Oil temp

[Bluefloyd]

Hello all. What is the highest oil temp anyone has ever reached and what temp is considered too hot? Mine was indicating 113 degrees tonight, although I was racing around with my mate who has a new fiesta st up and down the motorway and on country roads. Never in built up areas I must add

[monkeyhanger]

107C is my highest known oil temp. Not sure what the upper limit of the head gasket, oil or any of the mechanicals could reliably cope with, but I'd say there's a very real risk of boiling your coolant at 120C, especially if the antifreeze concentration is a little low due to a top up with water. My car is running a lot cooler than it was since my first service, 97C max is all I've seen lately. A properly maintained coolant with recommended antifreeze concentration is usually quoted as having a boilingpoint of 130C.

[corgi]

Oil temp <> coolant temp; however, an engine oil temp sustained above 120C would be a cause for concern and if it were to reach 135C you should really stop immediately. So your 113 whilst high should not have been damaging in itself...

This is independent of coolant temperature which can vary markedly (at least for short periods) from engine oil temperature. On that front what MH says is fundamentally correct...

[Bluefloyd]

Thanks for the replies guys, informative as always. Still learning to use the torque of the engine rather than revving the nads of it. Hard to do when trying to keep up with a fiesta st which is a very capable little motor.

[monkeyhanger]

I suppose a high oil temp witha water temp that stays below 100C shows that the cooling system is easily coping. At my highest oil temps seen, the water temp gauge has stayed locked to 90C.

[corgi]

Exactly...

The water cooling system seems to be very efficient but the oil is less well cooled. I've not looked to see of there is an oil cooler on the GTD - I doubt that there is... in my case I don't think it needs one... in fact adding one may leave you with an oil temperature that is on the low side of ideal...

[Bluefloyd]

The water temp stayed bang on 90 as always. I've decided to take it easy on her for a bit to see if I can get my average consumption higher than the 35 mpg it is showing at the moment. Listening to music with a lower bpm count when driving may help. 

[GeoBog]

Don't know if it's relevant but on my GTI the highest i've seen was 110 C and that when I was racing everybody with revs up to 5000. Most of the times it stays at about 103-105 C. Also I am not going above 3000 rpm until the oil gets to 90 C. The water gauge never jumped above 90 C. I think that is standard on most cars, on my old Megane is the same.

[corgi]

on my GTI the highest i've seen was 110 C and that when I was racing everybodywith revs up to 5000. Most of the times it stays at about 103-105 C. Also I am not going above 3000 rpm until the oil gets to 90 C. The water gauge never jumped above 90 C. I think that is standard on most cars, on my old Megane is the same.

So, you've been on track with it? 

[GeoBog]

you could call it that way