360 Very High Oil Temp

Today I replaced the battery in my 2001 360. I took it to the gas station to fill it up and while driving home I received a high oil temp warning. The gage was maxed out at 280 degrees. When I got home I noticed there was a whistling sound coming out of the engine compartment. I turned off the engine to let it cool and could hear boiling sounds. Once the cars temp went down to 240 the whistling stopped. My guess is the whistling was due to the oil temp, similar to that of a teapot releasing steam. Has anyone else had this issue and know the root cause.

 

Your car sounds like it was overheating something fierce! Boiling? Umm Check your thermostat is working and your water pump is pumping. Oil temp only and not water temp high?

 

Any visible or fluid level loss?

 

I agree with Curt. Coolant will gurgle and hiss. Oil will smoke. It sounds like an engine coolant problem and faulty collateral temp gauge at a minimum. Check fluid level and then move on to water pump, thermostat, etc. qchange your oil while at it as you might have cooked it. Hopefully you caught it early enough and there isn't any engine damage.

 

So - oil temp was pegged...what was the water temp doing?????

If water temp was not high, you may have a bad oil temp sender or gauge.

 

I thought the same thing.... but the hissing sound reported made me nervous!

I wonder.. did the OP read the Water gauge by mistake and think it was the oil? Water gauge is all the way on the left....

 

Thanks for the feedback guys. I completely misread the gages. It was my water temp gage, not oil gage. Now the hissing and boiling sounds make more sense. Thoughts on what would cause this and what to check?

 

I also want to note that the oil temp and pressure were normal. I also didn’t see any fluid leaks on the ground.

 

One more update. I just checked my coolent level and it was barely visible. The manual says it should be 1.5 inches from the top. I am going to fill it up and see if the issue persists.

 

The coolant cap is probably shot. If the coolant is not under pressure, the boiling temperature decreases.

 

Oil temp is OK but water temperature is full pegged? I would still look at the water temp sending unit.

I also agree to replace the radiator cap. They actually do lose their ability to hold pressure over time.

Start with the simple things first then work up.

 

Hi mate make shure the coolant is clear n green stick your finger in there when it’s cold make shure no oily slime deposit , if so possibly heat exchanger fail (worst case)my cars heat exchanger failed at 79,000klms

 

Consider thermostat being stuck closed as a possible cause

 

Was the coolant changed recently? If so did they properly bleed the system? They can vapor lock at the outlet from the engine and there is a bleed screw there. So many possabilities

 

Three things id check personally:
1) replace the cap on the reservoir as above is likely GONE.( the seem to last a couple years at best) What happens: can't maintain pressure on coolant system and then car overheats as a result. Also accounts for the hissing. Replace it with a new one.
2) thermostat could be stuck (You'll see it overheat - I'd use one of those IR heat sensors to watch the engine heat up to middle of gauge a and correlate the gauge to engine heat)
3) Water pump still turning? Leaking?
4) If you turn the 10mm bolt on top of the thermostat housing does fluid come out?