Ok, this has been discussed at length before...but let's revisit...is that a good location for a oil temp sensor? Convenient, yes, but accurate?

 

Certainly a well debated topic on here, but I figure that the oil in the pan is the oil that is being pumped into the bearings. It would seem to me that that is a pretty good indication of the state of the oil cooling. My gauge shows about 180-190 degrees when on the highway, and 220-230 under heavy load (stop and go, aggressive mountain rides, etc).

 

Thanks guys - those pictures are exactly what I was looking for.

 

The biggest problem with temp senders is that they are subject to ambient heating as well as heating by the stuff they are measuring. This is not normally a major issue, but having a monster turbo and crossover pipe too close is enough to cause some problems.

The other side of the pan is not much better, with the exhaust manifold and pipes close at hand. FWIW, my sender is mounted on the exhaust side, fairly low, via a welded bung, with a sheet metal heat shield to avoid some of the exhaust heat effects.

Does all this matter? In a street engine, probably not. The extra heat is going to make the gauge read high, which is the right way to go. Just shut the car down if your oil temp climbs above 250. A few degrees of this might be error, but better to be safe than siezed.

 

Makes sense to me. Now what if you had the guts(insanity) to weld it directly to the bottom of the oil pan. Cut a cooling vent bung it in...It would sit lower than the rest of the car so it probably would get sheered off pretty quick, but being there would allow the unit to cool so that ambient heat absorbtion would not be an issue as it would be getting all the air it needs to cool

 

If you are going to weld a bung into the pan, then the front face of the deepened section [facing the crossmember] would be my first choice.

 

Even better. That would give you the most(straight on) air flow and would give you road clearance, and no cooling vent cutting, and the deepest resevoir of oil ( though at the bottom it is obviously cooler than towards the top(cooling vents etc) All this is just theoritical fun. Bottom line is they are accurate enough that if you get in a certain range you are in the danger zone.

 

I dragged this out of the archives as I am looking at putting in something similar. Does anyone have anything more to add or a better suggestion re gauge and position? What are the temp range for track use, short events and endurance?

 

Honestly, i really try to avoid tapping into the drain plug, since it is magnetic and could pick up any metal particles that fly around.

Someone even on the NA board posted a picture, where one of the bolts that hold the plastic baffle came off, that drian plug caught it.

I purchased a used turbocharger drain pipe banjo bolt, and tapped it and installed the sensor there, for safe keeping. The best place to install the sensor is on the oil cooler/oil filter housing, since you get the hottest temp just before the oil goes into the cooler. You can get those sandwich plates that go on ebay, the ones with two 1/8" NPT fittings, which allows you to install two sensors (temp and pressure if you wish).

Just my opinion.

As for temp readings, i see 180F-190F during crusing, and 210F on WOT for long uses, in summer i saw 220F on WOT for long drives. I will be getting an additional oil cooler (KISS Engineering kit, or second stock cooler) to keep temps down in summer.

Just some linkes to explain what i am referring to:

Link 1

Link 2

Link 3

 

This is how I did mine.

Edit - > I also have a second sensor tapped into the return line from the cooler so I can see what the temp of the cooled oil is. I use a switch to select which one displays on the gauge.

 

Nice one guys. Thanks.

 

OZ951 or anyone else. What normally goes where you put your sensor? I have some sort of sensor there but it is not hooked up to anything.

 

I have a 951 turbo drain banjo bolt drilled, tapped and fitted with VDO sender for you, Tim

 

is there anywhere that I can buy the somplete kit including gauge, wire, sender that doubles as a oil drain plug for the 951? (as above?)