Hi, with summer approaching, my oil temp is worrying me more and more. on normal days with normal driving, it tends to hang around 240*. On hotter days, I have seen it go up to 260*. It is on an '04 MCS with 15% pully, CAI, headers, exhaust, and some others small mods. It does have a two line oil cooler in front of the radiator but it still runs this hot. The fan does kick in in traffic or when its hot and I go to park it. What can I do to lower it or what can I check? Any help will be appreciated.

Thanks,
Hayden

 

Hmm. Is the factory water/oil heat exchanger still on the car or was it completely removed with the installation of the oil cooler? Maybe it's not as efficient.

Also, where are you tapping the oil temperature from? I have basically the same mods as you minus the header but my temps never get above 225*. I tap mine from the oil drain plug so it's measuring bulk oil temp. The only times it even gets that hot is on the highway over 3k rpm when it's 95+ degrees out. When sitting in traffic even on hot days, it's more like 210*. Lastly, how long have you had the gauge...are you fairly certain it's reading correct?

 

I bought the car used and all of this was previously installed so I will try to answer all of these questions to the best of my ability.

The exchanger, I do not know if it is still on there or not, its there a way I can easily check?

I know it is not tapped on the drain plug or the filter, where exactly I also do not know.

The temps that you have are where I would like to be.

Please excused my ignorance, I am still new to this.

Thank you,
Hayden

 

Here is the best photo of the stock heat exchanger and location I can find. It's right by the oil filter. The hoses going into it are for coolant. It warms the oil to get up to temperature quicker and cools it once the oil becomes hotter than the coolant.

If they didn't tap the filter or drain plug, it could be in one of the oil lines or they used a tee adapter at the oil pressure sensor. This may read a bit higher than mine since it's in the engine and not in the pan. How much, I don't know but I doubt it's more than 10 degrees.

 

Check your oil level - high temp in my 16v is usually due to low oil.

-Jorge

 

This.

Had a car come in yesterday with high oil temps. turns out it was 3 qts low

 

where the temp sensor is located can make a large difference in the measured temp

example 1:
my continental O-200A (100 HP) aircraft engine (wet sump).
the factory oil temp probe is in the oil pickup from the sump just before the oil pump.
there is an oil galley with a threaded plug just after the oil pump.
the difference in temp just before and just after the oil pump is at least 40 degrees F!
just as the turbo increaes the intake air temp, the oil pump increases the oil temp as the pressure is increased.

example 2:
any aircraft radial engine (dry sump):.
these engines have 2 oil pumps, a pressure pump and a scavenge pump (low pressure/high volume to return oil to the remote sump).
oil temp is usually measured as it comes out of the remote sump, just before the high pressure pump.
if measured just after the oil high pressure pump, again a 40 degree F difference is seen
if measured just before the scavenge pump, just as the oil has done it's job of lubrication and cooling, the temp can be 80-100 degrees F higher than the sump temp!

you need to find out where the oil temp is being measured

scott

 

There's a thread I started on here somewhere about how MINI gets its oil temp reading for the "Chrono Pack". No one has been able to find a take-off point or sensor and the consensus is that it's a calculated value. When my TRACKRAT indicated 240+F temps on track, I became sufficiently concerned that I a)installed a SNEED's Oil Cooler and b) separate AUTOMETER elec. gauge with sender in the oil pan drain plug. Guess what? Both gauges read the same! The cooler and the added 1 qt.+ of oil has given some reduction in temp. but on a hot Summer's day at VIR, it will still approach 240+ degrees F. That's why premium synthetic oil is imperative.

 

FWIW - I've heard somewhere that fully-synthetic motor oil is OK up to around 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Mobil One touts its oil as providing protection at temps up to 500 degrees Fahrenheit, though I don't think I'll personally test the veracity of that claim. If you're running 240 - 260, you should be just fine.

I have an oil temp gauge that reads from the drain plug, and under normal conditions it's between 100 degrees C (212 F) and 110 degrees C (230 F). The only time I've seen it higher than 110 is when I was doing about 100 (to avoid getting run over by old pickup trucks) on I-10 out in west Texas on a day when the air temp was about 105 F - it got up to 120 C (248 F). The car is a standard 2004 "S", no engine mods.

If you're truly concerned that 240 - 260 is too much heat (and your sump is full, temp is from a drain plug sensor, and the factory "oil cooler" is in place) maybe getting a larger-capacity after-market oil cooler will get you back down by 15 to 20 degrees.

 

Sorry , I haven't been on here in a while. To answer your questions, I have confirmed that I do not have the factory heat exchanger. Also, my oil level is normal.

My next step is to pull the oil cooler off and clean it and also make sure it isn't clogged.

I will keep you guys updated.

Thanks again for the help,
Hayden

 

I got my oil pressure sender unit replaced and it is reading about 20psi with a warm engine and up to 80psi under load. Does this sound about right?

-Hayden

 

I have the factory oil sending unit and oil temperature gauge and The pressures you're talking about when running seems awful high. When I'm running 70- 80 mph my pressure is approximate 35 PSI with the factory OEM gauges

At Idle I'm at about 10psi.

Hope this helps

 

I just looked at my Oil Pressure gauge this Am and realized I made a mistake. Above is my corrected post. Sorry for that.

Also attached is a pic, Panorama View (blurred due to bumps) of my Dash. My speed is just below 60mph, rpm @ almost 2.5k in 6th gear. You can see by the pic, my Oil Pressure is just below 35 psi. At 80mph I'm running about 38psi.

 

Sorry, but here is the pic. Forgot to put in my previous post.

 

oil pressure sounds a little high, 80 seems too much (and IMO, 10psi is a little low, and not to be an a-hole, but its "idle", lol). highest ive seen mine, is 65, maybe 70 psi with a cold engine, and giving it gas to leave the driveway.

otherwise, your pressure will vary directly with oil temp. Higher oil temp = less pressure.

i run about 60psi cold, 40psi halfway warmed, and 15-20 psi fully heated, just sitting / cruising. oil temps go from 140-240 based on outside temp and how hard im driving, but still never really seen it above 240.

its interesting, there is another thread about just this. is this the same issue / same person? the other guy also had an oil cooler and was experiencing similar issues with regards to oil pressure, maybe not so much temp however.

 

Yes you can thank the iPhone's Siri Dictation for IDOL on that one LOL. I already corrected it when I got to the office.

And 10-15psi when at idle is exactly what I'm seeing on my OEM Factory Pressure gauges. Look at the pic and my needle is just below the first tick mark on the Oil Pressure Gauge when at idle.

Anyone else have the factory gauge pack that can attest to this?