oil temps in a street engine

steel roded motor in a street car

whats a safe and normal temp for oil thanks


do you guys recommend oil cooler and if so whos thanks

215 degrees min.

Max oil temp for many oils is 285 deg F. If you are under 250 deg F, you have nothing to worry about.

I run a 8qt pan and 2 qt external cooler on a blown 460 temps pretty much match water temps, 180 avg, hot day 200 max. I like seeing a balance between the two, as water cools from the cyls up and oil from the pistons down. Just seems like a good overall balance of engine temp.

dfree383 wrote:For synthetic the above numbers are livable but not ideal, under 225 is ok in my book

Tell you what, even normal motor oil is good to 250 deg F for sustained use. I run a million dollar developement dyno cell for one of the big 3, so I may just know a thing or two about oil temp. Yes 225 deg is better, but most new cars/trucks will run 205-220 deg oil temp if running 70-80mph on the freeway depending on rpm and load.

I have seen 300 deg temps also, that is not good at all though. Even synthetic should have a 285 deg limit. At 300 deg, the synthetic is starting to breaking down.

A guy by the name of Smokey Yunick said that it's gotta get over 212°, (at sea level), at some time in order to boil the moisture out of it and 225° is about ideal. He also said that the lubricating qualities of MINERAL oil at 300° is the same as cold water; synthetic oil is NEEDED if you run the engine really hot; (like an oval track car with a restricted radiator).

thanks guys