[snip]
We left the city behind us, and turned onto Hwy 175 for Veracruz.
Almost immediately, we started climbing.  The road narrowed, and I
shifted down to 3rd, then to 2nd.  The road started to twist
sharply, and I had to slow waaay down for curves that forced me to
lean far forward in my seat so I could look through the passenger
side window to sight through the curves.  At this speed, I fell of
the power curve for second gear, so we were climbing in 1st gear.
At times, I was unable to get back up the second gear for the
straight sections, because we'd lose too much momentum in the
shift.  Our oil temperature gauge, which had been sitting around
235, was climbing: 240...  250... 260... 270...  275!   280!!!
[snip]
When we hit the flats between the mountains and the Gulf of
Mexico, I was unable to decide which was more oppressive: the heat
or the humidity.  I decided it was a non-issue.  I had sweat
dripping off my wrists, nose, and chin, and the air felt hot going
into my lungs.  Our camper liked the flats better than the
mountains, I think, but its oil temperature still hovered around
255 degrees.
[snip]

Date: Wed, 2 Aug 1995 01:42:06 -0700  From: rickgo@halcyon.com (Rick Gordon)

Well, I got back from the WA coast last weekend. All gauges work fine, and
it gives me more to think about as I'm driving. Climbing one sees head and
oil temperatures climbing right with you! Never too excessive though.

Cruising along for an hour or so at 55-60 mph I see the head stabilized at
500F, oil at 210F.  But when I stop, or have to slow down for awhile going
through town - the head temp drops to 350-400F but the damn oil shoots up
to 230F! Best strategy in this case seems to be to simply shut it down, as
simply revving the engine didn't seem to help any. Got to have air flowing
past that oil cooler I guess!

 
Date: Thu, 12 Oct 1995 22:01:27 -0700 (PDT) From: "Tobin T. Copley" <tobin@freenet.vancouver.bc.ca>

Max. outside temp:       Real hot (90+ and very humid)
Min. outside temp:     -40 (C or F)
Max. oil temp:         290 F
Usual oil temp:        225 F at 60-70 F/235-245 at 80+ F high humidity
Oil changes:             5

Date: Mon, 20 May 1996 11:08:01 -0600 (MDT) From: Jared Roy <royjm@resort.brecknet.com>

I recently put in an external oil cooler and replaced a piece of missing
engine tin. The van was running around 230-250 oil temps. Temp guage is a
VDO temp on the sump. But now with the oil cooler and replaced tin it is
running around 160-190. Are these too cool? I am running 20w50 for oil.
Should I try 10-40 or 10-30 to get the temps back up? Or should I be
happy that the temps are so low. I have heard that too cool oil temps are
hard on the engine.
Jared 82 Vanagon

	Happy motoring!
	Bill