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Date:         Tue, 19 Jul 2011 11:34:34 -0500
Reply-To:     mcneely4@COX.NET
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@COX.NET>
Subject:      Re: Watching Oil Temp (long, as usual)
Comments: To: Ken Wyatt <57skibum@GMAIL.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <CACynUENV2dYHUqK8qnXF-irMVEhGsoUahsBjnLdsOpT7OGVH5g@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8

---- Ken Wyatt <57skibum@GMAIL.COM> wrote: > Greetings hot weather Vanagonauts, > > My 82 has a fairly new engine (3000 miles) is running 15 - 50 synthetic. On > steep climbs or long freeway driving in the heat, my oil temp can go above > 220. I don't like to do that so I moderate my speed between 55 - 60 mph. > Even then it can c,limb to undesirable levels. When the temp goes high > like my oil pressure drops to under 20 psi even at higher RPMs which freaks > me out. I've experienced this twice now. Then when I push the clutch in, > pressure drops to almost zero which I don't like at all. So I'm > thinking of switching back to castrol 20 50 which i used or years without > this much loss of pressure at temperature. Cold engine oil pressure is > above 45 psi. When its warm it pressure is steady around 32 PSI until it > gets hot, then it drops. Thoughts from the oil gurus?. Is it my oil pump? > The oil I use? Or just hot weather driving? I don't think it did this > with Castrol 20 50. Should I worry more?

Ken, my '91 behaved as you describe during hot weather (above 95 F) especially after long highway time or on grades until I got an external oil cooler. Mine would drop to 15 psi or even a little lower, and then at idle to 5 psi or lower (can't read reliably on the gauge down that low). That was with Castrol 20W-50, Pennzoil 20W-50, Valvoline 50W. Unfortunately, I let one mechanic change out the oil pump at a cost of 2-3 hundred dollars before I realized that had nothing to do with it. Regardless of what folks who mostly drive in cool climates say, I think these engines just are not engineered to run at very high ambient temperatures at the speeds we drive in the U.S. BTW, I am a conservative driver, sticking to generally under 65 and usually at 60 or so on highways. All of this was with coolant temperature normal (needle on the led of the temperature gauge). That was problematic at one time, but with some coolant system fixes, that was taken care of, and the oil pressure situation continued. So, the tencentlife external cooler solution. Seems to have worked (oil pressure runs around 40 psi when the engine is fully warmed up at ambient temperatures under 95, and will drop to around 30-35 psi when ambient temperature goes above 100), though I have not made a long trip yet. But I have driven at highway speeds in 105 F weather. Boy, that makes me glad I got the air conditioner working. When I was having the oil pressure drops, I would not run the air conditioning to keep that load off the engine. Making a trip next week (I hope) so will see how it does with long highway time.

mcneely

> On Tue, Jul 19, 2011 at 9:22 AM, Dave Mcneely <mcneely4@cox.net> wrote: > > > > How does your oil pressure respond to the conditions you describe below? > > That is, does the oil pressure drop when you put the extra load on and the > > oil temperature increases above coolant temperature? If it drops, does it > > drop to a level that would be undesirable? When you are at load, and drop > > back to idle, what happens to oil pressure -- how low does it go? > > > > Thanks, mcneely > > > >

-- David McNeely


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