Petrol engines aircooled running temperature
Cumbrian Keith
Should be no more than 130 degs C - usually much less - around the 100 mark. If you do a search for this type of info on other aircooled forums you will find that people reckon gauges are not always reliable - even new they may not be calibrated correctly. I would check yours, either against a known good thermometer or even just boiling water. Another issue is where you put the sender - you may have got a dipstick one which I believe are ok, if a touch fragile. Other locations include tapped into the round "taco" cover-plate in the sump, near the filler pipe - the plate held in by 2x10mm bolts (you have to drop the oil to fit it and it's a bit vulnerable at a low point on the engine/vehicle. It's also in the breeze so may not be as accurate unless you fit a wind protector, which can double as a physical guard. The other factor with this location is that it is in a bit of a dead end oil flow wise so will not react as quickly as other locations. Another supposedly good location is tapped into an oilway such as the oil filter mount - a bit tricky to do with the engine in the vehicle. I've just done this but I am in the middle of an engine rebuild/swap so it's out on the floor and easy - I'll take a picture later and post it. What kind of sender have you got? Was going to but the dip stick sender you mentioned from Just campers, but they told me, they had just found out they where to short.
Stateside tuning sold me a VDO sender and a adaptor screw to be able to fit it into the oil relieve valve screw!!!
....there are 2 oil pressure relief valves on these engines. The main one is accessible from beneath, a big (30?mm diam) sort of screw-head - again it is not really in a great spot for oil flow - the oil flows above the spring-loaded piston but not really below it, where the sender will be. But it is convenient to fit and will give you some indication of temp.
Cheers for this Keith, I hoping that having the temp gauge in is better than nothing at all, just a bit of peace of mind to know im not cooking the engine.
Yeah - likewise - some say it's just another thing to be paranoid about, others say they pace their driving on the oil temp, esp in the summer in hot climes. I certainly don't want to have a valve seat let go and stuff a cylinder and head. A cylinder head temp gauge under spark plug 3 (the least cooled) is another way - more money tho. Where are you mounting your gauge? I've got a pod on top of the instrument binnacle - pic later when I get home.
Cheep insurance for your AC engine ,why vw never fitted them to AC engines i will never know ...anyway falcon guage cylinder head thermometer = 23.00 quid sender 14mm = 9.00 10ft extention cable 5.25 pp 4.00 available here @ airworld [1]
