Re: [T3] Engine Temp

[Simon Glen <simonglen@bigpond.com>]

I have never used an oil temperature guage in in a Type3 (I've owned six
Type3s) but I have in several Type2s.  One of these Type2s was a 1973 model
with an AD series 1600 twin port motor which is basically the same magnesium
alloy crankcase, barrel and cylinder head set-up as the Type3 motors.  I did
more than 465,00km in this Type2 with the same motor (rebuilt twice during
that time) and that distance included travel across deserts in Central
Australia, Iran and twice across the Sahara Desert.

That engine had a VDO dipstick oil temperature guage and gave readings in the
old farenheit scale.  In the Sahara Desert the oil temperature would remain
around 270 degrees F (about 131 degrees C) all day.  Sometimes, it would go
up to 290 degrees F (about 140 degrees C) but when it went up this high it
was because it had been labouring for hours in deep sand so I always stopped,
let the engine idle to cool itself down.  Sometimes, it would reach these
high temperatures because something had gone wrong like loss of oil (e.g.
pushrod tube leaking because it had been damaged by rocks) or the timing was
way out (e.g. disentigration of the carbon brush in the distibutor cap).  In
these cases a high oil temperature was like an early warning that something
had gone wrong and needed investigating.

But the point here is that this engine, a little single carburettor 1600
motor which used to push about 2 tonnes of heavily laden vehicle across deep
sand, would spend all day at 270 degrees F (about 131 degrees C).  And,
moreover, that engine lasted more than 465,000km (or nearly 300,000 miles)
before I sold the car.

So, in my experience oil temperatures of more than 225 degrees F (107 degrees
C) did not prove to be excessive with a magnesium alloy engine just like the
Type3's motor.

Simon Glen
Toowoomba,  Australia

Jim Adney wrote:

> On 3 Jun 2002, at 8:03, Everett Barnes wrote:
>
> > Of course, crankcase temp. doesn't necessarily = oil temperature but the
> > last time I had a vehicle with an oil temperature gauge, I found it read
> > almost the same as a reading from a meat thermometer placed directly on
> > top of the engine.
>
> Good point! Since the whole case is continuously sprayed with oil from the
> inside it should be at pretty much the same temp. Since Berg suggests that
> you should start to get concerned with oil temps around 100C, this sounds
> like it's probably a pretty safe case/oil temp.
>
> The places where high temps can get you in trouble are, unfortunately, in
> places that are hard to reach and measure: valves, valve seats, piston
> crowns....
>
> -
> *******************************
> Jim Adney, jadney@vwtype3.org
> Madison, Wisconsin, USA
> *******************************
>
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