Time to reach a stable oil temperature.

Guisnu

Guisnu

Joined
Jan 10, 2025
Messages
8
Location
Aramina-SP, Brazil
My car doesn't have an engine oil temp sensor. I usually wait for the coolant temp to stabilize and then give it another 6 to 10 minutes before revving the engine. I'd like to be able to estimate the oil temperature more accurately.

I searched and read many thread about oil temperature (oh, really...) but couldn't find this information in a more focused way. Therefore, I'd like to know, for those who have an oil temperature gauge, how long it takes the engine to reach a stable oil temperature, whatever that temperature may be.

I know there are numerous variables, including ambient temperature, sensor location, engine size, vehicle speed and weight, etc. But the purpose of this thread is simply to provide references. So, the more information you can give, the better. Thanks!
 
On my Subaru, the oil temperature lags the coolant temperature by 10 to 13°C. This car's oil cooler is an oil-coolant heat exchanger that helps heat the oil during warm up. For a car without one of these, the oil would take a bit longer to come up to temperature.

IMO, once the coolant is nearly up to temperature, there's no reason to avoid hard driving. The engine won't care if the oil is a bit thicker.
 
fantastic said:
No guarantees but if you search around for an OBDll diagnostic Bluetooth dongle it may show the oil temp. Confirm first of course.
Click to expand...
Actually, I have a permanently connected OBD2 to monitor the coolant temp (it has just a light in the dashboard). But the car simply doesn't have an oil temperature sensor, only a pressure one. I have an infrared thermometer and occasionally measure the outside sump temperature... always around 70-75ºC (160F) after 15 minutes, but I don't know how representative that is.
 
The reason for the ongoing discussion is that there are multiple unique variables for your situation including oil grade, ambient temperature, specific engine, RPM, etc.

A very similar question, you say focused he says consensus.

G

Thread 'How long to warm up oil?'

I've seen this topic discussed a lot of BITOG, but never really seen a consensus answer. How many miles of driving does it take to get oil all the way up to operating temp, and burn off fuel, moisture, and contaminates?

For discussion sake, let's say 5qt sump, heated garage (65F), and coolant gets up to operating temp in ~1.5 miles.

Plus these may be of help:

M

Thread 'Oil warm up time'

OK, Since I stirred up some good discussion about coolant and distilled water in the Mech. Forum, I thought I'd pour some oil on the fire this time.

The temp gage on the dash of a car is, of course, the coolant temp gage. I have heard people make the claim here that the engine oil takes longer to reach operating temperature than coolant does. These folks have said you need to wait 10, even 15 minutes into engine operation to get full oil temp.

This, frankly, mystifies me. A typical 4 cylinder engine has about 8 quarts of coolant and 4 of oil. OK, some of the coolant is isolated in the...
RTexasF

Thread 'Oil & Correct Operating Temperature'

At what time frame can you be assured that your oil is up to its operating temperature? I realize that ambient temperature is a factor as are other variables. Just because the coolant has reached its correct temp doesn't mean that the oil has. Is there a safe rule of thumb such as 20 minutes of driving from a cold start,30 minutes (Alaskan winters aside)? Thoughts? Opinions?
J

Thread 'Oil Weight vs Warm Up Time'

Ok, I was just wondering how this works.

I'm going to use a wide example.

Let's say you have a 5W-20 and a 5W-40. From what people say on here, a thinner oil supposedly removes heat faster than a thicker oil. If this isn't true, and is just hearsay, please correct me.

With this information, is a 5W-40 going to 'heat up' quicker than a 5W-20 under the same conditions? I need to add more detail to my question, but don't have much time, but generally I am wondering if the 40 weight is going to get to the 40 weight stage somewhat faster than a 20 weight oil.

Sorry I can't word this any...
 
kschachn said:
The reason for the ongoing discussion is that there are multiple unique variables for your situation including oil grade, ambient temperature, specific engine, RPM, etc.

A very similar question, you say focused he says consensus.

G

Thread 'How long to warm up oil?'

I've seen this topic discussed a lot of BITOG, but never really seen a consensus answer. How many miles of driving does it take to get oil all the way up to operating temp, and burn off fuel, moisture, and contaminates?

For discussion sake, let's say 5qt sump, heated garage (65F), and coolant gets up to operating temp in ~1.5 miles.

Plus these may be of help:

M

Thread 'Oil warm up time'

OK, Since I stirred up some good discussion about coolant and distilled water in the Mech. Forum, I thought I'd pour some oil on the fire this time.

The temp gage on the dash of a car is, of course, the coolant temp gage. I have heard people make the claim here that the engine oil takes longer to reach operating temperature than coolant does. These folks have said you need to wait 10, even 15 minutes into engine operation to get full oil temp.

This, frankly, mystifies me. A typical 4 cylinder engine has about 8 quarts of coolant and 4 of oil. OK, some of the coolant is isolated in the...
RTexasF

Thread 'Oil & Correct Operating Temperature'

At what time frame can you be assured that your oil is up to its operating temperature? I realize that ambient temperature is a factor as are other variables. Just because the coolant has reached its correct temp doesn't mean that the oil has. Is there a safe rule of thumb such as 20 minutes of driving from a cold start,30 minutes (Alaskan winters aside)? Thoughts? Opinions?
J

Thread 'Oil Weight vs Warm Up Time'

Ok, I was just wondering how this works.

I'm going to use a wide example.

Let's say you have a 5W-20 and a 5W-40. From what people say on here, a thinner oil supposedly removes heat faster than a thicker oil. If this isn't true, and is just hearsay, please correct me.

With this information, is a 5W-40 going to 'heat up' quicker than a 5W-20 under the same conditions? I need to add more detail to my question, but don't have much time, but generally I am wondering if the 40 weight is going to get to the 40 weight stage somewhat faster than a 20 weight oil.

Sorry I can't word this any...
Click to expand...
Yes, but in this thread I don't intend to discuss anything, like in these other threads, I would just like users to expose their numbers, for reference only. Anyway, I'm reading the first second link, which I hadn't read yet, thanks!
 
Last edited:
fantastic said:
No guarantees but if you search around for an OBDll diagnostic Bluetooth dongle it may show the oil temp. Confirm first of course.
Click to expand...
I can get 1 of those OBD2 things and plug it in, but where does it take the Oil Temperature from? I have been doing the Shadetree mechanic thing with an infrared gun aimed at the oil pan after a long drive. Yesterday in traffic with an outside temp of 95 driving 30 minutes 1 way to an appointment and then 30 minutes back, I am getting a temp reading of 180 at the oil pan with an infrared gun, so I am guessing my actual oil temp is most likely between 200F and 210F
 
If you drive gently for a few miles past the point in which the engine coolant reaches it's full temp, most cars should be at a safe oil temp for heavier loads.

The oil sump temp is always going to be somewhat lower than many lubrication points in the engine, which are the places that matter in terms of activation of the anti-wear additives. Places like the cylinder walls, pistons, and the head(s) get hot much quicker than the oil in the sump, and provide the surface heat needed to activate the AW additives. My understanding is that the temperature needed for anti-wear additive activation is around 140f (or 60c), so if the engine coolant temperature is up to operating temp, the oil on the internal engine surfaces will be hotter than the sump temp. All that to say, is that fairly soon after the coolant temperature is at operating temperature, the temperature of the oil circulating through the engine is probably hot enough to function correctly.
 
My truck (2001 Blazer) 4.3 vortec does not have an oil temp sensor. It physically doesn’t have an oil temp sensor, so there is no way to really know what the temp is, unless I add a temp sensor through the oil pan or something and hook it up to a gauge.

Only way I can tell if my oil temp is up to operating temp is by looking at the oil pressure gauge. It will sit at 20psi at idle once the oil is fully warmed up, and it will be about 40-50psi on cold idle. Oil seems to fully warm up after about 15 minutes of driving during summer, and maybe 20-25 minutes during winter. The truck only holds 4.5 quarts of oil, so the oil warms up pretty quick.

The truck does have an oil-coolant heat exchanger, which helps the oil warm up faster and will also keep it from getting too hot. I would imagine the oil temp on my truck never goes above 230F.
 
I've owned a few Ferraris from a 1978 to currently a 2009 model...they all have oil temp gauges and oil coolers or oil/coolant heat exchanger. I have found it takes about 5 to 6 miles of gentle driving to get the oil up to 180F, which is considered the minimum temperature before you should run the RPMs over 4,000.

Coolant temp is not a good gauge of oil temp, as the water temp will be in a good range within 2 to 3 miles. Takes twice as long for the oil to come up to a good range for high load, high rpm driving
 
f355spider said:
I've owned a few Ferraris from a 1978 to currently a 2009 model...they all have oil temp gauges and oil coolers or oil/coolant heat exchanger. I have found it takes about 5 to 6 miles of gentle driving to get the oil up to 180F, which is considered the minimum temperature before you should run the RPMs over 4,000.

Coolant temp is not a good gauge of oil temp, as the water temp will be in a good range within 2 to 3 miles. Takes twice as long for the oil to come up to a good range for high load, high rpm driving
Click to expand...
My C43 has an oil temperature gauge but no coolant temperature gauge. Oil temperatures reach 180F-190F within 8-10 miles of restrained driving at most.
 
Brian123 said:
I can get 1 of those OBD2 things and plug it in, but where does it take the Oil Temperature from? I have been doing the Shadetree mechanic thing with an infrared gun aimed at the oil pan after a long drive. Yesterday in traffic with an outside temp of 95 driving 30 minutes 1 way to an appointment and then 30 minutes back, I am getting a temp reading of 180 at the oil pan with an infrared gun, so I am guessing my actual oil temp is most likely between 200F and 210F
Click to expand...
Some engines don't have the sensors to allow the OBD dongle to display any oil temp on your phone app but some vehicles do. Like my F-350 does for example. I have a dongle for the Volvo but I forget if it shows that. They have the oil temp sensors built in on the vehicles. Not sure what type of aftermarket sensor support there is though?

I would wager that oil temps are going to be somewhat close to coolant temps but that is only in my experience. Think coolant flowing through the engine will keep the oil around that temp as well.
 
MCompact said:
My C43 has an oil temperature gauge but no coolant temperature gauge. Oil temperatures reach 180F-190F within 8-10 miles of restrained driving at most.
Click to expand...
It can definitely be vehicle specific. My older Ferraris had no thermostat on the oil cooler, so could take longer in winter to come up to temp. My 1997 and 2009 have oil/coolant heat exchangers so about 5 to 6 miles to come up to temp, regardless of ambient outside temperature.

I am curious on my 2018 M550ix BMW how long the oil temp takes to come up to temp...I can probably read it using an ELM327 OBDII scanner?
 
That really depends on the car, climate, oil, where you drive etc. For my set up, 5 minutes seems to warm the oil more than enough in summer time. You can gradually increase the rpm, and the higher it is, faster it warms up
 
f355spider said:
It can definitely be vehicle specific. My older Ferraris had no thermostat on the oil cooler, so could take longer in winter to come up to temp. My 1997 and 2009 have oil/coolant heat exchangers so about 5 to 6 miles to come up to temp, regardless of ambient outside temperature.

I am curious on my 2018 M550ix BMW how long the oil temp takes to come up to temp...I can probably read it using an ELM327 OBDII scanner?
Click to expand...
Most likely yes. Thanks for sharing!
 
My VW Sportwagen with accurate oil temp readout.

Oil lags behind coolant but by how much is highly variable. It has a coolant to oil heat exchanger. Variables are ambient and RPM basically. Drive around town after cold start? May not reach operating temp. Immediately on highway in 90 deg F ambient? Will get up to temp quickly.

I start my car and drive. I have floored it leaving my neighborhood (challenging left) plenty of times when the engine is cold although I do try to avoid that.
 
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