High oil temperaturs during my track event

[zoomzoom]

This past weekend I went to my first high performance driving event on Summit Point Racetrack - Shenandoah Circuit.

I am driving 2001 twin turbo Audi S4, car is modified(chip, intake, suspension, brakes and downpipes) but for this event I put the stock chip back in so boost and power were at the cars stock level (250HP and 258 Tq).

Car has 129K miles and I use GC with 4oz maintenance dose of Auto-Rx. Normal driving oil temperatures are in 210-225F range.

During the weekend we had 10 track sessions 20 min each. I noticed that in the morning sessions oil temperature would be just slightly above 250F toward the end of the session(outside temps were in the 60s), however later sessions in the afternoon would have oil temperatures around 275-80F (outside temps in low 80s)

Car has low oil pressure warning but it never came on even with this high oil temperature.

Can GC handle these kind of oil temperatures or should I look into 5W-40 weight oil and will that give me adequate protection for track at these oil temperatures or is oil cooler necessary to keep oil temps under control?

 

[Johnny]

An oil cooler would not hurt. I would look at using one of the offerings from either Red Line Oil or Amsoil for this application.

Nice car.

 

[zoomzoom]

Thanks!

Bumping oil weight is much cheaper then getting oil cooler

 

[Johnny]

I would seriously look at the Red Line 5W-40 or 10W-40 for this application. Give Dave at Red Line a call. He is a straight shooter.

 

[Steve S]

Those temps are no problem for a syn oil ,what is the oil pressure?

 

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Originally Posted By: Steve S
Those temps are no problem for a syn oil ,what is the oil pressure?


Unfortunately no oil pressure gauge, but service display on the dash does have low oil pressure waning if pressure falls below what Audi considers adequate. That warning didn't come on at idle even with oil temps of 280F.

btw 250F is in the middle of my oil temp gauge, so I guess audi thinks those temps are normal for this engine?

 

[Drew99GT]

Well, a small twin turbocharged V-6 under a constant load is going to heat things up, no question about it.

Corvettes are speced with Mobil 1 from the factory to handle the 250+ oil temps that they see in racing conditions with no oil cooler.

It looks like the S4s in fact have a factory oil cooler and there are many upgrades that could be done like an RS-4 cooler.

But yea, I'd do like Johnny indicated and get a 5w-40 or 10w-40 in there.

 

[zoomzoom]

S4 has small coolant/oil heat exchanger sandwiched between oil filter and block..

I looked into getting RS4 oil cooler, but that thing runs $1250! amazing...

 

[Saab9-3]

I would go to a thicker oil. If you have the room what about putting a much larger oil filter on. I did this with by turbo saab to get an extra 2 liters.

 

[zoomzoom]

Originally Posted By: Saab9-3
I would go to a thicker oil. If you have the room what about putting a much larger oil filter on. I did this with by turbo saab to get an extra 2 liters.


I could put larger filter but nothing that will give me 2 liter of extra capacity..1/2 of quart at the most

What about these oil filter heat sinks? do they work?

 

[wapacz]

I wonder if you can get an oil pressure read out via obd.

Any ways I think this would be a good applications to be looking at the hths ratings of the oil.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/525921/site_id/1

interesting thread even if it is from 2003.



Oh yeah you will probably want to get a uoa to see how your flash point is. I have seen some uoa mostly from di engines where the flash point has gotten down to 300 degrees f range.

 

[Drew99GT]

Originally Posted By: zoomzoom

What about these oil filter heat sinks? do they work?


I've always wondered about those. I'd think the only way they would work is with sufficient airflow around them, but if there was good airflow across just the filter, I'd think the heat sink wouldn't actually work. It in no way is going to do what a good thermostatically controlled oil filter mounted in front of the radiator will do.

The heat sink thing might lower temps a tad under constant light load conditions, but it would just heat soak under full throttle high load racing conditions.

 

[zoomzoom]

Originally Posted By: wapacz
I wonder if you can get an oil pressure read out via obd.

Any ways I think this would be a good applications to be looking at the hths ratings of the oil.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/ubb/showflat/Number/525921/site_id/1

interesting thread even if it is from 2003.



Oh yeah you will probably want to get a uoa to see how your flash point is. I have seen some uoa mostly from di engines where the flash point has gotten down to 300 degrees f range.


I would not dare to use anything that is not A3 rated with HTHS>3.5

But question is do I need oil with HTHS > 4 which I could get from some heavier 40 weight oils and will this 0.5 make any difference in actual wear and protection of the engine at these high temperatures?

 

[rg200amp]

+1 for the Redline Motor Oil!!

 

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Originally Posted By: rg200amp
+1 for the Redline Motor Oil!!


Another problem is that now my commute is only 7 miles each way and my oil temps don't get past 175F...

This morning it was mid 50s and when I shut the car down oil temp was between 150 and 175 F :-(

 

[Steve S]

It is hard to say if your oil doesn't get hot enough to evaporate the moisture and fuel .The oil temps are much higher between the bearings ,in the valve train etc.

 

[zoomzoom]

oil temp gauge shows the oil temp after the oil filter and just before oil enters into the block

 

[Steve S]

That is basically the sump temp you are seeing.

 

[zoomzoom]

Originally Posted By: Steve S
That is basically the sump temp you are seeing.


well oil filter is mounted on coolant/oil heat exchanger so that would bring oil temp down somewhat..since coolant is at 93-94C

 

[RI_RS4]

I've seen oil temperatures of 278F consistently at Watkins Glen and Mont Tremblant in the RS4. This is not an issue, as long as the oil flashpoint has not been reduced by fuel dilution. Good synthetics will easily handle 290-300F continuously. But with dilution, there can be some significant burn off and deposit formation to look out for.

In my RS4, I was able to run 10K mile on RLI Biosyn, which included 4 track days at two events with the Audi club.