[T3] Engine oil temp?

William Jahn willjahn975 at gmail.com
Mon Jul 20 10:21:56 PDT 2020


I understand. Thing is I don't know my bearing clearance. I could try SAE
30 yet have a supply of SAE 40 Valvoline. I keep my eyes on the road at all
times just glance at the gauges for a quick reference. My oil temps are not
high so I assume the cooler is working. I know SAE 30 is what VW used in
warm to hot weather yet the SAE 40 seems to be working . I don't have any
engine noise. I do still have the oil light since the pressure sender has
the Gauge and light connections.

On Mon, Jul 20, 2020 at 10:05 AM Jim Adney <jadney at vwtype3.org> wrote:

> On 19 Jul 2020 at 9:42, Mike Fisher wrote:
>
> > Jim told us that oil pressure isn't important.  It's the oil flow?
>
> Yes, it's the flow, not the pressure, that's important. Unfortunately,
> flow is
> actually quite hard to measure reliably. I've been down that rabbit hole
> with
> large, water cooled electrical power supplies that have to run 24/7/365.
> Most
> such sensors tend to get stuck after a few months, so they don't trip when
> the water supply fails. The result is $$$$ down the drain.
>
> So pressure substitutes for flow. This works because the VW engineers
> could predict the amount of pressure drop that sufficient flow would
> produce
> with the weight of oil they specified.
>
> Two things to keep in mind:
>
> The bearings need less flow at idle than at medium or full power.
>
> Moving to thicker oil will increase the pressure, but may not increase the
> flow. In some circumstances it may actually reduce the flow.
>
> Being able to see problems before they become PROBLEMS is nice, but
> keep in mind that millions of cars out there, not just old VWs, get by
> with just
> an idiot light.
>
> Years ago I installed an ammeter and mechanical oil pressure gauge on my
> '68 Square. That was interesting, but I gave it up when the plastic line
> leaked
> where I had kinked it, next to the battery. The resulting oil spill
> probably kept
> that side of the pan from rusting out a bit longer, but I did away with
> the
> gauges after that.
>
> A friend did the same thing with his Beetle, but used copper tubing. That
> never leaked, but it eventually managed to short out against the large 12
> V
> terminal on the starter. I think the short burned a hole in the tubing, so
> that
> was removed.
>
> So my experience was that it seemed cool to be able to monitor these
> things,
> but it never gave me any advantage and ended up with significant
> disadvantage. As a consequesnce, my recommendation has been to save
> that extra attention for the road ahead and the other drivers around you.
>
> --
> *******************************
> Jim Adney, jadney at vwtype3.org
> Madison, Wisconsin, USA
> *******************************
>
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