| Author | Message | ||
     Adrian_8 |
After an 80 mile ride in 97.5 degree temperature today, I immediately upon arriving home inserted my digital oil thermometer/dipstick from my Harley into the Uly oil tank. The temp on the ULY was 182 degrees, my Harley would have been 212-220 degrees. I started the ULY with the thermometer inserted and idling it went to 185 degrees. The oil is Mobile 1 15-50. | ||
| 44mag |
Good to know ... I was wondering where the oils temp would settle. For my sportster, the oil temp was usually ~ 220F. | ||
| Az_rider |
Riding in Arizona during the summer, I too have been checking oil temps with a digital thermometer. I have ridden over a thousand miles in 105-110 degree weather, and the hottest oil temps I have seen are 230 degrees. Typical temps were 220-225 degrees. When it has been 90-100 degrees outside, the oil temps have been around 200F. And when it has been less than 90 degrees outside, my oil temps were always in the low to mid 180's. | ||
| Thunderbox |
I have been testing by feeling the swingarm and have not as of yet had any problem leaving my hand there for a while. That is after several hours riding fast two up. Nice to know by measurement what it really is. Az_Rider what type of riding were you doing city, highway or offroad? | ||
| Jlnance |
I'm supprised it's that low. If it's not above 212 it's not hot enough to boil off water. I would have thought they would have designed it to run hotter. Is the flow through the oil cooler controled by a thermostat? | ||
| 250bultaco |
While not hot enough to boil (212 deg. at sea level), it's certainly hot enough to steam off any condensation or accumulated water and allow it to vent. | ||
| Electraglider_1997 |
I've just read the maintenance manual and there is no thermostatic control of the oil cooler. All oil goes through it all the time. Section 3, page 80 is the General overview of the Oiling System. It details the flow of the oil through the engine from start to finish. " #17. A pair of piston oil jets cools the bottoms of the pistons with a spray of oil." I imagine that the oil gets well over 212F within parts of the engine and that probably holds true when the oil is spraying on the bottom of the pistons and on the cylinder walls. The temps measured by Adrian_8 and Az_Rider are taken at the swingarm oil tank and this oil temp is an average of the oil after it goes through the engine. As each individual oil molecule is pumped through the engine, not all of them make contact with the same internal engine parts each time. Everyone of these oil molecules does go through the oil cooler and then through the oil filter before they proceed to lube and cool the various internal engine components. Any moisture caused through the combustion process, I believe, will eventually be vaporized given you ride the bike long enough for the cooling fan to kick on while you are riding. All bets off on short rides, especially in cool weather. | ||
| 44mag |
180 F is the optimum oil temp for an air cooled airplane engine. When I take the dipstick out of the airplane engine when the engine is hot (oil temp ~ 180 degrees), I often get steam. This supports Electrogliders theory. |
