Maximum Oil Temperatures?

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Joseph Fihn

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Mar 5, 2005
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Phoenix, AZ.
My neighbor has an '06 Ford Powerstroke & tows a 42' Toyhauler in the mountains of AZ.

He's running a conventional 15w40 motor oil & on his last trip, the engine oil hit 270 degrees & engine temp was on its highest level, per the guage.

He asked me if 270 degrees is more than the oil can handle.

What maximum temps. can conventional 15w40 handle? What about a fully synthetic?

Thanks for the recommendations.

Joe Fihn
 
Sounds like he is having a major overheating problem to me. I would worry more about fixing the overheating problem then what oil to use.
 
He has an Edge box, on the engine, & usually runs it at its highest level but, had to keep turning it down because of excessive temps. Finally got it to its lowest level.

He's towing a LOT of weight up some SERIOUS mountain grades.

Joe Fihn
 
Depends on the make, year, and model of engine... but lots of heavy truck engines set codes, derate, and/or shut down when oil temps get in the neighborhood of 240 degrees F. IMO, he's damaging his engine if the oil temp is at 270.
 
Too hot for continous use.

If he has and edge and is towing that monster I'm suprised he hasn't blown a piston with the oil that hot, the EGT's must be pretty severe.

Synthetic should help as well as ;

Bigger aftercooler
Bigger Exhaust
PYROMETER!
Stock rim size.


Ease up on the lead foot helps too.

Just remeber that if he hits that critical point no magic oil or exhaust will help anyways.
 
Where is oil temp measured?

What axle gear ratio?

Driving technique? Is he trying to go uphill in too high a gear. Is he trying to go too fast?

Is the truck overloaded?
 
I agree with the comments above.

The stock cooling system is designed to handle a stock engines output on a continuous basis if necessary IE. hill pulling while loaded.
The stock cooling system will only handle the extra heat created by added power for a short time however before things start to overheat.
And if the cooling system is upgraded to handle the extra heat; most likely a new "weakest link" will appear such as pistons, rings, transmission, differential, etc.
This particular exercise can get expensive $$$... in a real hurry.

Synthetic oil may help a little. The real solution is to not loose sight of what the trucks original capabilities and limitations were in the first place.

A short sprint with the power adder at max may be OK, but a long pull at max will likely shorten the life of the entire drive train. Possibly with catastrophic results.

Good luck.

Rickey.
 
Quote:

My neighbor has an '06 Ford Powerstroke & tows a 42' Toyhauler in the mountains of AZ.

He's running a conventional 15w40 motor oil & on his last trip, the engine oil hit 270 degrees & engine temp was on its highest level, per the guage.

He asked me if 270 degrees is more than the oil can handle.

What maximum temps. can conventional 15w40 handle? What about a fully synthetic?

Thanks for the recommendations.

Joe Fihn

Click to expand...


Joe, your friend needs to move to a cooler climate...like Canada.
canada.gif


The summer heat in AZ (go Sundevils) is severe for an engine fully loaded on a grade (Mount Lemon?) being driven in a high gear. I suspect your friend's vehicle is overloaded or he is not operating it correctly. Overheating a diesel spells engine death sooner or later. Gear down, slow down and pull at lower RPM and stop and idle when the heat climbs past safe temperatures. Make sure the radiator and cooler are clean and free of any obstructions...a clean air filter can help flow maximum air through the engine. Synthetics will last longer but heat is heat...and it causes engine and drive line damage.
 
If his engine oil temp is at 270 then his tranny oil is not that far behind. He has serious problem and needs to change all fluid now (engine, tranny, differential, PS, etc.)
 
270*f is quite warm. The new 07+ emission engines run quite warm, but the 6.0 should be around 185-225*F sump temps. Some of our new C15 engines will consistently run 200*F sump temps unloaded/lightly loaded and will run on a hard pull around 240-250*F. The PowerStrokes cooling package is WAY over built and they will tolerate quite an increase in power, if done correctly, without exceeding the cooling systems capacity at BTU dissipation.

For example, I have a work truck with a 7.3L PowerStroke that was originally rated at 250HP that is now around 400HP and it will still pull at well over it's rated GCVW at 100% duty cycle without exceeding factory limits on the cooling system - although the cooling system is much closer to its limit.

With your buddies 6.0 I would check for coolant contamination from oil and/or combustion gases. It is very likely that he has a blown head gasket or is developing a blown head gasket. If that is the case, check the heads for warpage and install new stock gaskets with ARP or A1 studs and you won't have any issues. I'd also ditch the Edge and get some custom tuning that is safer for towing heavy loads.
 
Thanks for the replies. My neighbor believes that because "it's a diesel", it should be able to take anything you can throw at it. That 'thinking' has caused him to have to have a number of 6.0's rebuilt in the past few years.
He's over weight for the truck (triple-axle toyhauler) & 'BLASTS' up the mountains as fast as the truck will go. And, then, he wonders why things break!!!!! He went through 8 automatic transmissions on his 7.3 Powerstroke before he sold it.
Thanks, again, for the oil temp. info. I'll pass it on.

Joe Fihn
 
EIGHT trannies in one truck? Perhaps this guy is a little hard on his vehicles.

Funny thing is, some will hear only part of a story like this and then blame brand XXX for it's failures.

Most vehicles will perform fine WHEN OPERATED WITHIN THEIR LIMITS.

This guy needs to seriously consider a F-650, Topkick 550, Freightliner, or some other MEDIUM DUTY truck if he's beatin' the #$%^ out of it like this. Sounds to me like he expects to storm up the hill, regardless of load, like he's in a V-8 muscle car.

On the other hand, if he can afford it, let him blow up another one. Those of us that are (were) in the auto industry could use another sale ...
 
I'll bet this guy is towing enough weight to require a commercial license in Arizona:

Class A CDL – Required to operate a combination vehicle (truck and trailer) if the GVWR of the trailer is 10,001 pounds or more, and when added to the GVWR of the power unit (truck), the gross combined weight rating (GCWR) is over 26,001 pounds.
 
It might be unfair to assume that he's "overweight" for the truck. If he's got an F-350, it's rated for a fairly heavy load, especially in a 5th wheel configuration, which presumably a 3 axle toy hauler would be. It's likely that he's within the ratings, at the upper end though. It would certainly depend on his load within the toy hauler, too.

That being said, the problem is obvious that he's modified his truck for power performance, and running it to the bitter edge. This is a fair assumption as he's gone through 8 trans and a couple of 6.0L engines in his last couple vehicles?

I know of people like him around here as well. They somehow expect a totally loaded truck to perform as well as an empty vehicle, or even like a sports car in acceleration and handling.

Bottom line, his unrealistic expectations has caused a very hot condition (engine at 270 deg F). Any oil will have a diminished capacity at that temperature. The harder it's abused, the less life there is. Tell him it's unfair to expect the oil to compensate for the abuse that he's heaping onto his vehicle. Synthetic HDEO will help to some degree, but everything has it's limits.
 
The newer Fords mights be better, but coworkers with the older 7.3 diesels have gone thru automatics driving within advertised limits. While waiting for a meeting to start and just chatting some people were amazed that I had a manual on my Dodge diesel, but two Ford owners said that they'd get a manual next time.
 
The manuals will definitely be more tolerant of heavy usage like towing. I like mine (06 Cummins six speed)
 
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