How hot should the oil temp gauge read, last weekend noticed it climbed above the 9 o'clock position & climbed as high as 10. It did return to the 9 position when I opened the the heating controls in the car but would start to climb again after I switched off. I was driving in heavy traffic at the time - did 15KM in one hour!

Does this sound like the thermostat needs replacing?

Thanks
Derek

 

Is your cooling fan coming on?

 

To be honest...don't know, what's the best way to see if functioning ok?

 

Dear Derek,
There is a limit on how well the system works without airflow. From your post I would suspect that the low speed side of your oil cooler fan may not be working. I have no doubt your high speed is working because you did not hit the red. The low speed fan should kick in above the 9 position and you will see it cylce up and down when you are stuck in traffic. If this does not occur until the 10 position then the low speed side is most likely failed and the most common cause is the ballast resistor in the loom.
You can test this by jumpering the dual relay contacts on R04.
However please remember we are talking air cooling here. No air very limited cooling and the oil cooler fan is actually a back up cooling system. It does work very well but again you have a 2-speed fan for a reason. Turning on the heat as you did is an excellent way of dumping some of the heat from the engine.
Ciao,
Adrian
964C4

 

Thanks Adrian for your helpful response.

Do you have the part number I need @ hand ('ballast resistor in the loom')

 

Take a look here:

http://p-car.com/diy/fan/

I wouldn't replace the ballast resistor until you've determined it is failed via the jumper test

 

I had a similar problem and it turned out to be the thermostat. I was quite surprised to see how the thermostat operates. Maybe someone with more knowledge can explain how the thermostat functions.

 

Derek,

(After you figure out what is working and what is not) If you are handy with a soldering iron, you might consider modifying the oil cooling fan relay to jumper pin 87 to pin 87c - this effectively bypasses the ballast resistor and causes the fan to turn on at high speed instead of low speed when the first temperature threshold is reached.

One of the 993 guys came up with the idea: thread here

Pop open the relay, and solder in a jumper. I used a double length of solder wick (flat braided wire that is commonly used like a sponge to absorb excess solder from a solder joint) to form a jumper and soldered it in place, it works fine.

Advantages: a) no need to replace the ballast resistor (don't care about it), b) high-speed fan brings the temperature down faster, and c) driver can tell when the fan is operating (slightly more fan/air noise and temperature needle movement is fast enough to see), d) no alteration to the car, just the relatively inexpensive relay.

Disadvantages: a) you have to know how to use a soldering iron.

 

An alternative to Dave's approach is to jumper the CCU "start signal," which is what I did when my A/C condenser fan ballast resistor recently died:

Control Signal Jumper

The terminals to jump (#1 to #6) are the same for the oil cooler fan. No soldering required, took me all of 2 minutes to insert the wire. But, you do wind up with a wire external to your relay.

 

Another 2 cents or is it 2 X 2 = 4?

1) Take of the engine Pan.
2) Raise the rear spoiler when stuck in traffic.

Works for me :-) Temp stays at 8 oclock most of the time.

 

This doesn't cool the oil in the engine of course. Well, I suppose in theory it might have a miniscule effect - a bit like a person blowing on a boiling kettle...