OIl temps & VW's

So,
Everything I read about air cooled motors talks about oil temp Max of 200F (93C) for general day to day running.

I took the 356 for a drive in 33C yesterday and got paranoid when the oil temp went in the RED. I shut down let it cool and limbered home all while the gauge sat in the red (smiths period gauge has no actual #s on it)

Not knowing what the red meant in terms of actual temp I measured the resistance on the sender on the engine, took it out and boiled water, dunked it in and measured it again. To my disgust I concluded that the oil in the car got above 100C.

After talking to the tech experts at Shell, they reckon that their oils are designed only to run above 100C as they need to to boil out any moisture that seeps past the rings as a byproduct of the combustion process (CO2 and H2O). MAkes sense.

So what now? How hot should the oil temps get in a mild 1916? What's safe?

I will measure the actual temps tonight aftar a hard caning in the hills and see how hot it gets with a digital probe in the dipstick.

upto 220f/105c is not unusual in a vw during summer tempratures
230/110 from what ive heard is considerded getting hot and should be shut down

its hard to say with urs cause it isnt a stock body if its getting enough cooling air to the fan
and is it sealed into the engine bay as per standard?

in a beetle any twinport/doghouse motor without decklid vents isnt getting enough cooling air
even vw realised when they introduced twinport motors in 71 that 2 sets of vents on the engine lid wasnt enough and went to 4 sets in 72

i cringe every time i see a pre 69 beetle with a t/p and no decklid vents or stand offs

in my books

70 too cool
90 is cool running
105 normal
115....mmm watch this gauge
125 shut down

All depends where you have your sensor.
Can be 10 degrees difference in location
Main thing is deviation from normal

personally i wouldnt thrash an air cooled car in +30 heat

Is your engine bay sealed? Do you have one grille or two on the decklid? Fan not blocked? Belt not slipping? Check all these to make sure they're all working as best they can...

I reckon 125 is okay for short bursts - others may disagree - but if your engine is doing that while cruising rather than caning, you may have a problem...

EDIT: barry, never shut down!!!!! No fan then... slow down instead

My 36hp ran at 85c most of sunday 33+ c. It settled back down to 70-75c in the late afternoon. W deck lid closed.

I sit at 110 during extended periods with the 1835.. If the temp starts to creep up, I flick the electric fan on and she comes back down to 110.. Bit of an insurance policy.. It sits over the ext. oil cooler and "sucks" air through the cooler away from the vicinity of the exhaust

i was driving my daughters 1835 on Sunday and it fuel vapour locked on us.
NRMA guy came out and told me the pump was shot and called in a tow. We cancelled it after he left and sat under the shade of a tree and talked about the future , as she is doing her HSC. When i have some time i will carry out a tune and double check the timing as it has had some work recently and its the first time it has stopped running in a busy street Hume Hwy in the three moths we have had the car..

There's the other side of oil temps - people flogging engines with cold oil. I can't believe how many people do it - it just makes me cringe.

I've got an old M5 Beemer (E34 - 1990) that has both water and oil temp guages. Water temp comes up to spec within a kilometre. It takes about 10 kilometres for the oil to get to normal operating temp of 80C. Later M5s have a series of warning LEDs on the tacho that move higher as the oil temp increases. I stay under 3,500rpm until the oil gets over 50C and keep it below 4,500 until its over 75C. Tracking it at Winton a year ago saw it get to 110C but I've never seen it get to 100 on the road despite some severe hammerings.

My understanding of the multigrade oils is that the more volatile end of the spectrum gets burnt off pretty rapidly at the higher temps.

takis wrote:i was driving my daughters 1835 on Sunday and it fuel vapour locked on us.
NRMA guy came out and told me the pump was shot and called in a tow. We cancelled it after he left and sat under the shade of a tree and talked about the future , as she is doing her HSC. When i have some time i will carry out a tune and double check the timing as it has had some work recently and its the first time it has stopped running in a busy street Hume Hwy in the three moths we have had the car..

You need Hoodjax! 😎