High Oil temperature, Concerned the temperature is getting to high too fast . Options

[Ron914]

In preparation and hope that I pass my smog test I want to go on the So. Cal.Toy Drive in my 914 on Saturday (not sure if this is a good idea) .

I need to address what I think might be a high oil temp problem .

After driving around town for 30 minutes the photo shows my oil temperature oil gauge and a actual thermometer reading using a turkey fryer thermometer.

The needle on my console gauge gets very close to the red high mark and sometimes just about to cross into the red .

At this point the turkey thermometer reads ~216 F degrees .

My Dakota Digital head cylinder temperature reads 111C (231F) .

It is almost 80F here today in sunny So Cal. but this seems too high for me . What would be a normal reading for the oil temp gauge?

This is a newly rebuilt motor (less than 300 miles on it).
I did not replace the oil cooler (its original) but it was flushed and was clear.

The baffles are held open by spring tension since the thermostat is not working but I checked they were open by removing the coil and checking through the bolt hole. This should be ok until I get a chance to replace it .

If I pass my smog check tomorrow or Thursday I am hesitant to take the car on a long canyon drive , so not sure if I can attend the toy drive this Saturday.

Any thoughts ?

[Superhawk996]

When the engine is cold (as in overnight cold) it should be just like you’ve shown below

So on a surface level - we know the gauge seems to have full travel.

When it’s cold and you first turn the key - the gauge shouldn’t be moving significantly. Ie should still look like photo below.

There’s so many variables here and some that are unknown (like oil pump size), etc. it may take a while to work through them.

What am I taking about:

Let’s say someone put a 30mm pump into the car, you’re running 20W-50 oil, and your bearings are fresh and tight clearance.

Result: you’re likely running enough hot oil pressure to be bypassing the oil cooler all the time. Oil will run hot.

I’m not saying this IS what is happening but it’s to give you context on why all the details matter.

Factory spec for oil was 30 weight. Don’t get sucked into the idea you have to or even should be running 20w-50 on a fresh rebuild during break in. The 20W number in 20w-50 refers to cold weather performance. It isnt that cold in CA for the 20W aspect to even come into play. Basically you’re running 50 weight oil.

At some point, you’ll have to start inspecting, measuring, and trying to control variables.