Correct temps and other related issues

[The_Hawk]

The VR6 engine is a hot one, we all know that, but I have a little concern over mine and what it's doing and if it's right or not.

On my run to Victoria it didn't miss a beat, cruise on 120 most of the way, at least as far as perceived running was going. BUT when checking the MFA the oil temp was always high, like 98, 100, 102. When I was slower that might be 96.

The water temp is... well the cluster was replaced and where the old one would sit bang on 90 all the time, the new one sits on about 70 (which I read as a faulty cluster). On this long run it would get up to maybe 80.

Note: Normall I drive about 9km each way each day, so barely enough to warm it up.

But back to the point, the oil temp seems a little high, even for consistent cruising at high speed, but is it? Is 120km/h for 9 hours going to result in high oil temps? (incidently the cruise to then up Macquire pass had the same effect so these temps seem to be common in my car)

Lastly, I do tend to burn a bit of oil... like a a few hundred mls on my 2,000km journey. On the oil burning point, the little pipe and valvy looking thing that rund from the crank case ventilation to the air intake was busted so has been replaced with straight pipe, same end result really, but maybe that little valvy thing held back some pressure and ventilated less, which would in turn burn less oil where my solution is more free flowing and potentially burns more oil. Providing this isn't detrimental to then engine I'm good with that, oil is cheap enough and I was taught to (and do) check the oil every time I put fuel in the tank so there is no issue of it running out.

All this seems sort of reasonable for a 10+ year old engine on a long drive, at least to me and considering everything seems to run spot on and the engine pulls hard, I haven't been too concerned. Still I thought it was worth the question.

So what sort of temps does eveyone else run??

[Golf Loon]

All the VR6s I drive sit at 96 oil temp for a good engine with the heater connected if I baby it, up to 105 if I`m flogging it.

Could you pull the two clusters apart and swop the temp units between the two?

[The_Hawk]

sounds like I'm in the right range then considering the speed.

As for swapping the bits, the old cluster is the older style where all the bits are connected ( read not swappable)

[Pullstarter]

My oil temp sits between about 95-105 depending on how hard I'm going My water temp on the other hand is all over the place. When cruising on the freeway seems to sit at about 95-105, in traffic can be anywhere from 90-115 Have changed the thermostat housing, thermostat, crack pipe and flushed the system and replaced with new coolant but it still does it. I have no idea why it does it but it doesn't seem to affect performance at all. I was very worried about it at first but it seems to be normal for this car?

[dubsweeper]

mine sits on 90 around town in normal driving, driven a bit harder up to around 102 , has never been above that,, yet

[MattyT]

My oil temp is 90ish around town and upto 120 when hammering it in the hills with J

Water seems to stay just under the middle regardless of what I'm doing.

I do have knock offs of kamei air intakes in my bumper tho. When I put those in I immediately noticed a good drop in over all engine temps. Perhaps if you're a little worried about cooking things, some dodgy mexican knock off air intakes is what you need!

[Pullstarter]

They replace the stock grills in the bottom of the bumper?

[The_Hawk]

They replace the stock grills in the bottom of the bumper?

They replace the fog lights don't they?? (I have fogs so thats not really an option).

Eitherway it's sounding pretty normal really

[Mrk_Mickey]

Mine sits at all of your temperatures Aaron; I believe it's fine

[Dub_Star_V6]

I wouldn't be concerned either Aaron, as 100° oil temps @ 120km/h for 9 hours seems pretty normal. Logically, if you work the oil harder, it heats up. Back off and it has more time to cool.

But your engine running 70-80° water temps sounds like a JDM aftermarket ECU running Power FC? Jap aftermarket like their engines freezing for some reason, usually running colder thermostats too (also ghey). Hot thermo + low fan setting = dog chasing it's tail. Your cluster may well be faulty, as I don't think the water temp reading should be quite that low?

FWIW boiling point of coolant under pressure is around 115°. The standard ECU won't even get concerned until 110°, when it'll start switching off the AC and other loads. Thermos should cut in at 95°, off at 88°.

90-100° is NOT overheating. 100 may be cause for consideration, 110 is ZOMG time.