High Oil Temperatures

[GregMGB]

Hello,

The last couple times I have taken my '97 to the track, I have noticed that the oil temperature has gotten quite high -- 290-300°F maximum. Is this normal and OK, or should I consider doing something such as adding an oil cooler? I know that Mobil 1 will hold up just fine at these temperatures, but will the engine?

The engine is stock -- no forced induction, etc. The oil pressure has been fine, and the coolant temperature has stayed within a normal range.

I appreciate your help with this!

Thank you,
Greg McCauley

 

[c4c5specialist]

HI there,
Mobil 1 does not breakdown till about 550 degrees.
Also, your oil life monitor takes into account the increased temperatures.
You are just fine.
Allthebest, c4c5

 

[RonJ]

The last couple times I have taken my '97 to the track, I have noticed that the oil temperature has gotten quite high -- 290-300°F maximum

Wow, I've never seen my oil that hot!! I'll get over 212 pounding down the highway once in a while, but never near 290. What's the coolant temperature when the oil gets to 290???


You don't have some other issue going on, do you?

Ron ... :confused

 

[AZMike]

I seem to recall well over 250 a few years back coming home from vegas. The outside temp and the cruise control were both hovering around 110 at the time Coolant temp was right around 210 though.

No big deal - Mobil one can take it. The big issue for us was the heat buildup on the tunnel and in the console. A word of advice - don't put anything with batteries in there if you're going to drive the car hard for more than a few minutes.

 

[GregMGB]

c4c5, Thanks! I figured I was OK, but wanted to make sure!

Ron, No, I think everything is OK. The coolant temp is fine -- less than 220°. Bear in mind that this happens on a track after going full tilt for 20 minutes. I've never come anywhere near 300° on the street. Generally on the street it stays below 220°, even on really hot (100°) days.

Mike, what exploded? : )

Thanks guys!

-Greg

 

[Patman]

HI there,
Mobil 1 does not breakdown till about 550 degrees.
Also, your oil life monitor takes into account the increased temperatures.
You are just fine.
Allthebest, c4c5

Mobil 1 will not handle 550 degrees! It's flash point is only in the 450-470 range. Besides, when Mobil 1 5w30 gets above about 230 to 240 degrees, it's viscosity thins out so much that it's equivalent to running 5w20.

 

[AZMike]

c4c5, Thanks! I figured I was OK, but wanted to make sure!

Ron, No, I think everything is OK. The coolant temp is fine -- less than 220°. Bear in mind that this happens on a track after going full tilt for 20 minutes. I've never come anywhere near 300° on the street. Generally on the street it stays below 220°, even on really hot (100°) days.

Mike, what exploded? : )

Thanks guys!

-Greg

Well - nothing exploded, but I have killed one remote and at least one cell phone that way. Cell phones aren't cheap to replace since all of them come with about 40 features I will never even use. I'm one of those poeple who actually want to use the phone to talk :eyerole

I was toying with the idea of putting a foil packet with some lunch in the console when we go to Vegas friday - maybe we can have a nice hot meal in Wikiup :L


Here in Phoenix, I run 10w30 as there is no need for 5w30 for low temps.

 

[Hib Halverson]

I don't often disagree with c4c5 Specialist, but in this case, I feel his information is incorrect on Mobil 1.

Mobil 1, especially the 5W30 is absolutely inadequate for duty on the race track where you're seeing 290-300 deg. oil temperature. There are several things you need to do.

1) Keep in mind that when you see 290-300, that's the temperature at the sensor location. You can figure well over 300 at the bearings.

2) Change the oil immediately. At 300 deg. oil temp, the life of Mobil 1 is quite a bit less.

3) When you see the oil temp stabilzing at over 275 deg., you need to slow down for some cool off laps.

4) If you do track day stuff regularly and you see over 275 deg. regularly, you need to do something to reduce oil temp to hold it around 275.
5) You need to swtich to an ester-based, 10W30 synthetic oil. Red Line is the best of these. Red Line is good to 280-290 deg. with brief spikes to 305 deg. But, if you see the 300 marke regularly, even with Red Line, you probably need to do some things to cool the oil a bit, if you want the best reliability/durability.

The reason Mobil 1 5W30 is not a good choice for duty cycles with sustained high oil tempertures is that to get it to a 5W30 requires use of VI improvers and they become a weakness in the oil when high-temperature/high-shear conditions are present--such as in bearings at 300+ deg. oil temp.

 

[Patman]

Another problem with Mobil 1 5w30 and 10w30 for hard use is that it's HTHS number is rather low at only 3.1. This means under high temperature and high stress it's not able to handle it as well as something that has an HTHS of 3.5 or more. That's one of the reasons that I've seen such good oil analysis results with German Castrol 0w30, is that it's HTHS number is 3.6.

 

[Bob25thTA]

Another problem with Mobil 1 5w30 and 10w30 for hard use is that it's HTHS number is rather low at only 3.1. This means under high temperature and high stress it's not able to handle it as well as something that has an HTHS of 3.5 or more. That's one of the reasons that I've seen such good oil analysis results with German Castrol 0w30, is that it's HTHS number is 3.6.

Well I don't want to get into a big war over Castrol. But the Canadian Castrol Website says 0W-30 has a 2.9 HTHS. So where are you getting your figures from?

http://www.castrol.com/liveassets/b...canada/STAGING/local_assets/downloads/t/t.pdf

 

[Patman]

Well I don't want to get into a big war over Castrol. But the Canadian Castrol Website says 0W-30 has a 2.9 HTHS. So where are you getting your figures from?

http://www.castrol.com/liveassets/bp_internet/castrol/castrol_canada/STAGING/local_assets/downloads/t/t.pdf

That is the figure for the older US made 0w30.

I got my 3.6 number directly from Castrol Germany. They sent me all the specs for their Formula SLX 0w30, and when I sent some new oil in for analysis they confirmed those specs were correct and that Syntec 0w30 sold here is the same oil as Formula SLX 0w30 sold in Germany.