably.
(My DVM takes a K type probe)
The same in a round format that plugs in your dash, for a reasonable price--- Not so much.
The VEMS round EGT/RPM/WBO2/misc 5v combo gauge (with logging) is probably a decent choice.
(It even can do boost control, or run your wood-gas burning generator closed loop after the zombie apocalypse. Seriously)
It's ~$300... but covers more bases than ~anything I have seen that fits in a single 52mm gauge hole.
A TC probe/meter is quite handy for actually measuring CHT or EGT, which is FAR more useful for tuning and survival...
Basically i set up the probes and monitored things for awhile... (Had a VDO oil pressure setup too, horribly inaccurate though)
... and sooner or later figured out everything was NORMAL and stopped worrying about it.
I only set it back up when I changed something... I didn't have a racecar, so I wasn't on the bleeding edge of anything.
If you have a near stock motor in good tune, IMHO a dash full of gauges are only for eye candy and an expensive distraction.(at least if you buy decent ones, VDO is almost worse than nothing, and sometimes crosses the line)
Oil temperature typically more or less directly correlates to RPM, the more the higher.
CHT is load, RPM, and to a lesser extent mixture/timing/EGT driven.
(The latter are all cojoined at the neck)
I found on MY vehicle the oil gauge redline was ~240F, but VDO is not known for accuracy... or consistency, so YMMV seriously.
Any decent oil you are putting in your car should be able to deal with that w/no issues.
(Please search the web or here for "oil and zddp" as most "modern" oils will shorten our engines lives, possibly dramatically, we have flat tappet lifters)
You can get a decent temperature compensated TC probe setup/meter for your toolbox fairly reasonably.
(My DVM takes a K type probe)
The same in a round format that plugs in your dash, for a reasonable price--- Not so much.
The VEMS round EGT/RPM/WBO2/misc 5v combo gauge (with logging) is probably a decent choice.
(It even can do boost control, or run your wood-gas burning generator closed loop after the zombie apocalypse. Seriously)
It's ~$300... but covers more bases than ~anything I have seen that fits in a single 52mm gauge hole.
A TC probe/meter is quite handy for actually measuring CHT or EGT, which is FAR more useful for tuning and survival...
Basically i set up the probes and monitored things for awhile... (Had a VDO oil pressure setup too, horribly inaccurate though)
... and sooner or later figured out everything was NORMAL and stopped worrying about it.
I only set it back up when I changed something... I didn't have a racecar, so I wasn't on the bleeding edge of anything.
If you have a near stock motor in good tune, IMHO a dash full of gauges are only for eye candy and an expensive distraction.(at least if you buy decent ones, VDO is almost worse than nothing, and sometimes crosses the line)
Oil temperature typically more or less directly correlates to RPM, the more the higher.
CHT is load, RPM, and to a lesser extent mixture/timing/EGT driven.
(The latter are all cojoined at the neck)
Addendum to Newtons first law:
zero vehicles on jackstands, square gets a fresh 090 and 1911, cabby gets a blower.
EZ3.6 Vanagon after that.(mounted, needs everything finished) then Creamsicle.
zero vehicles on jackstands, square gets a fresh 090 and 1911, cabby gets a blower.
EZ3.6 Vanagon after that.(mounted, needs everything finished) then Creamsicle.
-
Alan F
- Posts: 11
- Joined: Sun Aug 19, 2012 9:21 am
Re: Oil temp with stock guage
I know you can get aftermarket dipstick probe tempsensors and I have a digital kitchen probe with remote sensor - I'll just stick it down the dipstick tube after a hard run when the gauge is reading 3/4 to 4/5 and see where I'm at (Make mental calibration note). What range is acceptable ? 190-225 deg F? I think that's about normal operating temps for type 1 motors in bugs and type Iv motors in vans (recalling from gauges I had in bugs/ghias).