What is "normal" operating temp?
 

Got my car late last fall. The dash guage tells me that it usually runs around 140 and sometimes as high as 190 at 60-75 degree dry weather. Is that OK?
What is the minimum temp before running it hard.
TIA for the info.

Joe,

140 seems a bit low to me but 190 sounds about right. I do a lot of DE's so I'm running around 200 or so. I would not be too concerned about running at those temps.

I beleive 183 is "operating temp" of course, there's a couple variables...

Joe - I have had two 87 911s and they do take a while to warm up. It is a 15 mile drive on Highway 1 to my gym and this rarely will get the car completely up to temperature. As the external oil cooler T-stat is supposed to begin to open at 90 degrees Celsius, you could say that is normal operating temp. You really want the car to be up near that temperature before you start revving it high and hard. No doubt there are many cool days where the car will not reach that temperature in normal driving conditions.

My 930 has the oil cooler scoop, removed fog light, and a baffle to force the air through the oil cooler.

Ambient temps of 50-70 F, it will run about 180.

Ambient temps of 70-90 F, it will run about 210.

On the track, I have seen 240.

Mine doesn't like standing in traffic for long periods - oil temps will creep up about 20 F. until I get moving again.

180 is what the external thermostat opens at....higher temps will be seen depending on what oil coolers you have, outside temps and driving conditions. Oil likes under 240 where it tends to start having issues.

On my 3.6 (no internal cooler) I have two external coolers and Elephant oil lines....I plan on adding a fan later for stop and go traffic.....but 220 is about the max I have seen.

ZCAT3,
I've been driving mine for hours at high speeds without the external oil cooler kicking in--surely you're not suggesting that only when that T-stat opens can the car be driven hard? That would mean Porsche's couldn't be driven hard in cold winters.

As the '88 has no numeric inidcator--is everything in the white ok? 9 o'clock is the most I've ever seen.

Look to the very left under the interior bezel oil temp gauge....there should be numbers. Most likely you will need to lean forward and look around the steering wheel....

Lemme know....:p