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My 88 carrera 3.2's oil temp is at the second white hash mark.I was doing 30 min or so of highway driving and the oil temp got to the second hash mark. From what I can gather that's 120C/245F. Is that high for 100*F ambient temp in Texas?
The oil sender and return pipe on the passenger side was hot so at the very least I know oil is being sent to the front.
My 88 carrera 3.2's oil temp is at the second white hash mark.I was doing 30 min or so of highway driving and the oil temp got to the second hash mark. From what I can gather that's 120C/245F. Is that high for 100*F ambient temp in Texas?
The oil sender and return pipe on the passenger side was hot so at the very least I know oil is being sent to the front.
Seems a bit warm for just highway driving.
You are going to want to make sure you have good airflow, clean heat exchangers, and no engine fan slippage (on the belt) as a minimum.
Last edited by Mike Murphy; 07-15-2023 at 12:10 PM.
My 82 SC has a Carrera style oil cooler up front without a fan. A few times while stuck in traffic when it was hot outside it would go to about 230 degrees. But it drops pretty quick once I start moving since I have an oil cooler scoop that replaced the parking light assembly.
i don't think anything is " broken" but i would say if 100F is the norm for where you are I would want to maybe upgrade my cooling system to a better oil cooler with built in fan or do better ducting like John did.
But that said i know Southern US is in a Heat wave right now and this will pass. I really feel for you guys right now, Southern US and europe are really suffering at the moment .
If you're in 100f ambient driving at highway speeds with ac on I'd expect oil temps to be where you saw them. Modern oils will be fine here. I ran M1 15w50 in my former G series. Your side pipes are hot so your thermostat for the front cooler is working fine. You'll also want to make sure the engine case thermostat is working well. On my 77 engine (that is in my 71), which I had added a later G series type cooling system to. The side pipes were getting hot, but the case thermostat was sticky and wasn't flowing well... once I replaced that I only see temps over 200f when driving hard even in 95f ambient.
You will want to make sure the on engine cooler is clean/clear, and the front cooler is clean, and that the fan works. An option is to add a manual switch to the fan as the factory trigger is quite high on these (about 250 iirc)
If you plan to do a lot of driving in this kind of heat you could consider an additional fender cooler. They aren't too expensive nor hard to install. Elephant racing sells kits (although their cooling kits are kinda hard to navigate, best to call them and explain what you have/need). I have a 2nd cooler on my 964 and it makes a material difference in cooling performance. You basically need a cooler, a bracket/protection for the front left fender, and a cross over pipe hose (you just create a loop from the existing cooler).
My 88 with A/C was having trouble keeping cool in temps like you talk about. I replaced the right rear wheel well thermostat, added a lower temperature turn-on switch to the fan in the right front wheel well radiator and even added a switch in the cockpit that I could manually turn on the cooling fan in the right front wheel well radiator early and none of it helped. Then we replaced the engine mounted oil cooler and everything was great. I can be in stop-and-go 95+ degree temps with a/c at max and never see more than about the 8:30 position steady-state on the temp with an occasional excursion to 9 o'clock, and the cabin is cold. Stock set-up other than Griff's 4 condenser system.
Last edited by Pavegeno928; 07-18-2023 at 04:43 PM.
…Then we replaced the engine mounted oil cooler and everything was great...
I was thinking the OP would maybe want to inspect the main oil cooler. At speed on the highway, I’m guessing the engine RPM would be high enough that there would be quite a lot of airflow through that cooler. It could be blocked by debris?
I was thinking the OP would maybe want to inspect the main oil cooler. At speed on the highway, I’m guessing the engine RPM would be high enough that there would be quite a lot of airflow through that cooler. It could be blocked by debris?
I hope you're on to something and it's as simple as "clean the oil cooler".
07-15-2023, 11:25 AM
Oil temp in 100*F ambient temp
