VR6 Temperature ?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

If the cooling system is healthy, you have nothing to worry about, even if it's +30 deg C!

 

As I said in a different thread, I got stuck in traffic for an hour on Monday night and it was +27 Deg C outside. The engine was running the whole hour (crawling in 1st and 2nd) and water never rose above 98 deg C and intake temp never went over 47 deg C. And I only have one 11" SPAL fan :wink:

 

Not bad for a VR6 Turbo :D

 

A standard VR with Motronic will take that in it's stride.....providing the cooling system is 100%.

 

I see so many VRs with silted, rusted up radiators and expansion tanks, it's no wonder they get grumpy sitting in traffic. A little maintenance goes a long way!

[Walesy 0]

I see so many VRs with silted, rusted up radiators and expansion tanks, it's no wonder they get grumpy sitting in traffic. A little maintenance goes a long way!

 

Yip and not just VR's, g60's and valvers too - i've had a few rados (and a g40) that ran hot but didn't overheat, every time this was cured by replacing the old rad with a nice new one. It can make a massive difference.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Yep, because the silt and rust reduces the rad's ability to suck heat out of the water.

 

I even see limescale in some engines..... which is tight arses not using anti-freeze! That causes over heating for the same reason!

[Mike Edwards 0]

LOL, summer's here and so are VR6 owner's obsessions with operating temperatures!

 

One thing that puzzled me in this thread is this.....

 

Unhappy ecu produced an indicated oil temp on the motorway of 114.

 

What the heck is an unhappy ECU and what bearing does Mr Grumpy ECU have on oil temp?? :lol:

 

Oil temp has nothing to do with the ECU. The only MFA function that is controlled by the ECU is MPG. All other MFA functions operate independantly of the ECU. And I know this because my Motronic ECU is in the shed and everything in the MFA works as before, except MPG.

 

My unhappy ecu was doing strange things with the ignition advance. The cooling system was more than up to the task, but the oil temperatures were a bit high (as were the heatsinks in the ecu, which were a variety of pretty colours when I opened it up and had a look... )

[aclwalker 3]

If the cooling system is healthy, you have nothing to worry about, even if it's +30 deg C!

 

As I said in a different thread, I got stuck in traffic for an hour on Monday night and it was +27 Deg C outside. The engine was running the whole hour (crawling in 1st and 2nd) and water never rose above 98 deg C and intake temp never went over 47 deg C. And I only have one 11" SPAL fan :wink:

 

Not bad for a VR6 Turbo :D

 

A standard VR with Motronic will take that in it's stride.....providing the cooling system is 100%.

 

I see so many VRs with silted, rusted up radiators and expansion tanks, it's no wonder they get grumpy sitting in traffic. A little maintenance goes a long way!

Agree with the maintenance comment.

 

My temps (water AND oil) have been slowly increasing over the last few months and it's obviously been due to my coolant leak. My car used to keep the water at 90ish (unless in traffic where it would go no more than 105ish) and the oil at 100, at 70 mph on the motorway, or very slightly higher if driving with gusto.

 

However, recently this has raised to 95ish on the water (110 when in traffic) and more like 108ish on the oil but even up to as much as 118 on the oil (only at motorway speeds too, not ragging it), which was very concerning.

 

Shortly after this though, I smelt coolant through the heater vents (not my heater matrix this time as I had that last year and replaced it all! :norty: ) and then it dumped all the coolant a few days ago.

 

My "crack pipe burst" thread has the full details if anyone is interested.

 

Cheesewire is dead right, and if something does change then something is up. I knew something was up but had been checking the coolant level for a while with no obvious change, however, I believe the level can change between hot and cold, so I should have checked more when it was cold I guess.

 

Incidentally, the VR6 is a known oil drinker, and my temps definitely increase (oil especially) if I'm a bit low on oil. The difference can be as much as 8-10C, so check your oil level regularly and keep it topped up.

[aclwalker 3]

Having now fixed my leaking coolant system (it was the hose below the crack pipe leaking) I am now getting coolant temperatures of 85C on the motorway, with it rising to about 91C in town for a while, but then dropping again once settled at that speed. The oil temperature now sits just under 100C (96-98) but can rise to 104 or 106 on enthusiastic driving.

[CrazyG 0]

Recently, I've regularly been seeing an oil temperature reading of 116 on the MFA. Occasionally, it's creeped up to 118 and it's even hit 120 once. I've only had the car for 2 and a half months and I had no idea what type of oil it was running but I've been topping it up with 10/40 mineral. I'm guessing that the high temps are caused because I've mixed synth or semi-synth with mineral but I have had to top it up every 3 weeks or so. The guy in my local auto shop recommended that I top it up with Lucas Heavy Duty Oil Stabiliser, so I've put some of that in but am I better off getting it drained and replaced with fully synthetic 10/50? :confused4:

[aclwalker 3]

In my experience, high oil temperatures can often be an indication that you're low on oil. There's much debate about what grade of oil to use, but many people here would say that 10/40 is too thin. I would tend to agree with that. Maybe it was fine when the engines were new, but I think most people here probably use 15/40 (prepares to be corrected). It doesn't get burned away quite so quickly and so you don't need to top up quite so much.

 

However, the VR6 IS an oil burner, it even says so in the instruction book. Burning up to a litre of oil per 1000km (600-odd miles) is within spec. even from new. You have to keep on top of the oil level in the engine all the time. I check mine very often, even though I don't drive very many miles. I try to keep mine in the upper half of the shaded area, i.e. closer to max than min. Cars of this age likely have minor leaks too.

 

The other thing I've found that can cause high oil temperatures is a defective cooling system. If you are loosing coolant, or have inoperative fans or stuck thermostat, then the oil cooler is unable to transfer much heat to the coolant and your oil temperature will rise too.

 

Are your coolant temperatures high too?

 

I recently totally overhauled my coolant system to fix a leak. I replaced the so-called crack pipe and associated hoses. At the same time I replaced the thermostat and housing. The year before I replaced the main fan and cowling, all temperature sensors (including radiator sensor) and the heater matrix, which was leaking. I am pretty sure my coolant system is working near to new spec.

 

My coolant temps have dropped from 110 at its worst (in normal driving conditions) to bang on 90 in normal conditions. My oil has dropped from nearly 120 to seldom going over 100. This is totally 100% standard spec. No fancy thermostat, no modifications. These drops were even evident in hot summer days this year. If I go straight onto the motorway then the oil will often never reach 100 at all and coolant will never go above 90 at all.

 

Our cars are old now and everything is tired. And my new mantra with the Corrado definitely applies here: "Never assume there is only one cause of your Corrado problem.".

 

Hope this helps.