19 replies to this topic

[carbon]

I think a mechanical oil pressure gauge is more worthwhile and more responsive so you should already be plumbing oil in to the back of your dash is your considering an oil temperature gauge, admittedly you'd need an extra oil line.

 

You could also ask why you'd want to know your oil temperature. Oils are less temperature sensitive than they used to be. It's the effect on the oil's function we're interested and you'll have installed the pressure gauge to measure that more directly. Oil temperature is related to coolant temperature. The exception being if you had a sudden increase in friction - it's doubtful the temperature of the sump would react to that quick enough. I suppose it might be a means of monitoring the transmission. 

+1. For a road car I don't see need for oil cooler in the UK, unless you have fitted a sumpguard.

[nicklouse]

 

Im very interested to see if you manage to squeeze the sandwich stat and filter in place.

Doing l2b last week ive done 600 miles of motorway driving, and my oil pressure dropped 20psi when hot, which is making me think a cooler could be needed. I have two oil coolers ready, just want a stat so that it doesnt have any adverse effects.

This thread suggests it os possible : http://www.theminifo...ler-thermostat/

 

dont like the orientation of that cooler will never fill with oil.

[Ethel]

Not so much oil in as air out

[unburntfuelinthemorning]

You could also ask why you'd want to know your oil temperature. Oils are less temperature sensitive than they used to be. It's the effect on the oil's function we're interested and you'll have installed the pressure gauge to measure that more directly. Oil temperature is related to coolant temperature. The exception being if you had a sudden increase in friction - it's doubtful the temperature of the sump would react to that quick enough. I suppose it might be a means of monitoring the transmission. 

Taking a cold engine to high revs is never a good thing but relying on the coolant temperature alone to indicate when the engine is warm isn't enough as it can take a lot longer (particularly in cold conditions) for the oil temperature to come up, so for this reason I think an oil temperature gauge is a wise instrument to have on any vehicle.

[Pete - W.Sussex]

I always thought there would be a strong correlation between oil and water temp but it is not as close as I thought. We built an MGTF track car with c230bhp and worried a lot about overheating so fitted a completely redesigned water cooling system. The car also has a laminova but whilst we rarely see water temp exceeding 90c the oil temp has got to 130c - that’s sort of ok with fully synthetic racing oil but if you are running mineral in our Minis I would be getting jumpy at 110c. I therefore also prefer to have an oil temp gauge.