max oil temperature?

The old school of air-cooled Porsche was that the max upper limit was about 285F. If it ever went to 300, then sell it if it still runs.

 

250 on oil temp is a tad high for me. I would check oil fans if equipped. Make sure they are operating. I barely hit 200 degrees in my Testarossa on the hottest days.. Maybe 210 (then fans kick on).

Robbie

 

You are right about the Testarossa - never do I see over 200 oil, nor over about 195 on the coolant. Magnificent cooling system.

And of course I live in Texas.

 

See Section 3, "oil pressure and temperature" in your OM -- gives 266 deg F (130 deg C) as the absolute maximum limit.

 

That was for oils in use at the time. Modern oils can tolerate much more. 360's regularly see around 300 on track days. I have been told directly by several top grade oil companies that 320 and for some 340 is OK.

 

The oil temp red line on the Enzo/P 4/5 is very high. On the track in Bahrain we saw 320+ for hours without issue.

 

Sure, but the OP was getting nervous at 250 deg F (so he had some headroom even at the "old" spec). But, I'd also say the ~320 deg F number that you guys are using as an example has an implied reduced service interval -- otherwise, you wouldn't do any oil changes for "track days"

 

This is where the synthetics take care of you - much slower breakdown during high temperatures.

Chevrolet was so cynical about this that the last-year Corvette C4 LT-4 330 h.p. engines did not even come with an oil cooler - they just specified Mobil One for this very reason.

 

On track days, my oil would stay at around 250-260 while driving. Using Redline engine oil

 

No question that it should be changed when the limit is pushed but I suppose that can be said about anything. We have to remember that the gauges and books were made in a different time with different information. Point is if OK pressure is maintained I wouldn't pay much attention until the 290 or 300 line is crossed....with quality oil of course.

 

The only thing I would be concerned about is making sure the oil pressure stays ok. Hoses seals etc are not going to care about 300.

I dont think a 328 is going to generate that kind of heat anyway. It is a pretty understressed motor by modern standards.

 

On the positive side, it would certainly boil out any water condensation that might be present -

 

And that is something that really is a problem in many of these cars. A TR will NEVER get to 200 on a cold day and I am talking California cold, like a 50 degree day. Some days on a freeway drive the needle doesn't even move.

 

There is a video on youtube of a Gt4 being drive quite hard for quite a while on some track (wish I could recall which) and I saw the oil temp went up a bit but never past the 230. Good modern oils are just sort of "turning on" by that temp anyway

 

I have a friend who is into rather extended (to put it mildly) change intervals. He drains his oil & bakes it in a a big roasting pan in a spare oven at 275F for a couple hours & re-runs it. Not saying I agree with his philosophy, but his car runs just fine after many years of this.

 

Good cooling.

 

Don't tell PeterS about this.

 

What??..... I can't even think of a response to that. What is his philosophy behind doing this?

 

Probably a diesel and it runs on old french fry oil.

 

He drives an old Lincoln whale of some sort. He figures since his car doesn't often get any long drives he can boil off any condensation and/or gas dilution this way. Me? I'd bet that his engine internals are so well "protected" by sludge by this point that a change with fresh (detergent laden) oil would probably be a bad idea

 

One should always drive your car long and hard enough on each drive to get the oil temp up to 110c/212f for a few minutes in order to boil off the water that creeps into the oil via condensation.

 

LOL