How hot is too hot ?

[Roy E6]

Morning all, I have a 5.3 V8D engine in my griff and what an engine it is. My question is as title How hot is too hot for the engine to be running at? I have a decent sized oil cooler fitted,but after 5 or 10 minutes of spirited driving i am seeing oil temperatures of 110 degrees Celsius,while the water temp stays between 80 and 90. I am using morris oils 10-50 fully synthetic, which says it ok for high temps. I suppose i am just being a bit paranoid about doing some damage,after all the money i have spent trying to get a reliable working TVR. It would be good to find out what temperatures other engines are running at.
Thanks in advance

Roy

[Bluebottle]

If it only reaches that temp when pushed hard then i wouldn't worry. I was always told to start getting concerned when it goes over 120Deg.

Temp limits cribbed from another thread 130 (semi-synthetic) or 150 (fully synthetic).

[budd]

Bluebottle said:

If it only reaches that temp when pushed hard then i wouldn't worry. I was always told to start getting concerned when it goes over 120Deg.

Temp limits cribbed from another thread 130 (semi-synthetic) or 150 (fully synthetic).

just a quick note of caution re max exceptable limits for oil temps, ensure your using a 'quaility' full 100% synthetic (Morris oils will be fine) but some oils claiming to be 'fully synthetic' are anything but.
For instance, a ‘synthetic’ oil is invariably semi-synthetic (’Ah! We didn’t say it was all synthetic did we?), and, if low priced, invariably the modified mineral type synthetic. It is a sad fact that you get what you pay for, but even so, stick to the reputable US/UK/European brands,(Motul, Silkolene,Castrol,Millers,Mobil, etc) key words to look for are '100% synthetic' 'multi ester'.

Also don't be tempted to introduce any sort of additive, many are available which are supposed to improve ordinary oil and reduce friction, improve power output etc.

Oil is already a very advanced and deeply researched fluid which does not need any ‘enhancement’. There is no secret formula out in the backwoods that the mainstream lubricant chemists do not know about; but there are plenty of half-baked ideas and gullible people out there!
These wonder additives are usually 1930s chlorinated paraffins, long obsolete gear oil additives which should have disappeared in the 1950s, but they keep turning up as ‘Xxtrasuperlube ZX3’ with a mark-up of several thousand percent. They actually corrode engine and transmission internals, so they do far more harm than good.

Others depend upon the total myth that PTFE powder coats engine internals and reduces friction. It doesn’t do anything of the sort. It just blocks the oil filter. The AA tested one of these overpriced PTFE concoctions (‘Quick 60’ or something) very thoroughly back in the 80s. They stated: ‘This is an expensive way of coating your oil filter’.

[spend]

Much depends where you are reading the temp, 100C in the sump will not be the same as temp at bearings or oil pump. I moved my sensor from sump to front cover and see a much better oil temp. Generally sits under 100C when warm, and 110-120C when driven hard. If I reached 130C I would start thinking about whats happening ~ calibration doesn't really matter you just watch for anomalies IYSWIM

As long as you have decent pipework and stat, it's pretty much foolproof.

PS: I don't fully agree with additives, ZDDP and flat tappet cams is a whole can of worms and IMHO you either use modern oils + roller cam or flat tappet + ZDDP additive.

[Bluebottle]

spend said:

Much depends where you are reading the temp, 100C in the sump will not be the same as temp at bearings or oil pump. I moved my sensor from sump to front cover and see a much better oil temp. Generally sits under 100C when warm, and 110-120C when driven hard.

That is a very good point that i hadn't thought about I am about to fit an oil temp gauge and was thinking of placing the sender in the return feed from the oiler cooler to measure temp of the oil being pumped into the oil galleries, I'm guessing that that is probably not the best place for it? Where on the front cover have you put yours?

[spend]

On serps only one of the front cover LR oil cooler takeoffs is used, easy to put M20-1/8NPTF adapter in the other bunged one. I'd swap them around to protect the pressure sensor a bit more as its the more expensive component BTW;)

[Roy E6]

Thanks chaps, so i have nothing to worry about then. I have my oil temp sender in the oil cooler take off.