My Oil Pressure & Temp At 50 Then 100 Miles

[Higgy 0]

I have seen previous posts of people asking about oil pressures & temperatures, so on my xmas drive home I took these pictures (or course pulled over on the side of the road).

 

They are taken at around 50 & 100 miles.

 

OIL GAUGE PICTURES

 

Most driving was at 60-65mph and not getting held up in traffic.

 

Engine is Mi16 with Al sump and no oil cooler.

 

When setting of to drive, the oil pressure is just past the right hand side of the mark, then as you can see from pictures it drops to the left hand side of the mark. When stuck in traffic or pulling low revs (2000rpm) oil pressure drops down to around the middle of the gauge.

 

My 1.9 8V sat bang on the mark which the Mi sits near, and again dropping in pressure when stuck in traffic.

 

Hope this might help?

 

Higgy.

[sorr 0]

That is just about exactly the same as I get with my rebuilt standard 1.9 8v.

[Anthony 1,003]

It should be noted that cars without the alloy sump should run the oil a bit hotter than this really - in my experience, the alloy sump overcools the oil in winter under normal road usage. A tin sump would usually run the oil temperature another "notch" higher on the gauge.

 

Also, the oil really should be upto normal temperature in about 10-20 miles at most, not as many as 50. That will largely depend on how you're driving the car of course - plodding along at 30mph will mean the oil takes ages to get upto temperature, whereas sitting at high revs on the motorway will bring it upto temperature much quicker.

[madmoog 0]

I've got an alloy sumped Mi16 and it runs alot hotter than this both oil and water. The water temperature seems particularly low as I think the standard mi16 thermostat (see http://www.mi16.nl/techspec.htm ) Starts to open at 88C and is fully open by 100C. I think that I have standard warning light threshold temps for a 1.9 as it comes on above 95C. Don't like seeing red lights so I've wired the 2nd fan through a switch and use it is stuck in traffic for any length of time and it stops any temp rise from the normal 90ish.

 

The only time I've seen running temps that low was when the Stat on my 1.6 stuck open (incidentally the 1.6, never dropped out of the top 1/4 of the oil pressure guage unless at idle in all its life, much higher than any of the 1.9's I had)

[Anthony 1,003]

As a quick comparison, here's my 1.6 GTi with the oil upto normal temperature - firstly when idling:

 

 

And another shot with the engine revving and the oil pump upto speed - note oil pressure difference between the two:

 

 

And yes, I know I need to fix the blown dash bulbs...

[richsmells 2]

mine's similar to anthony's. I think the sensors are a bit dodgy. As long as the stop light doesn't come on, i'll keep going!

[DaveW 6]

how low is your oil pressure Anthony! my 1.6 gti never got that high unless i used to cane it on the motoway

[madmoog 0]

Anthony,

 

After 130,000 miles my 1.6 used to idle at that (about the middle of the guage when young) but still between the top 2 marks when ever moving.

 

madmoog

[Anthony 1,003]

how low is your oil pressure Anthony!

It's idling with hot oil remember - that's actually quite good oil pressure compared to most. With the oil pump upto speed (say 2500-3000rpm upwards), oil pressure sits a little over 5 bar

 

In fact, I just edited my above post to include a picture of the engine being revved so as to show the difference in oil pressure between idling and normal engine speed - goes from about 1.5 bar to 5 bar (gauge/sender accuracy permitting)

[richsmells 2]

my oil pressure is like that at hot idle. never goes above the middle mark, even when stone cold Gotta be the sender as it hasn't died yet. Nearly at 112k!

[Sandy 191]

I really wouldn't apply much parity to dash gauges, they aren't very consistent in my experience. If you want to know what the true values are you have to get proper gauges really.

[feb 47]

My oil temp (using mocal oil cooler) almost always stays near the bottom left and only raises to first/second mark when thrashing it or idling for very long time(>20 mins).

 

My water temp never goes above the second mark either unless the car is sitting idling for long.

 

When the engine is cold the oil pressure rises above the middle notch after 2.5/3k rpm whereas when warm, it will raise above the middle mark only after 4k rpm or so.

 

Not sure how calibrated these gauges are and if it's worth comparing them between different cars or best used as an indication to know when one's engine is warmed up.

 

Which are "proper" gauges and where can we get some that have proper readings?

Is it a matter of removing the OE ones then and fitting aftermarket ones but then you need to find some space on the dash to fit these ...

[Robsbc 0 1 Cars]

Paul @ SBC has mentioned to me in the past he's had as an example 3 cars showing different figures for the oil pressure on new engine conversions...

 

The guages/or sensors are not very accurate...

 

For example :-

 

My old 60,000 SBC 1.9 GTI-S showed high oil pressure figures in my car compared to the new rebult Mi16 engine. This engine is now fitted in my friends 309 which he has noticed te oil pressure is much higher than his old 8v engine.

 

Maybe my oil pressure sensor on the SBC engine is much better calibrated than my existing Mi sensor and my mates old 8v sensor?

 

Rob

 

P.S Fivos, SBC don't fit the Mocal sandwhich plate with thermostat. My oil temp is the same as yours...

Edited January 2, 2006 by Robsbc

[Maerten 0]

These gauges arent very accurate, the only thing which is pretty accurate is the oil switch, which operates the red lights on your dash

 

When i first got the car it never got over 1,5 bar oil pressure, so i replaced the sender, and now my oil pressure is about 2 bar when idling (hot). When i floor it, the needle will climb to 4,5 bar, untill i hit 4500 rpm, it then starts fluctuating and moves down to about sub 1 bar when i hit the limiter. (Imagine the look on my face the first time this happened!)

 

Needless to say, those gauges arent really reliable, just get it measured at a garage, and you'll know a little about what condition your oil system is in, and dont bother watching the gauge.

Edited January 2, 2006 by Maerten

[j_turnell 137 3 Cars]

Ive got a rebuilt engine in my 1.6 and its quite obvious the oil pressure isnt right as it was the same in my old engine and that was fooked, the warning light used to come on, but doesnt on my new engine, my s*itty wiring doesnt help matter either i dont think.

[feb 47]

These gauges arent very accurate, the only thing which is pretty accurate is the oil switch, which operates the red lights on your dash

 

When i first got the car it never got over 1,5 bar oil pressure, so i replaced the sender, and now my oil pressure is about 2 bar when idling (hot). When i floor it, the needle will climb to 4,5 bar, untill i hit 4500 rpm, it then starts fluctuating and moves down to about sub 1 bar when i hit the limiter. (Imagine the look on my face the first time this happened!)

 

Needless to say, those gauges arent really reliable, just get it measured at a garage, and you'll know a little about what condition your oil system is in, and dont bother watching the gauge.

 

that's very reassuring to know the gauges are there for decorative purposes only

[DaveW 6]

yeah ive always wonderd about the accuratcy of the gauges even the fuel one....

[Sandy 191]

On the 106 dash, the oil temp gauge doesn't register until about 70C, then maxes at about 120C, which is not really that high, over 130C is where it gets dodgy on a good synthetic oil that's changed regularly.

Running below 70C continuously with an oil cooler chilling it down is more damaging than at the top of the gauge.

[smckeown 1]

if you are concerned about oil pressure, then the first thing to do is buy a new oil pressure sender, that way you will get a guaranteed good readout

[Alastairh 47]

Following on from Sandy and 106s.

 

My oil temp/oil level gauge (on ignition it tells the oil level) It only makes a reading if really ragging it for 5 minutes or more at high speed.

 

At the end of the day its 10-15 year old sensors

 

Most of the others like ecu temp sensors start to show there age around now

 

Alastair