VHPD Oil Temperature

[jonhill]

Does anyone out there have a dry sumped SLR, with the CAT replaced by 4-2-1 pipe, and the temperature sender in the bottom of the bell housing oil tank? If so what does your oil temperature stabilize to?

 

Mine oil temperature takes ages to rise (longer than the 10 - 15 miles I would expect), and doesn't reach the water temperature, even if I come to a dead stop after a long fast blast on a dual carriageway. The water temp. doesn't rise much over 80 either, and the fan doesn't come on. Speaking to another owner who replaced the CAT on his SLR, he said that it ran much cooler. But, I would expect the oil and water temperature to converge, as on my previous anti-cav tanked 1.8SS (with CAT).

 

So,

 

a) Is my oil sender duff

b) It's working OK, but the oil in the bottom of the dry sump is always cooler than the oil circulating the engine.

c) The gauge is reading low (but this doesn't explain the oil and water temp difference on its own).

 

Cheers,

 

Jon

[V7 SLR]

I've got the same setup as you and replacing the cat made no difference to the temperature. That said, I can't tell you what temperature it runs at though. I'll try to check and let you know.

[Slipper man]

I don't think the cat makes any difference to the oil temperature. On the road though, I am not surprised that the oil temp stays below the water. Bear in mind that in a dry sump car, the oil temp you see is the temp of the oil in the remote tank, which will always be cooler than that in the engine. My R500, which has the same setup as a dry sump VHPD runs to about 50 deg on the oil and 65-70 on the water. On track, the oil temp rises a lot (I see 75-80 deg, others see up to 100), whereas the water temp stabalises at 65 deg in 10 deg ambient temp)

[Mike Bees]

Jon, I have K-series dry sump setup with the temp. sensor in the bottom of the tank (silly place - it's not going to tell you anything sensible there). The only time the oil gets up to the same temp. as the coolant is either thrashing it round the track for a good few laps or sitting in a traffic jam in the summer. On a cold & frosty pre-dawn drive down to Gurston from Cambridge a couple of years ago the oil temperature barely crawled to 40C on the whole trip.

 

Or, in short, your answer is (b).

 

Mike

[jonhill]

I did expect lower oil temp. than with my previous car, where the sender was in the anti-cav tank, but I was surprised at just how low the readings are. After 20 miles the other evening (going dark, but not especially cold) the needle had barely moved after 20 miles, and even after a 6000 rpm blast down a dual carriageway for 10 miles, had only just got to around the the mark above 40 (50 I presume). This was enough to put the oil temp. well above the water temp. in my previous car.

 

Still, Mike and Keith's experience seem to indicate this is not abnormal. I'd still be interested in Nigel's figures, as we have identical setups.

 

Another dry sumped (non VHPD) K owner said that his oil and water do usually end up about the same. Obviously his mileage does vary smile.gif

 

This car hasn't been on the track yet, but I'm at Cadwell on the 8th May, so I'll see what's what then. I just find it slightly unnerving to rev. the engine hard when the oil temp gauge isn't showing much. I guess I'll be reverting to idle oil pressure as an indicator of true engine temp. in future. Pretty poor really, when there's supposed to be a bespoke gauge to tell me exactly this.

 

Anyone else going to Cadwell?

 

Cheers.

 

Jon