Temperature indicators

[Air4Life]

I did not carefully study this product and only offer it as a distraction. Another post on the airhead list for which I am their honorary spectator, the question of a oil dipstick came up and it led me to think of temperature.  The fact that there is 2" of snow outside helps too.  

I see no reason why you could not correlate engine block surface temp with oil temp for rough usage if you are not to picky.  Set a baseline and have fun.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apvMUZwDoMg

http://www.shoppsj.com/-detail.htm?productId=9156385&optionId=&source=gmf&gclid=CIDy_ZXzv7MCFRGqnQodTDYACQ

[Bob_Roller]

Kinda wonder how that would work as well .

I have a Luftmeister temperature indicating dipstick on my '81 R65, I've had it for 23 years now .

I'm sure I'm not getting a true oil temp indication, as with the engine running, I'm sure the dipstick is just getting a 'splash' of oil, not sitting in the oil .

275 F. indications are quite common during the 'hot season' at highway speeds in my normal usage of commuting to work  .

If you go out on an interstate highway with 75 mph speed limit and 105 F air temp, the oil temp will reach 300 F easily .

This is with an OEM BMW oil cooler installed .

I've tested the dipstick at work to see how accurate it is, found that it's within 5 degrees of the test equipment, so not wildly inaccurate .

I've been thinking of adding an electric oil temp sensor, replaces the engine oil drain plug and putting an indicator somewhere on the handlebar area .

About $100 for the parts .

[Air4Life]

It seems to me that the high ambient temps you are exposed to would automatically send the message that high power runs will be putting you near or over the oil's ability to maintain its designed lubricating properties.  I will likely switch to synthetic for just this reason.  

[Added later: I guess it's important to know the oil temperature when the outside air is in the gray area (85f to 90f for discussion sake only), otherwise when its 105f out and one insists on riding, I would probably stay below 4500 rpm and hope I don't get heatstroke.]  

What I find myself concerned with more however, rightly or wrongly, is my idling in traffic on hot days.  I understand the oil temperature is another way of warning us to ease off the engine operation, but as for idling it just seems less obvious as to when I would be pushing the limits.  I don't believe the oil temperature would be of much use for my concern here, whereas a cylinder temperature gauge would be. What do you think?

[Barry]

I think we have to be clear why high temperatures are a cause for concern.

Firstly very high oil temperatures will cause the oil to deteriorate quickly. For Dino oil anything above 250 F is the start of shortening the oils life.
If I lived in Bob's climate I would want to know the oil temperature and make sure it wasn't exceeding operational limits.  I guess it then influences a decision to use synthetic.  In the end though it's just a change of oil to put it right.  Oil temperature must dictate chosen viscosity too. It would be inappropriate to use anything thinner than 20W50 in a hot climate where as it might be positively desirable to use something thinner if an oil temperature gauge told you the oil was not getting hot enough.

Whether high engine temperatures actually cause damage I'm not so sure. You don't hear of air heads seizing pistons so if the oil is up to the job of high temperatures I think an airhead engine would be too.

I don't agree with some recent views expressed elsewhere that oil temperature dipsticks are useless. Even if only used on a temporary basis to characterise the typical time for oil temperature to rise you learn something about when it's OK to push the engine hard.

I've measured my own oil temperature during what passes for our summer and as result learnt that it is not remotely in danger of getting too high. During the winter my own obsession is with low oil temperature on my short commute.  I'm currently making up some covers to insulate the valve covers.  If you think about it the valve covers are pretty well insulated from from the cylinder head by a thick gasket so will have little impact on cylinder head temperatures. They probably mainly gets hot through oil splash so you can really think of them as oil coolers.  Which is just what I don't want in the winter.  I'm going to see if I can devise some temporary winter only insulation.

For anyone seriously interested in monitoring engine temperatures and understanding the impact there is a wealth of knowledge amongst folk who fly light aircraft where they measure exhaust gas temperature to determine mixture control and also cylinder head temperature using nifty spark plug washer thermocouples. For them reliability is paramount so they tend to rely on instruments far more than we would be inclined to do.

[Ed Miller]

 I'm currently making up some covers to insulate the valve covers.  If you think about it the valve covers are pretty well insulated from from the cylinder head by a thick gasket so will have little impact on cylinder head temperatures. They probably mainly gets hot through oil splash so you can really think of them as oil coolers.  Which is just what I don't want in the winter.  I'm going to see if I can devise some temporary winter only insulation.

I seem to use mud and road slime for that purpose.

[Air4Life]

I'm just reacting to what I read by others in that idling an airhead in high heat conditions (input figure) can be problematic at times, and should be avoided.