Optimum oil temperature?

Optimum oil temperature?

Author
Discussion

CycleSi

Original Poster:

504 posts

192 months

Tuesday 18th November 2014
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I have an R300K which I track a fair bit (10/12 times a year) and wondered what the optimum oil temp is on the road and also, more importantly, on track days?



grenpayne

1,975 posts

161 months

Tuesday 18th November 2014
quotequote all
Oil should be 80 to 85 degrees when warmed up although I often see 90 or slightly above if I'm giving it the beans on the road. On track, I'd expect it to be around 100 or even slightly more on a warm day.

My car is an R300K spec as well and is dry sumped with the EasiClean tank at the back of the engine bay. On winter days with my old Apollo Tank, the water temperature would come up quite quickly, but the oil would take forever and if it was very cold, I could never get it above 70 despite my best efforts! With the dry sump system, that cooling effect is a bit less so it's back up to a steady 80 on the cold days.

On the subject of warming up, I progressively increase the rpm as the oil tempearture rises, although never above 3.5k rpm until the oil is at 60 degrees and above. It's probably a bit conservative but it gives me peace of mind smile

Edited by grenpayne on Tuesday 18th November 13:49

nicemd

52 posts

174 months

Tuesday 18th November 2014
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According to A. Graham Bell 4 stroke performance tuning:

"An engine should never be driven hard until the oil reaches 70°C".
"In a race engine, bearing failure is a possibility any time the oil temperature goes past 130°C, and generally hp is lost over 115°C".