Ford did research years ago and found that for every 10 degrees your oil
runs over 200 degrees F, it cuts the engine life in half.  doing the math,
that 260 degree number smells like an overhaul soon!.  My 90GL waterboxer
maxes out at about 110 C. which is about 230 or so I guess in F.  My 79 2.0
AC had an external cooler on it that was homemade and over-engineered.  It
never got over 200 degrees but then I had dual two barrel webers on it which
made for good power and cooler heads as well.  I might've hit 100 C. once
climbing I-24 to Sewanee TN in July upper 90's type weather, but going down
the other side it cooled pretty quickly. BTW, I never got out of 4th gear
either.

Dimwitted Moose and Flying Squirrel.
-----Original Message-----
From: Westywoman <westywoman@mac.com>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Date: Tuesday, July 11, 2000 10:43 AM
Subject: Re: Normal oil temp and oil leak

>on 6/26/00 6:20 PM, David Cooper at Zcoop1@aol.com wrote:
>
>> I just installed an oil temp gauge in my 82 air-cooled Westy.  Now I am
>> wondering what "Normal" oil temperature should be?  Right now it is
staying
>> between 210 and 220...high, low, OK?
>
>I installed the oil temp gauge last year on my 81 and I see temps anywhere
>from 180 to 240, usually running right around 200-220.  The faster I go
>(over 55 mph), the higher it goes.  Climbing Mt. Greylock in Western
>Massachusetts on a 95-dgree day, it flirted with 260.
>>
>> I also replaced both valve cover gaskets. The driver's side is
aking:(  Any
>> tips before I install the next one?
>
>I just went through this last month and here's what my mechanic said: first
>try a sealant with the new gaskets, there's ome kind of 'glue' you can
apply
>to help it hold the seal.  If that doesn't do it, scrounge around for
>another vavle cover, yours may be warped.  Apparently, this may be a
>recurring problem over time.  That's what the man said!
>
>--
>Melissa Mourkas
>81 Westy Basic Camper