how to increase the oil temp?

[bengalcharlie]

My oil temp on my plus two is low and the dial only starts to move after about 15 km and then reaches a max of about 70 degrees celsius.Not enough in my opion and idealy should be 90-110 degrees celsius.

I looked into previous posts and found that it is obviously a twin cam problem.
Has anyone found a solution?
I made a temp blanket plate to cover the gap between the bottom of the radiator and the chassis cross member but that does not improve things much.
Thinking of blanking off the undertray of the engine and /or fitting a oil filter heating element but would like your opinion/experience first.
cheers
Robin

[peterako]

Hi Robin,

How are you?

I guess you're talking about the Water Temperature (guage)??

If so bear in mind that it may not be accurate.

After a year or so of having my +2 I noticed that my water temperature would barely rise to 65 C....it previously went to about 75 C.

Changed my Thermostat (78 C?? Is this right guys? Could have been a 74 C....which ever is the commonest) and hey presto....temp back up!

this is even though the Thermostat I took out was the same rating and seemed to be opening as it should....

Best of luck,
Peter

[GrUmPyBoDgEr]

Try overfilling the engine, the crankshaft thrashing around in the oil will warm it up nicely.
OK I'll get my coat

More seriously most of the racers seem to be happy to have lower oil temperatures for some reason.
Temperatures being too low are much less of a problem than being too high.

I agree with you that ideally the higher temperatures are better to run with; the thinner oil provides reduced internal friction.
With most modern oils temperatures up to 150 C are acceptable if not sustained. Above that most oils will start to oxidise.

I would have thought that trying to preheat the oil would be a bit OTT not like modern F1 engines where it's vital.

Cheers
John

[rgh0]

To low operating engine oil temperatures is a problem due to fuel and water from the blow by gases building up in the oil. Oil needs to get up to a minimum of around 90C to ensure these impurities evaporate off. If you run continuously at to low a temperature these impurities build up leading to corrossion and accelerated engine wear.

Lots of short runs when the oil never warms up is the most common problem.

If you have an oil temp gauge fitted and are concerned your not spending a significant porportion of your driving time with the oil above 90C then you need to change your oil more often and / or insulate the sump to help keep the oil warmer this is not normally needed in an Elan even in cold climates to my knowledge.

The oil should warm up at a similar rate or quicker than the water if its taking a long time to warm up maybe your water is also and you need to look at your thermostat.

The Elan should only need an electric oil warmer (like other cars) to keep it fluid enough for starting in extremely cold climates such as Northern Canada and Alaska

cheers
Rohan

[bengalcharlie]

Thanks for the replies,

my water temp is perfect now I have upgraded the radiator to a wide unit with an electrical fan that cuts in automatically (form supercheap) with a manual override switch, and in cooler weather the temp the gauge sits at 72 degrees and in hot weather around 80 degrees so that is not an issue.
It also reaches this temp fairly quickly. The oil temp I fitted a while ago replaces the outside temp gauge that was missing form my car and I rather know the oil temp anyway.
The gauge is showing a temp that is certaily too low and I still had a gap between bottom radiator and the crossmember of the chassis. I am in the process of making a alu shiled to cover this gap.
Does anyone have experience making up a shield that overcomes this problem of too much cooling, and also provides some extra downforce at high speed?
The nose feels a little light form about 150 km. the bottom of the nose area sloops down first on the plus two and then it rises again. (sort of a v-shape if you understand what I mean).
So I made a flat piece of alu that sits on the rise and ends at the bottom of the radiator to close off the gap.
But in the process of doeing this I was wondering if I could improve on this by creating some extra downforce. I thought of leaving a gap of about 15-20mm under the shield so air could flow under and over this shield much like an aeroplane wing?? Am I correct that I should give it a curve opposite of a wing in order to improve downforce?
All you racers out there must have some experience with this???
Cheers
Robin

[garyeanderson]

Hi Robin
Your water temp sounds a tad low, I believe it should be closer to 85 to 90 C when fully warmed up. this may be what is causing your low oil temp. In any event check the guages (both oil and water) to make sure you are not chasing a non problem.

Gary

[bengalcharlie]

Hi Gary,

I agree and I fitted an alu shield yesterday tthat covers the gap between botton radiator and sump.That made an improvement but last night I switched my thermostat from a 72 degree to an 75 degree so that should improve things further.
I will try to get the oil temp as close to about 90-100 degrees as possible and I will also make up a sump shield to achieve this.
I the summer I could remove this and switch back to my 71 degree thermostat.
Cheers
Robin

PS I will also try some kind of downforce arrangement but have to look more into this. Will talk to a friend who just finihed his alu monocoque race car with lexus V8 in the back. Looks like a piece of art. He even made his own Hewland gearbox casing!!!