Interesting to see your head temps don't go above 350F.

I'm sure the external cooler helps a lot.

I just finished a trip through 1200' + altitudes with lots of long
hills (like 2nd gear at times)

FWIW, head temp (#3 cyl) never got above 380-390F. On level w/o
headwind, 350F. I understand this is totally fine.

This was on a 81 AC Westy, NO external oil cooler but running 20/50 oil.

Cheers,

Neil.

On 8/13/07, Burdett, Jean-Pierre <jp.burdett@spotwave.com> wrote:
> Hi Guys,
>
> I think I've made a newbie mistake. My cylinder head temps never go
> above 350 which is good. The bad part is I never verified what oil temps
> I should be running. I've read the archives but would like to hear it
> first hand... here is what is happening.
>
> When traveling fully loaded on the highway I often see a steady 260
> degrees and 35 psi oil pressure. The odd time it will go to 270 if the
> weather is hot and the oil pressure drops to about 28. It hit 275 when I
> took to poor girl up to the top of Mt Washington (I had to... I believed
> in her). I've probably driven 1,800 miles like this and no problems have
> occurred that I can tell.
>
> SO...Have I've been too rough on her?  What kind of temps are other
> people with Air Cooled engines seeing when road tripping? From some
> posts their oil temp is 230 etc.  Should I be worried about going that
> high for sustained periods? Should I just ease off the pedal a bit more?
> Will changing to semi synthetic help?
>
> Other Info
> - She seems to run very happily
> - I'm running castrol 20W50 oil & filter changes every 3,000kms /
> 1,800miles
> - I think I've had to top her up about 1 quart oil in 3,000kms /
> 1,800miles
> - I have an auxiliary oil cooler
> - All the tin is good and engine compartment seal in place
> - Engine bay is quite clean
> - My van is well maintained / stock
> - I've been driving about 105Kms(62mph) on the flats and about
> 80Kms(50mph) up the hills, downhill I tend to let it go to 110kmh(70mph)
> to help get up halfway the next hill.
> - She gets 20mpg consistently on the highway
>
> Thanks for your opinions!
>
> JP
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

--
Please send me your Vanagon/Westfalia links!
http://vanagonlinks.googlepages.com/home

Neil Nicholson. 1981 Air Cooled Westfalia.
http://web.mac.com/tubaneil