Thursday, June 11, 2009

Good Info on Water and Engine Oil Temp.

Taken from Sifu Mr KN Wong's comment and edited to summary.

Oil Temp 120-130degC is way way too hot for the oil to run. That corresponds to water temp of almost 140degC.
The general guideline in the US Honda tuning circle (e.g. Hondata) is to limit water temp to a max of 120degC. 110degC for oil temp is quite the limit. Some engine oil manufacturers claims that their oil can go to 140degC but you plan to run the engine oil at 130degC and above, then be prepared to get a warped cylinder head and burnt gasket in the very near future.
Stock PGM-Fi drastically richens the AF and retard the ignition once water temp hits 100degC. At 100degC, the ignition can be retarded by as much as 5deg.

The OEM water temp is a non-linear guage. It will be stable around the middle until around 120degC after which it will move drastically. Because the aftermarket water-temp usually places the sensor in the hose between cylinder head, it will often read different temperature than the stock sensor which is attached to the cylinder head. The stock sensor tends to overread since it is also being affected by the cylinder head which is hotter than the water. The aftermarket meter tends to under-read since water would have time to cool a little bit in the rubber hose. Also, be careful of low water level because that will lead to false low temperature readings.

Summary:
1) Oil Temp (Try to limit below 120 degC).
2) Water Temp (Try to limit below 110 degC)
3) Go and get Water temp meter (critical) and Oil Temp meter (less critical) if plan to track the car.

Thanks to Mr KN Wong for his information. (FYI: He is driving a VTEC turbo)

7 comments:

Koh said...

Thanks for sharing... according to my other member and reading... suzuki swift engine tends to be running hotter compare to other car... a member saying the oil temp can go as high as 120C when revving hard going up genting... i think i got to drive slow slow already... haha...

metropro said...

No need to drive slow.
Install oil cooler.
Either for the engine or the transmission(Auto).

jimmy-aka-podz said...

Yup..agree with Metropro. Oil cooler fix things. Hehe..

Vince said...

Oil cooler only cools the oil temp to make sure it did not boil and damage your engine gasket. To attain optimum cooling you will need:
1) Oil cooler (for oil temp)
2) Good Radiator (for water temp)

I did the radiator 1st as I know my engine will have problem with water temp and can not afford to screw it up and warp my engine head.
Oil cooler will have to wait as i am tracking the max oil when i drive to see if it need to be done.
If have extra $$$$ ok la....
Not sure if we should buy chop shop one or the taiwan replica (850~750 1 set).

metropro said...

Good radiator is useless if your current fan is not up to its performance. Mod a direct fan function.

Vince said...

Ya sure la..... The best is FAL fan too.... Just the Fan is RM700.

jimmy-aka-podz said...

Mine is stock radiator wo. Last time got leak, I changed the head to chicken brand, but still ok. No problem with water temp. Just buy a large Tabata. Sure great. Haha...