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Subject:oil temp up
Date:Tue, 18 Jun 1996 21:53:03 -0500 (CDT)

Hi,

last weekend, we took our first long distance highway trip this season to
"Busses on 66"  (Maria will report on Bo66 later--it was fun!). 

Today's concern is the unusually high oil temp reading of 285F.  From a
previous experiment with boiling water, I know that the gauge w/ dipstick
sender reads about 25F high, nevertheless, 260F still seems a tad high.
Normally, the gauge *reads* between 230 and 260F (i.e. oil is between 205
and 235F).

Air temperature was about 95F, we were driving a steady 60 mph with a
slight tail wind, burning 18.0 mpg; cylinder head temp was a steady and
cool 300F as measured at the FI sensor location; oil pressure was ok.  I
kept going, tempting fate, perhaps hoping to throw a rod and find an
excuse to install that Porsche 6 waiting in the basement :) , but the 1800
F.I. type 4 engine kept running fine. 

The only three differences I can think of compared to previous trips was 
1) my switch from Castrol Syntec 5-50 to Mobil1 15-50
2) driving at highway speed for more than an hour (it takes at least 30
minutes to reach steady state temperature)
3) hot climate (95F)

I would like to blame the different oil as the main culprit. Have others
had a similar experience? 

Sami