Engine oil temp not rising over 196 degrees even after 35 minute drive.

[cammyfive79]

My new ‘24 Mazda 3 Hatch 6MT (2.5L Skyactic non-turbo) has a digital readout of the engine oil temp and individual tire psi on one of the menus of the infotainment screen. I’ve been doing my daily commute 8 miles one way since I’ve had the car but took a 28 mile drive earlier today with 10 miles being 75mph on the highway and the engine oil temp never got over 196 degrees. I assumed that this type of trip would have brought the oil temp up to at least 212 or higher. Is this normal on a new car with about 300 miles on it?

 

[supton]

What was water temp? I would assume it has a heat exchanger and under low load, it probably just tracks water temp.

 

[cammyfive79]

What was water temp? I would assume it has a heat exchanger and under low load, it probably just tracks water temp.

The only other info is the coolant temp gauge next to the speedometer that showed it to be one tick under the middle range the whole drive.

 

[Jimmy_Russells]

My new ‘24 Mazda 3 Hatch 6MT (2.5L Skyactic non-turbo) has a digital readout of the engine oil temp and individual tire psi on one of the menus of the infotainment screen. I’ve been doing my daily commute 8 miles one way since I’ve had the car but took a 28 mile drive earlier today with 10 miles being 75mph on the highway and the engine oil temp never got over 196 degrees. I assumed that this type of trip would have brought the oil temp up to at least 212 or higher. Is this normal on a new car with about 300 miles on it?

How come?

 

[PontiacHO]

What was the outside temp? Probably has a very effective cooling system.

 

[tbm5690]

Seems pretty normal to me.

 

[zfasts03]

Seems normal to me. On extremely hot days, or running it in a spirited fashion it will go higher.

 

[CKN]

A post in search of a problem....

 

[DGXR]

I'd say this is normal for many modern cars in highway driving. You're describing a low load, high airflow situation which lends itself to cooler temperatures underhood. If you were in stop & go traffic or doing an an old-fashioned "Italian tune-up," your oil temp should increase, at least a little.

 

[demarpaint]

I'd say you have nothing to worry about.

 

[ctechbob]

I see something similar out of my Ranger. In cold temps it takes forever to get the coolant (CHT) up to temp and even longer for the trans to hit anything over 170. If I'm running cabin heat, I can watch the temp slowly drop sitting at redlights,

DI engines are pretty efficient these days.

 

[joekingcorvette]

It seems normal to me too. Let me help you break it in and I can show you how to increase those temps and even warm up the tires faster.

 

[supton]

The only other info is the coolant temp gauge next to the speedometer that showed it to be one tick under the middle range the whole drive.

What is it about Japanese cars and their temp gauges? Is there some psychology going on here--"oh, the temperature is just below halfway, that means it's running cool--and cool is good, right?" I mean, on a gauge that has absolutely no numbers, why not make the needle sit exactly in the middle? it's already buffered and lying to you about what temperature it is (it will hold steady despite large swings in reality).

Sorry, it's starting to bug me that in all of my imports (all!) the temp gauge sits not in the middle. Like they deliberately miss the mark, every time.

I'd go outside and yell at the clouds, but with the time change it's too dark now.

 

[OneLonelyBurrito]

196 degrees seems very reasonable for an oil temp. The skyactiv engine has a relatively large engine oil capacity for the size and power of the engine. It also doesn't come with an oil heat exchanger. I also believe Mazda uses ~180 thermostat, so that would put the oil temp ~15 degrees above coolant temp.

Additionally, I didn't know Mazda putting engine oil temperature readout anywhere. I haven't found it on my 2023 Mazda CX-50 yet.

 

[Elkins45]

You don’t have to get your oil up to the boiling point to drive off the water.

 

[oldhp]

2019 Dodge Charger SXT 3.6. I've never seen oil temp over 196°. New 2023 Challenger SXT 3.6. Drove it over 1 hour yesterday, oil never got over 196°. Now my 2022 RAM 1500 3.6 will get over 225° at times. Probably because of grill shutters. Going down highway it runs around 200°.

 

[Soft Cars]

Forget the oil temp. As long as the water temp is within reason, your oil temp is fine.

Oil pressure is different. It's okay to bite your nails over oil pressure.

 

[JavierH19]

Unhappy? I'd be happy the oil isn't getting so hot. The lower the better.

 

[DuckRyder]

This car more than likely has an oil cooler on it, you might be able to verify on some of the parts sites.

You'll have to run it pretty hard in pretty hot weather to get the oil temp up.

 

[supton]

Forget the oil temp. As long as the water temp is within reason, your oil temp is fine.

Not sure if true. Not all cars have heat exchangers on the oil system. "Back in the day" tow package might come with an engine oil cooler. Which might imply that a tracked car that lacked one might have oil temperature problems, no? but for most engines, probably not an issue. At least not until oil in the sump gets low and it heads out on the highway for sustained loading.

Oil pressure is different. It's OK to bite your nails over oil pressure.

That I could buy, to a degree. If pressure is zero, then it seems pretty safe to assume that oil flow is negligible. But at some point, pressure is just the restriction to flow. 60psi is 100% higher than 30psi--but that doesn't mean it's lubricating twice as well. Maybe cooling twice as much? seems like it'd have twice the flow through the surfaces.

Thing is, today, we seem to be seeing more electronically controlled (not electrically powered!) oil pumps, where the ECU decides what pressure to run. Low pressure may just mean the ECU doesn't think it needs to waste power pumping oil to a pressure level it doesn't need.