Please make me feel good

[dm36415]

I took my first long, hot weather road trip this weekend, with little to do but watch the gauges and fret over whether everything was normal. Unfortunately, I'm not sure what normal is, so I had ample time to fret.

Long story short, the ride home (about 200 miles) was in the mid 90's. Temperature ran midway between the 170 mark and the 210 mark, which is higher than usual (about 175 in town driving). The last 50 miles or so it rose due to having stopped for a while in traffic, to about 200 (estimate).

Oil pressure read a pretty steady 20. I drove between 60 and 70 mph (2500 to 3000 rpm).

Are these gauge readings in the boundaries of being normal?

ps - car had extra weight due to the about 50 lbs of fish I caught with my dad this morning on Lake Conroe. Anybody want to help me clean some fish?

[FenderGuy]

210 to 220 is what I get in the Az heat which is pretty normal, if you get worried like me, get a oil cooler for better cooling like I did.

My oil pressure goes anywhere from 2 to 3 to 4.5 depending on where I am reving, as long as there is steady pressure above 3 you should be fine. Any long drops of oil pressure where it is below 3, if you are going 60 to 70mph, I would pull over.....

Also when I first start the car my oil pressure is at 3.5 instead of the 5 as it would be in the winter, don't worry like I did, I found it's normal in the summer due to the temp change. It's fun getting the newbie kinks out

[KCinBR]

Sounds like normal readings to me, it's also normal for it to heat up in traffic....mine does it all the time

[unclebilly]

Originally Posted by dm36415

the ride home (about 200 miles) was in the mid 90's.
ps - car had extra weight due to the about 50 lbs of fish I caught with my dad this morning on Lake Conroe. Anybody want to help me clean some fish?

Geez - are you sure that fish will still be OK to eat? You gotta get the guts out ASAP to prevent belly burn.

[Gogar]

I'd be happy as a clam (er - fish) if I could get my car to run that cool.

As long as you've got at least 10 psi per 1000 rpm you're fine.