IR temperature guns are handy for a lot of things, including measuring oil temp, if you don't mind shooting the sump. Here's one for $40.:
http://www.exoticlizards.com/temp-gun.html
http://www.exoticlizards.com/temp-gun.html
Ed,quote:
Originally posted by edhackett:
I don't think that placing a temperature sender in the T for pressure sending units is a good idea. There is no oil flow there, and you will not get accurate readings. The thermocouple must be immersed directly in the oil flow. Accessing the oil galley at a blanking plug is the best. The most common way of adding an oil temp. sender is by using a fitting that replaces the drain plug.
My WRX usually runs sump temperatures of about 130-140F at highway speed when the temp. is in the +20F range. It will come up 20-30 degrees when I slow down to around town speeds. Same in the summer, my oil temp on a 100F day will be cooler traveling at 85 mph than it is at 65 mph.
Ed
I'm confused: the Vortec 5.3 truck motor has "up integrated" ignition with Coil Per Cylinder. There is NO distributor!quote:
Originally posted by MolaKule:
For '02 Burb:
On my '02 Burb:
At the back of the engine there is a "T" on the block near the firewall just to the right of the distributor, which has a pressure guage sensor AND idiot light oil pressure sensor. This is where I intend to put oil temp sender on mine.
For the water temp, there are a number of pipe plugs on the intake manifold. I prefer here because the coolant flows through IM all the time.
Well said Patman! I'll bet that while I'm driving around with 5w-40 at 140* my oil filter bypass is open all the time and the flow has to be pretty low. Whey not run a thinner oil that is still probably at least a 40 or 50 and get better filtration and flow?quote:
Originally posted by Patman:
I've often said on here that a 5w20 or 0w20 oil is a good choice if you do short trips in winter. The viscosity of that oil when the oil temp is 150F is still going to be thicker than most 40wt oils at 220F, so if you're running an even thicker oil than 5w20 to begin with, imagine how thick it is.
Considering how well M1 0w20 is doing on here, I'd go with that.
I'm going out to get one of these thermometers too. How can we make informed viscosity choices if we don't know the oil temperature. Looks like the 0W-20 fits like a glove for 140 degree oil sump, just like 5W-40 fits like a glove for 230 degree sump temp.quote:
Originally posted by wwillson:
I broke down and bought a infrared thermometer at Radio Shack tonight. After about an hour of driving around town I stopped and checked the water temp at the thermostat and the oil temp at the oil filter. The water temp was 185F and the oil was only 145F. It's only about 30F here tonight which is reasonably cold, but I did expect the oil temp to be higher after an hour of stop and go driving. Now I'm convinced that my oil never gets warmer than about 150-160F in the wintertime and that running xw-20 isn't going to hurt anything.
Wayne
I'll agree that my "grab the oil filter" testing was a complete SWAG, probably accurate to withing +/- 50* . I took several measurements with the infrared thermometer around the oil pan and the oil filter and the temp didn't vary by more than 3*F. I'm going to assume that the infrared is a pretty good way to get a very accurate reading.quote:
Originally posted by MNgopher:
I honestly think that without an actual oil temp guage, the rest is all guesswork.
I have given up on extended drains and expensive synthetics for the van which mostly does short trips and stop-and-go driving. I'm beginning to believe that the only way to keep the insolubles from harming the engine is to drain the oil or put on a by-pass filter (which I'm just not going to do). I would disagree that taking a long trip will get the water out of your oil any better than in-town driving. My experience shows that the highest oil temp will be reached in stop-and-go city driving, not on the highway.quote:
Originally posted by Johnny:
All of the above is the best example I can think of why city (stop and go) driving is hard on your car. This is exactly why I do not subscribe to doing very, very, long extended drains no matter what kind of oil you use. You just cannot get rid of the contaminates driving like this.
wwillson: You could start your car running at 8:00 AM and drive all day for 12 hours around Chicago and your oil temp would never get above 185. This would also hold true for the summer months. At 185 you might boil off all of the fuel contaminates, but remember, water boils at 212 so you will always have some condensation in there unless you take another trip to Iowa.
This is why folks should understand what is written in the owners manuals when they talk about normal and severe service. Never leaving the city limits of Chicago is severe service.