Ron's 914, High oil temp Options

[Ron914]

Hello all,
It's been about 4 months since I passed my smog test and thought I would be on the way to finally be able to drive my 4 year project .

Well I have been enjoying driving it but only for short trips around town because I feel it has a high oil temperature problem . This is after a short drive around town of 30 minutes . A 45 minute drive will bring the needle on the gauge right to the red zone ,which looking at Phil's calibration photo would indicate about 250F , I don't continue to drive once I get to 250F and pull over and let its cool .



Not exactly sure why or if it really is high ( I don't want to damage my new motor ) but I was given a few things to check by the members hers @Superhawk996 , @emerygt350 .

First I checked my oil Temperature sensor to verify type and operation.

It is a VDO 200 C sensor .


I have the later oil gauge . I removed the sensor and placed it in 212F boiling water and it seems within the correct range on the console gauge .

I am using a Efeng turkey fryer thermometer to check against the gauge in console . The thermometer is accurate . The gauge ( apex seems close to the same reading



There was a discussion the other day on this subject with the question of whether missing a cooling tin on bottom of engine could cause the overheating problem @930cabman .

I have the same issue as I have the tin that the shift rod passes through removed because it the shit rod comes into contact with the tin installed and it shifts better with it removed .

Wondering if I should work on getting it reinstalled to help my cooling ?


I have also worked on the cooling flaps /thermostat but will start a new post for those questions .

I saw a comment about the type of oil . It sounds like Synthetic oil might be a better choice for air cooled oil .

I currently have no oil in my motor and was wondering if Mobil Syn oil would be better than putting back in the Valvoline VR1 20-50W ?

[Superhawk996]

Regarding the calibration of your gage. That doesn’t look right.


212F should be more or less straight up around 12 o’ clock position and not so close to the red zone.



When you calibrated . . . Does that blue tape represent your measured temperature points? Did you calibrate it in car with all wiring included or was it all done in the house? Just curious because those marks on the blue tape would put you into the red not much higher than 215F. Basically your blue tape 215F mark is looking more like what should be 250F or maybe a smidge higher.

Seems like you have the right sender and they don’t usually drift calibration but ??

Is all your engine seals to the tin in place.

When you run for the 45 minutes are you getting to that 250F mark using the dipstick thermometer?

[Ron914]

Regarding the calibration of your gage. That doesn’t look right.


212F should be more or less straight up around 12 o’ clock position and not so close to the red zone.



When you calibrated . . . Does that blue tape represent your measured temperature points? Did you calibrate it in car with all wiring included or was it all done in the house? Just curious because those marks on the blue tape would put you into the red not much higher than 215F. Basically your blue tape 215F mark is looking more like what should be 250F or maybe a smidge higher.

Seems like you have the right sender and they don’t usually drift calibration but ??

Is all your engine seals to the tin in place.

When you run for the 45 minutes are you getting to that 250F mark using the dipstick thermometer?

The blue tape is marked wrong the mark should say 225 which corresponds with the position of the gauge . I purchased all new rubber for the engine and some grommets but I see some light coming through the seal around the side of the engine , the seal appears to be pulling away from the DS of engine compartment opening not sure why .

I calibrated the sender in boiling water at the car with ignition turned on and it was close to the blue tape mark around 210 .

When the car gauge hit the bottom of red zone I used the analog thermometer to check 250F .
Based on your post yesterday it sounds like I do not want to exceed 250F or run continuously at that temp.
The hole for the CHT sensor is not , I am missing the shift rod tin ( might be hitting because the rod is bent?) and that left front piece which might be a duplicate but I will need to push car out to check .
Will get back to you on that one .
I have another question , Could it be running hot because I haven't tuned the MPS yet and it is running lean ? I will create another post for that with photos of my plugs .