Pennzoil Platinum to the rescue

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Jul 21, 2013
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D/FW Metroplex


That was at the tail end of my afternoon commute home yesterday, which consisted of 60 min or so if stop and go traffic covering about 35 miles.

When I first saw that, knowing how many more of those the engine will have to endure in the coming weeks, I nearly broke my arm patting myself on the back for choosing to run a good quality full synthetic oil at the last oil change (Pennzoil Platinum HM 5w-20).
 
Originally Posted By: LotI
Nothing to see here...That’s normal oil temp in my GTI


Well, it ain’t normal for the The Bacon Hauler’s Hemi and neither is a full synthetic engine oil. I would have normally been running a conventional 5w-20, but the local Pep Boys had a single hug of the PPHM 5w-20 left on clearance and I grabbed it...being a skin-flint finally paid off!

Woo-hoo!!
 
I would think you get the oil temp up around 240 when you get a fast/fun run from 0 to 100 mph
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: LotI
Nothing to see here...That’s normal oil temp in my GTI


(The temperature is lower than what I experience with a 2018 Golf R in daily driving)
 
There’s the cooling system temp …but that poor outside sensor had nowhere to hide … Being on the Texas coast (small town), some don’t realize DFW gets both colder and hotter a good part of the year … and a heavy dose of concrete effects …

Houston getting notices to moderate power use 2 PM to 6 PM …
 
Originally Posted By: The_Nuke
Originally Posted By: LotI
Nothing to see here...That’s normal oil temp in my GTI


Well, it ain’t normal for the The Bacon Hauler’s Hemi and neither is a full synthetic engine oil.


Always best to avoid confrontations with another member, by announcing in your opening post, what vehicle you have that temp gauge pictured with.
 
Plenty of room before you have any issues, but Id imagine a conventional would be in the 245-255 range, from what Ive seen they run about 15-25 degrees hotter than syns. BMW considers 275 Max oil temp before issues start happening, and anything over 300 is bad news bears.
 
Originally Posted By: 4WD
There’s the cooling system temp …but that poor outside sensor had nowhere to hide … Being on the Texas coast (small town), some don’t realize DFW gets both colder and hotter a good part of the year … and a heavy dose of concrete effects …

Houston getting notices to moderate power use 2 PM to 6 PM …


So it says “oil temp” but it isn’t?
 
Originally Posted By: Audios
Plenty of room before you have any issues, but Id imagine a conventional would be in the 245-255 range, from what Ive seen they run about 15-25 degrees hotter than syns. BMW considers 275 Max oil temp before issues start happening, and anything over 300 is bad news bears.


Good to know. I had it in my head that 230F was the line of demarcation for conventional oils, and going beyond that would lead to premature degradation of the good stuff they have inside to protect engines during normal OCIs.

Now that I know I have some room to play with, I may have to try out a few of these 0–100 runs someone mentioned earlier. That sounds like it could be fun!
 
Originally Posted By: rsylvstr
Originally Posted By: 4WD
There’s the cooling system temp …but that poor outside sensor had nowhere to hide … Being on the Texas coast (small town), some don’t realize DFW gets both colder and hotter a good part of the year … and a heavy dose of concrete effects …

Houston getting notices to moderate power use 2 PM to 6 PM …


So it says “oil temp” but it isn’t?


It’s oil temp. The coolant temp was actually only 215F or so IIRC (and trans temp was 170F +-, just like it always is evidently).
 
I don't have an oil temperature gauge in my Honda but my Scangauge does show the coolant temp and a couple of years ago I was stuck in traffic and didn't realize that the rad fan wasn't kicking on and the temperature hit 277F! I'm sure the oil temp was the same if not higher. I had M1 0w20 in there at the time and luckily no damage was done at all, the UOAs after that episode showed nothing unusual and the engine still runs as good as ever. I wonder what would have happened if I were running cheap conventional oil though, that has me curious.
 
From what I have observed just switching back and forth between the two while driving, the oil temp tends to stay several degrees cooler than the coolant temp when in normal operation. But during the occasional bouts of higher RPM loads, the oil temp will rise to a several degrees above what the coolant tops out at (and then falls) and stays at that temp for a little while. And as long as the engine load goes back to normal, the oil temp eventually falls back down below the coolant temp and settles into its normal routine.

Given that, I would not expect the oil temp to rise up the same level as the engine coolant temp in an overheat situation if the alarms and bells and whistles that go off get the driver’s attention and they pull over and shut it down. Now if the driver doesn’t immediately do something g to stop the overheat, I would expect the oil temp to soon meet or exceed the overheated coolant temp and stay there until something happens to stop the overheat.

Either way, I feel like your engine’s chances for long-term health after that situation are much better if
there is some good synthetic oil in the sump. Especially if the oil isn’t changed right away but allowed to continue for the rest of the OCI.
 
Originally Posted By: The_Nuke


Either way, I feel like your engine’s chances for long-term health after that situation are much better if
there is some good synthetic oil in the sump. Especially if the oil isn’t changed right away but allowed to continue for the rest of the OCI.


Just to be on the safe side I changed my oil at the first opportunity after the engine overheated, but I probably could have been safe since that UOA looked good.
 
Good idea to UOA the oil afterward. I think I would like to see the results of a UOA on my oil after it’s been thru the hottest part of the summer here and a dozen or so commutes like the one from Thursday, in addition to the regular daily grind of my commutes that aren’t on the hottest day of the month so far or whatever.

Knowing how well this oil can hold up to that will give me a good idea of how to buy oil for the car going forward (still not setbinvwhich oil I want to use long term)
 
Originally Posted By: The_Nuke
Originally Posted By: rsylvstr
Originally Posted By: 4WD
There’s the cooling system temp …but that poor outside sensor had nowhere to hide … Being on the Texas coast (small town), some don’t realize DFW gets both colder and hotter a good part of the year … and a heavy dose of concrete effects …

Houston getting notices to moderate power use 2 PM to 6 PM …


So it says “oil temp” but it isn’t?


It’s oil temp. The coolant temp was actually only 215F or so IIRC (and trans temp was 170F +-, just like it always is evidently).


That’s what I thought. Thx.
 
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