VR6 Mocal cooler boys - show us your temps!

[Kevin Bacon 5]

LOL, since taking the mocal off, my oil level on the dipstick is about 3 miles above max :lol:

[fla 9]

yeah, i dont understand that - i would have thought that once the sandwich plate stat is open when the car has warmed up, when you come to a stop again, it just returns to the sump before the stat cools and closes?

[buttles 0]

The sandwich plate, pipework and heat exchanger become part of the normal oilway in the engine. kev, did you drain the Mocal assy back into the sump as you removed it? Same reason that you need to top up the oil when you fit a Mocal. And again, the stat closes as it warms :wink: And thanks for the gauge info

[Kevin Bacon 5]

There wasn't too much oil in the sump after all. I sucked it all out last night with a Pela extractor pump and 5.5 litres came out, plus some dregs at the bottom and what's in the filter, should equal 6 litres in all, which is spot on.

 

I poured it back in again and the dipstick then read correctly :scratch:

[coullstar 0]

Virtually the same as mine. :)

 

Now mine is back after my gearbox misshap....

 

I took it for a nice long run today, at 6am on the motorway it stayed at 76/78 then after the outside temp warmed up a bit, around 1pm it sat at 84/86.

 

Thats what I see.

[boost monkey 0]

I think you all need dry sump systems..... :D

[fla 9]

had a good run to Chelmsford today, oil didnt get above 84C and water was stuck at 70C, sometimes even a bit below :( . I was willing the oil temp to rise :cuckoo: and when i hit a patch of traffic i was almsot pleased that it crept up to 100. Took an absolute age, but i'm thinking of disconnecting speed 1 from teh fans and covering part of the rad. Weird - we try and keep the VR temps down and when they stay down we want them to rise!!! The cold weather certainly makes the VR feel more perky - nice cool dense air being drawn in to the engine.

[poll250 0]

I think I'm going to have to block off part of the rad too, maybe pop something behind the grill to stop the cold air getting in.

 

I have a low temp stat in which I guess isn't helping matters much, but I sure aint taking my cooling system apart in this weather to test/swap it!

 

I have an FK badgeless grill somewhere, I might try and make something that blocks off all the slats and see how that goes. Has anyone tried this before?

[Kevin Bacon 5]

had a good run to Chelmsford today, oil didnt get above 84C and water was stuck at 70C, sometimes even a bit below :( . I was willing the oil temp to rise :cuckoo: and when i hit a patch of traffic i was almsot pleased that it crept up to 100. Took an absolute age, but i'm thinking of disconnecting speed 1 from teh fans and covering part of the rad. Weird - we try and keep the VR temps down and when they stay down we want them to rise!!! The cold weather certainly makes the VR feel more perky - nice cool dense air being drawn in to the engine.

 

Have you checked the actual water temp with VAG-COM? You should find it's actually around 84 deg. You car probably has the same lazy temp gauge syndrome that my car has, but since I have other ways to monitor these things, I've never bothered to sort it.

[corradophil 3]

Mine is only a lowly 16v :grin:, but I get similar oil temps, with only the original hear exchanger. Normal driving up to 106 deg C, and up to 120 deg C on a hot day when driven hard.

 

I now have a VW supplied thermostat from an ABF enginw which opens at 82 dec C IIRC, which obviously keeps the coolent cooler, and therefore the oil too.

 

I tried removing the two rubber seals at the rear of the engine bay (bulk head to bonnet and lower windscreen to bonnet). This reduced oil temps so they sat at about 100 deg C all the time - more air flow through the engine bay. You do get more engine noise with these removed.

 

I put the seals back on at the end of the summer, and straight away the oil temp rose by about 4 deg C.

 

The C is having a winter break now, but next year I am considering a Mocol cooler.

[fla 9]

had a good run to Chelmsford today, oil didnt get above 84C and water was stuck at 70C, sometimes even a bit below :( . I was willing the oil temp to rise :cuckoo: and when i hit a patch of traffic i was almsot pleased that it crept up to 100. Took an absolute age, but i'm thinking of disconnecting speed 1 from teh fans and covering part of the rad. Weird - we try and keep the VR temps down and when they stay down we want them to rise!!! The cold weather certainly makes the VR feel more perky - nice cool dense air being drawn in to the engine.

 

Have you checked the actual water temp with VAG-COM? You should find it's actually around 84 deg. You car probably has the same lazy temp gauge syndrome that my car has, but since I have other ways to monitor these things, I've never bothered to sort it.

 

I havent, no, maybe thats in order now. I was just reading off the dash gauge. That said, i did notice a drop in hot air temp when the water temp dropped, but just moved the heater dial up to the three o clock position which was sufficient.

[dukest 0]

got out for the first good run in a while tonight and going about 100 on a clear bit of motorway, with temp of 1 degree on the MFA, oil was at 92-94 degrees. later on though, when temp had dropped to about -2 i was only seeing 82-84 driving slowly around town.

[davidwort 0]

got out for the first good run in a while tonight and going about 100 on a clear bit of motorway, with temp of 1 degree on the MFA, oil was at 92-94 degrees. later on though, when temp had dropped to about -2 i was only seeing 82-84 driving slowly around town.

 

I reckon that's too cold for efficient running, what was your water temp?, the head could be too cold to make full working temp and the car will be possibly be running on warm up range of mapping.

Can you not partially cover the oil cooler fins for the winter, cardboard etc?

I've said this before, on 8v GTI engines I remember my dad saying that full engine dyno tests (engine out of car on a controlled test rig) they did, showed those engines developed maximum power with the oil temp at 106 degrees, on mobil 1 I believe.

[dukest 0]

yes, certainly will look to cover it if the temps stay as low as that David, it was really my first decent test to see what i would get in this weather. water temps were equivalent i think but wasnt concentrating on those so much. normally water sits spot on at 90.

[Kevin Bacon 5]

Warm-up mapping stops at 70 deg water temp. No VR ever runs that cool. Actual temp, not what the BS meter on the dashboard says.

[ABV-VR6 12]

I know this is an old thread... I'm debating of installing a new oem cooler or that mocal. Any thoughts? Do or don't? 

Cheers 

[1xshaunx1 27]

If you are running standard induction, I wouldn’t think there’s much point as long as your fans are working on all speeds. I ran a standard VR6 fo 9 years and 30k miles without any oil temp issues. I’d go for a quality oem oil cooler

[ABV-VR6 12]

Yes, I'm sticking with standard induction. The VR6 is made to run hot anyway right. Everything is going to be new and oem so the system will be in good working order. Thanks fir your reply, much appreciated! 

[fla 9]

If the cooling system is being renewed and as Shaun says if you're standard it might not be necessary. If anything I'd give the block a really thorough flush.