Ideal oil temp?

Apu · Postby **Apu** » Wed Dec 14, 2016 5:13 pm

I spoke to a couple of ATCC drivers and mechanics a few years ago about oil temps, best type of oil, etc and they had a very practical view - use the type of oil recommended by the manufacturer and change regularly. If you are really concerned, have a gauge and make sure it doesn't pass the shear point (in most cases ~120-130degC?).

Beyond that, we are over-thinking it. Multi-grade oils in our climate (OK, it was Singapore / Malaysia), oil is not going to get "too cool"...and I doubt that will be the case here unless we are in the snowfields in the middle of winter.

Otherwise, it's a bit like "Ooh...better not buy an aluminium bike because aluminium corrodes, and I don't want to have a bike that will corrode away".

sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Wed Dec 14, 2016 7:50 pm

I spoke to a couple of engine builders about under temping oil. I got a very strong response it's possible / likely in a road car.

Race car is a different story, loads are more consistent.

The feedback I received was you'd be crazy not to run a thermostat in your oil cooler (non factory) system for a road car but with a thermostat everything would be fine.

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madjak · Postby **madjak** » Wed Dec 14, 2016 8:21 pm

I think it works like this.

Stock car with some mods doing some trackwork / sprints - Factory spec oil with more frequent changes
Worked / turbo car doing 5 lap stints on a track at full pace - Factory spec oil, oil cooler with more frequent changes
Track car running high revs constantly - Race spec oil (high zinc), oil cooler, with more frequent changes (plus can run no thermostat)

Really it's high revs that are the trigger for more advanced oils. You need to protect the big ends, so degraded oil is bad... and the shearing of the oil is where a lot of the temp from the motor is generated. A turbo that's dumping more heat into the oil is also a candidate for up spec'd oil cooling.

sailaholic · Postby **sailaholic** » Wed Dec 14, 2016 8:50 pm

I spoke to a couple of engine builders about under temping oil. I got a very strong response it's possible / likely in a road car.

Race car is a different story, loads are more consistent.

The feedback I received was you'd be crazy not to run a thermostat in your oil cooler (non factory) system for a road car but with a thermostat everything would be fine.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk