I don't think 250 is all that high for an air-cooled.  They tend to run
hotter than water cooled, but over 275? I think is too high (maybe someone
else can help out with that).  And the sump is not the best place to mount
the sender for the temp guage the reading won't reflect operating temps,
just the sump temp.  It sould be mounted so that the reading is taken after
the oil goes through the cooler (not and easy task).  See "How to Hot Rod
VW Engines) by Bill Fisher for details.

As for hot oil,  as the late Gene Berg said: the hot oil is a symtom of an
overheating engine (or sentiments to that effect).  Cooling the oil doesn't
solve the cause of the problem.  If the engine is running hot, why?  Is the
engine tuned right?  Is the timing too advanced?  Is the thrermostat flaps
stuck closed? Did GEX screw up another rebuild?

Or, maybe the oil really isn't too hot.  Watch the guage carefully and see
if the temp goes up over time.  Also, watch the pressure idiot light
carefully.  That will tell you if the oil is getting way hot.

>I have an 82 vanagon with a VDO oil guage attached to the sump and the
>temps are running in the 250s recently. Is there anything I should look
>into to get the temps down. It has just recentyly gotten this hot? I
>installed a new thermostat last fall, so I know its not that. It has an
>oil cooler and the engine has around 4000 miles on it (GEX rebuild).
>Should I install an external oil cooler, the ones I see on the sides of
>many VWs? Also the muffler is rusted out, could that have anything to do
>with the heat? Please help
>Jared Roy

Red '93 SLC
Red '87 GTI
   and
'67 deluxe
'71,81,'85 Westies