 
					|   | 
 | 
 | 
| 
 | 
| Registered Usurper Join Date: Sep 2005 
					Posts: 13,824
				 | 
				
				Oil cooling question
			 
			I understand that, to a large degree, our motors are oil cooled.   I'm idly wondering how much oil has to be in the tank just to lube the moving parts. Put another way, in a cold climate, wherein the oil temp. doesn't come up to the temp. that it does in a warm climate, how low could the oil level get (while still registering a safe temp. reading on the guage) without compromising engine lubrication? 
				__________________ '82 SC RoW coupe | ||
|  08-24-2007, 10:46 AM | 
 | 
| Registered | 
			I'm no expert, but flat 4 air/oil cooled VW's existed for decades on 2.5 quarts of oil.
		 
				__________________ David 1972 911T/S MFI Survivor | ||
|  08-24-2007, 11:19 AM | 
 | 
| Registered Join Date: May 2007 Location: Redmond, Wa 
					Posts: 192
				 | 
			Consider that theoretically the larger amount of oil availabe the better contaminates will be diluted throughout the oil.  This can really effect the longevity. If I remember right the engines hold roughly 3-4 quarts internally so I would assume that you would want atleast 6-7 quarts additional in the tank to account for oil in the lines and allow enough oil for 1 complete circulation. Personally I would not risk anything more then a quart or so below spec. 
				__________________ '89 Carrera Cabrio '01 Audi A6 2.7t '01 BMW 540i '06 Dodge Ram 2500 Diesel | ||
|  08-24-2007, 12:04 PM | 
 | 
| Registered Usurper Join Date: Sep 2005 
					Posts: 13,824
				 | 
			
Oh, I definitley agree!  Just an admittedly idle question.
		 
				__________________ '82 SC RoW coupe | ||
|  08-24-2007, 12:09 PM | 
 | 
| Registered Join Date: Oct 1999 
					Posts: 8,673
				 | 
			
That's a wet sump engine.
		 | ||
|  08-25-2007, 08:06 PM | 
 |