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 ?

[Ron914]

Well I finally was able to get my AFR gauge installed and was hoping something as to lean would be the issue but I don't think so.


I also talked to Dakota digital about confusion from the readings . I ended up sending them my gauge and sender to be checked and they returned it saying there is nothing wrong with it , added something about the internal temperature (?) effects the gauge if you let it warm up without no temperature change . I reconnected it and made sure the F appeared in display but I still question the readings . I am not a fan of this gauge as it does not show a C/F next to value , you only see this in set up .

I am still running on the hot side so not confident on driving more than 20-30 minutes as the needle on my temperature gauge comes right up to the red box on the gauge .

I also am looking for information on what value of readings I should see at warm/idle. My understanding is I should be looking for ~14.7 % .

I turned the key on and gauge showed heating and then somewhere around 12.07 % , the CHT showed 69 which was close to ambient temp in the morning . Not sure if this is an normal but my temp gauge moves almost 1/4 of full range when I turn on key (so it seems like I start out high before I start my motor) Car is pulling 18-22 on the vacuum gauge



I have a hard time believing the CHT is only 88F. I know I need to make adjustments to the MPS but I think I need to solve the overheating issue first .

Shows gauges after 26 minutes of driving and the temperature when I stick the turkey fryer thermometer in oil dipstick . When the gauge is getting close to the red I measured ~218 F .


I forgot an important question about the AFR . Should I disconnect the Lambda sensor or is ok to drive around with it installed . Seems like I read somewhere this bad if not actively monitoring the AF ratio .