High Oil Temperature?

[wolfc70]

Originally Posted By: Onmo'Eegusee
Originally Posted By: wolfc70
Originally Posted By: davidyan



My questions:

- is 240 - 260F normal? Should I be concerned?



My friends BMW 335i sees those temps just sitting in traffic on a 70F day. His will peg at 300F if you start pounding it. IIRC the 335i goes into reduced power mode at 330F. If you are running a good synthetic, I would not worry too much.

On another note, is the new Nissan VVEL system similar to BMW Valvetronic, as it controls the "throttle" through intake valve lift?

Woah! Camless?


I do not think they are cam less, just they can continuously vary valve lift. The story is they reduce pumping losses and improve light load efficiency. I believe Fiat's MultiAir set up does the same thing. There is no throttle plate in the engines, IIRC. So oil type and quality play an important part in the function of these devices. I wonder if the Valvetronic, VVEL, MultiAir will have oil weight issues similar to Chrysler's Hemi Multi-displacement V8. The Hemi will only cut off 4 cylinders when 5w-20 is used.

 

[SteveSRT8]

That's not true. The MDS system is not disabled by heavier oil, simply altered.

This is a common mistake on new gen Hemis.

The newest 5.7 is also Moving the cam for a form of variable valve timing. Works really well, but is probably also affected by oil selection.

 

[johnd]

Temperature "idiot" lights used to come on at 245 Deg. F. so I would think that temp would be at the upper limit of dino oil. car temperature and pressure gauges are notoriously inaccurate anyway. I'd use synthetic oil if it got any hotter than that or get an oil cooler. I put an oil cooler on my car (water to oil)not so much that the oil got too hot but that it warmed up quicker in the winter and had less temperature fluctuation.

 

[zoomzoom]

I would run redline 5w-30 and call it a day

 

[friendly_jacek]

Now, why exactly oil runs hotter in this engine? We are talking city driving and not high speed driving after all. Is this a reduced oil pan capacity issue?

 

[davidyan]

The pan capacity is about 5.5 quarts, I believe. 5 1/8 quarts comes out with the standard oil and filter change.

Its also important to note that not all owners experience this. Some run hotter than others under different conditions which is why I disagree with the general rule of thumb that an oil cooler is only necessary if you track it. Mine has hit a high of 230F which isnt too bad. But I know one guy whose 370Z always gets above 250 from regular driving.

 

[Max_Wander]

For this engine, I'd forget 5w30. Ideally, I'd personally run at least Redline 10w40. If restricted to off the shelfers, I'd stay with a 40 grade HDEO. I would NOT run anything EC as they generally have no tolerance for unusually high temperatures.