Low Oil Temp

[Sonataman]

Installed a Shindy-Pro oil temp gauge on the bike today. The bike is a KLX 650, liquid cooled single cylinder.

Oil is Delo 400 SAE 30 and the temps get at max, 165-170F, stopped in traffic. As soon as I'm rolling, the temps come down to 150-160F and remain there even at 65 mph on the highway.

The sender unit is the crankcase drain plug.

Pretty sure I believe the gauge as even after 40 miles in 80F+ temps you can keep your hand on the side cover for a few seconds without harm.

 

[Chris142]

pretty neat.y klr250 will hit 250f easily

 

[ammolab]

I have a drain plug sensor in the 4qt sump of my BMW K75C motorcycle. It reads quite cool at most speeds and in cold weather may not get above 120F on the highway. I am sure that the finned, air cooled sump remains cooler at the bottom than oil circulating in the engine but I can tell from my oil pressure at idle that HIGH oil temps are not really a worry in this engine.

 

[Ken2]

Quote:
Oil is Delo 400 SAE 30

May we ask why you use this oil? Isn't 4T 10W-40 generally recommended and 4T 20W-50 allowed in warmer weather? (4T is the JASO oil standard for 4 stroke motorcycle engines.) I use Delo 400 30wt in my Tecumseh engine in a chipper, and it works great in a 2-stroke Detroit diesel engine in the winter. In a motorcycle...?????

 

[Sonataman]

Common consensus among the UOA's is that multigrade will shear a grade or more pretty quickly, especially in a single cylinder motorcycle. So, my manual recommends 6k OCI's and there is NO way a multi will last that long.

If the engineers know the oil will shear a grade or more over 6k miles, why not use one that is less likely to shear, that is a lighter grade, for more power, better fuel economy, longer (than multi) OCI's etc.

Seems like a win, win and win in my book, but I am letting UOA's support my conclusion, wether a 30, 40 or 50, but you can bet it WILL be a mono grade!

 

[Errtt]

On my oldest bike (and 1st bike), 97 Sportster modded, I'm running Amsoil 20-50 and it takes a good bit to get the temp up to 180.
Rode it last week about a 30 mile run on a warm evening and it was just 170+
When outside temps are in the 90+, I can get on highway/freeway a bit, and after a good bit I can get the temp up to 190+
I still have this year and next worth of the Amsoil stuff. After its gone, thinking of trying the VR 20-50 dino.
I have replaced the stick temp gauge thinking I had a bad one but the new one read the same.
On the hot days (100 or 100+) I can get it up to 200, but still takes a good bit to get it there. Doesn't seem right to me.

 

[Robenstein]

Hey on on air cooled sportster thats a good thing. Some of the new fuel injected Harleys are running so lean they are uncomfy to ride. Started seeing it in the reviews recently. Harleys are fun on the highway but uncomfortably hot in town.

Your carbed 97 sportster is not doing bad at all. Still gets hot enough to cook off moisture in the oil.

 

[OtisBlkR1]

176 degrees is my running temp on a inline 1000cc inline 4 with 10-40 in the sump. but the bike easily jets up to 219 degrees (this is where the fan kicks on) sitting in traffic or even a long stop light. when its chilly in the spring and fall i can get the bike to stay in the 158-162 degree range on the highway, and if its 100+ outside i sometimes get into the 180's on the highway.. in the hot humid summer evenings when i come to a stop after sitting in traffic i can kill the motor but leave the switch on, and watch the temp guage go up into the 230's.. The hottest i ever had a bike was in Chicago rushour, 248-252 degrees and i decided the poor bike had had enuff, i pulled it over... this was ofcourse after stop and go 10 mph creeping for over a hour in traffic up on the interstate.. ugly..

 

[mechanicx]

I would've figured a motorcyle's oil would run hotter than 155 F rolling. How is it going to boil off moisture? I figured it'd be running closer to 212F on a hot day running at speed.
I imagine the oil is hotter going through the engine and bearings but seems like you'd want to be boiling off the moisture before it goes into the engine. And does it get 60 F hotter and drop that quick? I'm kind of surprised.

 

[IndyIan]

Does it share the engine oil with the transmission? If so I guess it ends up being alot of aluminum surface area with alot of wind blowing over it. It would take alot of energy to keep it 100F over ambient.
Probably if you clog half the radiator up with mud go zip around on some 1st 2nd gear trails you'll see the temps climb up to something much higher. I'd assume Kawasaki had to make sure the oil doesn't overheat when used off-road.

 

[mechanicx]

I suppose the cylinder head could average a lot hotter. With the coolant likely over 190 F you'd think the average engine temperature and oil in the sump would be higher, but I guess there's a lot of cooling. Probably a good thing the oil in the sump is cooler and thicker to prevent potential gear pitting in the transmission.

 

[Sonataman]

Originally Posted By: Sonataman
Installed a Shindy-Pro oil temp gauge on the bike today. The bike is a KLX 650, liquid cooled single cylinder.

Oil is Delo 400 SAE 30 and the temps get at max, 165-170F, stopped in traffic. As soon as I'm rolling, the temps come down to 150-160F and remain there even at 65 mph on the highway.

The sender unit is the crankcase drain plug.

Pretty sure I believe the gauge as even after 40 miles in 80F+ temps you can keep your hand on the side cover for a few seconds without harm.




Temps today were 102f and the oil temp got up to 188f on the highway, then cooled to around 180f in town.
Seems ambient affects the bike quite a bit since the motor is out in the breeze.

 

[RC46_Rider]

It is your bike and your call, but I sure would not go 6,000 miles on ANY oil in a motorcycle with a shared transmission/engine design. Whether you use a mono-grade or a multi, the oil in a bike takes a beating in the gear box and with the wet clutch. Oil is VERY CHEAP compared to the cost of engine repairs. My opinion, based on many years of riding and looking at quite a few Blackstone reports, is that I would never go over about 4K on your bike. The monogrades *may* stand up a little better, but it is not Kryptonite....it is oil and it CAN shear.

So you spend another $8 a year on oil....big deal...seems like really cheap insurance to me..... Skip a couple of meals at McDonalds and you have "saved" your money back.....

 

[Sonataman]

Never intended to go 6k OCI, and the first UOA on the Delo 400 SAE30 is a couple of weeks out. I am going 500 miles first and then see from there.

Multi's never made it past 1k based on shift quality, so if it can safely be extended then great.

 

[RC46_Rider]

I would suspect you will have good success with that Delo 30 Wt. I am not intimately familiar with that oil....but it seems to me it was not API certified for gasoline engines.... True or false? I don't know how much difference that actually makes in the real world. Probably a few more additives if it is gasoline rated, but if it will protect expensive diesel engines, it can't have a wear issue in your bike.

Personally, I would not run a straight 30 Wt. in the winter, especially if the bike runs cool anyway. You would be better served with a multi grade providing quicker flow/lubrication at cold start up and reduced loading on the starter/battery, etc. ....temp and shear issues will be reduced in the cold.

 

[Sonataman]

It's CF/SL so rated for both.

It's funny you bring up the starter/battery loading as since I started using this oil the battery tender times to 100% are less than 1/4 of that when using a Xw40 of any kind, not to mention the extra 3 mpg!

Sort of leads me to think the Xw40's run even cooler in my bike, but this WILL be tested.

The VOA's on the Delo 30 and 40 are in the VOA section.

 

[cycleman]

My 08 HD Heritage has hit peak oil temps as high as 270 F in the oil tank, so I'd hate to guess what the temp is at the crank pin. HD specs 230F as normal operating temp for oil in this bike so I'm sure the other HD's are similar.

Installing an oil cooler & XIED's has dropped the oil temp down into the 200 - 230 range depending on outside temp, highway or city etc.

I use a syn 20-50 in all three holes and it seems to work the best.

I'm guessing that the original post with the very low oil tmep has something going on with his gauge as the water & oil temp will be close but the oil temp will always be higher than the water temp.