Is my engine running cold?

[David]

The PO installed a front spoiler oil cooler and ditched the front fender oil cooler. It's always run cold even in the Houston heat. My temp gauge is always reading in the lower box and maybe just gets out of the box into the bottom of the center range. I thought it was the gauge or sensor but I've installed a new sensor.

Now with the EFI installed and a separate temp sensor even the EFI shows it only getting to about 165F although I haven't driven it hard yet and the ambient temp is only about 70F.

Is this too low?

[Craig 930 RS]

Oil line thermostat should open at about 180, making this a non-issue...is it open all the time?

It's a "kinda who knows" - with the time and effort ya put into that pup, you should invest in a numbered gauge.......no more guessing!

[RarlyL8]

This is how I checked mine:
After you warm the car, pull it into the garage and let it sit and idle.
Stick a cooking thermometer in the oil tank (suspend it).
Periodically feel the oil cooler until it starts to warm.
Note the temperature.
Trash the old temp gauge and install a numeric one.

Worked for me.

What I found was that at sustained highway speeds in cold weather the engine does not heat up enough to open the thermostat. This may be a 930 specific issue due to the fuel cooling and lower C/R of those engines. One thing that helped was to block off my giant tail, restricting flow to only go through the intercooler.

[David]

I'm thinking it's the thermostat. If it's a 180° thermostat, I guess my front cooler should be cool all the time. I'll check that after my drive home from work.

After not buying much from Pelican for the last two years, since they don't sell most of the stuff I used for the rebuild, I've been making up for it the last couple weeks.

The problem is I can't seem to keep a good list of what I need so I end up ordering little crap every few days. I'm waiting for a Wevo shift coupler right now. I thought I'd see how much it helps before springing for a new shifter.