Well even if you "are not back" send me a PM to let me know where to find your pearls of wisdom. I've learned a lot from you over the years. I'm almost competent now.

 

I wonder what the max temperature Spike's thermometer would read. I have been looking to purchase one for my underhood temps. I want before and after temps for my new ceramic coated headers. Most of the cheapo thermometers only go up to 158 degrees Fahrenheit. I'm looking at purchasing one that will go up to 325 F. Plus I just miss Spike on this forum....so hope he reads this.

 

see http://www.extech.com/instruments/re.../EX845data.pdf

Can go to 1400F, plus has DC amp clamp. I have one for the home bench and another at the office.

But for budget testing, just one of the temp sensors should do, and read the resistance with your ohm meter and work numbers from the reference chart.

 

I need to run a test like that on my RRC. It seems to be blazing hot under the hood, while the motor is happy as a clam, no overheating or anything. The front sheet metal gets alarmingly hot. But I'm also in the heat of summer in Phoenix.

I've Considered venting my hood but I don't have the heart to chop on it...

 

Before serious sheet metal work would go so far as to scribe and remove hood, and drive about to see if that made any difference in mpg or OBDII reported temps. Dash gauge is not to be trusted. Cooler air intake systems are compensated for by the ECU which is calculating each fuel squirt and spark timing using many sensor inputs, including IAT. A +40F degree change under the hood is still cooler than the engine block, which gets most cooling from the radiator air flow.

Think about it, if designers could lower engine internal temp dramatically with hood vents, we'd all have them and smaller radiators. If it saves $2 dollars per vehicle that is millions to a factory.

 

Engine temp is vital to the longevity of the engine as well as reducing major problems, such as engine sludge.
Did you guys know that the '03+ Range Rover, LR3/4 all run at 220*F as the NORMAL engine temp?
Keeping the engine at the proper temp is paramount to a engines life.
Unless the oil can reach 215*F the water and contaminants that collect in it will not be burned off, they will collect, turn to sludge and ruin the engine.
Unless the engine reaches operating temp before it is shut off the heat/cooling cycling of the engine will prematurely wear out the gaskets and seals.
Vents/removing the hood not only disrupts the air flow through the engine compartment it allows the engine to cool off to quickly after being shut off.
The proper engine temp is vital.
Running to cold of a t-stat will shorten the life of the engine.
It is better to run the engine on the hot side than the cold side.
The new Chevy Malibu has electric louvers behind the grill to close off air flow to shorten engine warm up times.
The Chevy Volt's petrol engine will start automatically and run upto normal temp and stay running for a short time to keep the oil clean.
It does this if the engine has not be ran for 30 consecutive days or has not been ran long engine to get to full operating temp.
Stand by generators are programmed to "exercise" once a month, same thing, start, reach temp, run for 15min, shut down.
The cooling system of every car and truck has had hundreds of thousands of dollars spent on research and development to make sure it can handle whatever is thrown at it and that it keeps the engine at the correct operating temp.
The engine needs to reach op temp quickly and stay at that temp no matter what.
If you ever have engine cooling problems it is not because of a design flaw, it is because there is a problem with the cooling system or you have exceeded the max load capacity of the vehicle.

I recently pulled a 3,000lb utility trailer back from my grand parents, 170 miles home, 90+ temps, climbing steep hills in 3rd gear at 65mph for a mile at a time and my engine never got above 200*F.

Work benches, full of tools, truck was full, me and my dad in the front.





The gauge on the dash is accurate, it is programmed to show you the normal safe operating range of the engine.

The hotter you run a engine the better MPG you get and the longer the engine will live, however the line between hot and to hot is a short one.
My truck runs in the 195-200 range all day long, 227,000+ miles, no unusual noises, no engine sludge, she is as happy as a clam.
Leave well enough alone guys.

 

Welcome back.

re: Unless the oil can reach 215*F

IMHO oil temp and coolant temp may be related, but are not the same value. Would the 215 need to be anywhere in the oil circuit, or the oil pan itself?

Re: LR3 220F - from the shop manual spec page on cooling system (thermostat)

Fully open 95° C (203° F)

About the same as a stock D2. So why would you want to run all the time at a temperature well above wide open thermostat, would think somewhere in the middle would be good so thermostat could have some room to adjust things.

 

My LR3 runs high 190s usually. Sometimes a little cooler, sometimes climbing as high as maybe 205.

After I started looking to sell the D2, I ran the ultra gauge in my Acura TL (now also sold) and it usually ran high 180s to high 190s. In the hottest part of summer.

Edit: and the LR3 still has dexcool in it. Don't tell anyone. I've noticed a very slight leak, I'm not sure if its water pump or thermostat, but when I fix whatever it is I haven't decided if I'll keep the dexcool or switch to something else.

 

I stand corrected on the LR3.
I know for a fact the Range Rover and LR4 run at 220.
I've talked to several LR techs and that's what they all said.
There is a cooler thermostat for it but the techs say not to do that.

It's not the temp inside the oil pan Buzz, it is the actual oil temp.

 

I looked at Shell, they say 170 - 180F for oil temp in pan to get rid of condensation, and that the oil gains about 50F in temp on a trip thru the engine (but of course oil might not be carrying the water on the bottom of the pan with it). Bobstheoilguy has discussions on it, and one point is that you can leave a glass of water in the garage and it will be dry at some point, from evaporation. Without bringing the garage anywhere near 212F. So perhaps the elevated temp of the oil would make the evaporation occur rapidly, but not flashing to steam like boiling. I would suspect that guys running with no stat or a 160 would not be getting the performance from their mult-viscosity oil that is desired. The MB shop near me says you need to be at 185 ish coolant temp for oil to behave.


As we all know, Rovers have no problem making temps in the 200+ range. And Spike's point about the difference between hot enough and too hot being a narrow range is very true.