Ideal Running Oil Temperature For My 1776 engine

[scottie]

Hi all i have a 1776 engine in my 1970 early bay. My question is what should the oil temperature be when driving along. I understand that would depend on the speed,when should i get concerned about the temperature.

Thanks Scottie

 

[Paul Weeding]

Really you should be aiming for 90 to 115°c

Once you go over 120°c the the oil starts breaking down and doesn't lubricate the engine properly!!

That's based on you using a good mineral oil... Synthetic oil is stable to a lot higher temps

 

[StuF]

Yep as above

Our bus runs between 90 and 100 degrees when upto temp and cruising

I would only worry if it went over 110 - which it never has even in 30+degree heat in Spain!

 

[Moseley]

On a completely other note - did you drive through Bewdley yesterday? Just noticed you are local-ish to the area and an identical van drove past us whilst we were crossing the bridge on foot.

 

[rlepecha]

Oil temperatures can be well off depending on the gauge in use. My bus tends to run at 123 degree's in the sump when crushing at 53mph, that's measured from a thermocouple that is accurate and checked to 0.2 of a degree.
I was originally running mineral oil and switched to synthetic because of this. I don't know why my engine runs this hot, I've got a proper fan shroud and flaps etc, the only modification is that its 1641. I can only presume the oil cooler is partially blocked.

I can't help with what temp your engine should run at, but worthwhile knowing your gauge might be off.

 

[Zcat7]

Where are you guys measuring your temp from? I have a sensor mounted in the Type 3 dipstick blanking plate so straight into the sump and out of the airflow compared to a sump plate mounted item. I get (indicated and uncalibrated) 220F max when cruising around lanes at about 50, rising to 230F at 3500rpm plus. It goes higher still when taking a long hill but quickly drops down again on the level. All these readings were on hot days.

I was running an SVDA dizzy which, with my setup, seemed to be giving me too much continual advance (I don't entirely understand why or what is going on but will look into it further when I have some time). This caused real overheating problems; as soon as I got to 3500+ rpm it'd quickly start pushing past 240F and I would have to slow right down to get the temp to drop. I went back to my 009 dizzy and hence get the readings I see now. Difference in max (continual) advance is circa 28-30 degrees (009) compared to circa 42 deg (SVDA). In summary, too much advance = hot!

Mine is a 1776 built in an aluminium Auto Linea case with twin 40 Kadrons and Engle 100 cam. I heard reports that the ally case runs hotter than magnesium but others think not. Starts, runs and pulls sweet as now that I have the fuelling right but would like to see it running cooler. Could it be because its still low mileage (under 1000)?

 

[scottie]

Thank you Guys for all your help, most of the time it runs at 110 at 60mph, however it does go above that when on the when motorway.

 

[K@rlos]

My bus gets too 180f/80c at 70mph @ 4000 rpm. Even getting up to 85-90mph at just over 5000 rpm it hasn't passed 220f/105c and that's on hot days.

Motor: 2110, Engle FK8 cam, twin 48 IDF's, big valve heads and 9.5:1 compression. So a pretty hot motor. But I do have an external cooler with a big scoop, that said correct tin and seals make a major difference. Plus how well it's built effects running temp too.