The SC's First Long Trip

5String43 · 08:18 PM

We took a play day today to drive from the Los Angeles area up the coast to Santa Barbara.

This was our first trip in the car - the past two months have been confined to short hauls and getting issues worked out. Did a total of 212 miles, will check the MPG when I fill up tomorrow.

Car ran great, didn't miss a beat. And best of all, my wife said, "Wow, what a great car!" Phew! But I have a couple of questions:

First, the car's oil gauge seems to work only intermittently. For most of the trip, the needle sat down in the red zone. I stopped to check the oil level via the dip stick, everything's fine. Anyone have any idea what might be going on here? On past little neighborhood blasts, it would start in the red, but when things get warmed up, it would register oil level properly. Not once today, though.

Second, re: the temperature gauge. To beat traffic, we took the inland route home through Fillmore. The temperature there today, and in other parts of inland California along I-5, was 97. Needle in the temp gauge went to just a hair below the second white hash mark, the one below the red zone. I suspect that this is nothing to worry about, but I wondered if anyone here has any comment about this. The car does seem to run a little hotter than other SC's I drove while looking for a car.

Thanks in advance for any wisdom you might care to share.

jwakil · jwakil's Garage

Oil gauge only works accurately when idling and at operating temperature, not while driving.
That temp is a little on the high side, but not unusual. Might want to invest in an upgraded front cooler with fan. If you are getting those temps on the highway, it might get into dangerous territory in stop and go traffic.

Daviboy · Daviboy's Garage

I would not worry about either my oil level gauge often bounces around erratically. On a hot Cape Town day my temp gauga also gets up around the second white mark. Dont sweat the small stuff....

RoninLB · 08-21-2010, 08:01 PM

coming into LA on I-5 through the mts must have sent your oil temps hot?

5String43 · 08-21-2010, 08:22 PM

RoninLB, if by "over the mountains" you mean the Newhall Pass, no - by that time, the temperature had dropped a little and so had the needle in the temp gauge. Temps - outside, and on the temp gauge - both were highest through that area around Fillmore.

craigyirush · 08-21-2010, 08:23 PM

When I first bought my Carrera, I was told by a mechanic that under power the oil level will always be in the red.

Congrats on stretching its legs. I am always somewhat worried on longer trips, but I did do 4000 miles three summers ago (LA to Vancouver to Calgary and back) and it didn't miss a beat.

carslutt · carslutt's Garage

nice to here your wife likes to ride in your car, mine has mixed feelings about my targa as of now. did u guys have the targa top on during the tirp? if so how was the temps inside the cab? ive done the drive between LA and Santa Barbara a few times in my wifes wrx thinking the targa would be way more fun.

RoninLB · 08-22-2010, 12:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 5String43

both were highest through that area around Fillmore.

ok.. i figured that you came in on I-5 around Santa Clarita which you didn't. That pass sends my temp needle up. I use a CHT gauge that gives me a heads up on the future of my oil trmp so when CHT goes up i downshift into 4th gear and maintain same speed.

otherwise, you do have a fender oil cooler and not just the trombone bare pipe up there?

jason2guy · 08-22-2010, 06:56 AM

the 911 is great on long trips. just drove from la to vegas, and stayed. done that a couple times and was nervous the first time. 90-100 the whole way, it was just flyin.

5String43 · 10:59 AM

Carslutt, we had the top off for the drive up; it was cool enough that we actually ran the heater for awhile while running through fog right next to the Pacific Ocean; but we put it on for the drive back, thinking that protection from direct sun probably would be a good idea. Temps inside actually were not too bad - windows down, as the car's A/C isn't working - that will be next summer's project. At speed, with the windows down and the fresh-air blower running, there were a couple of times when I thought to myself, "Man, it's hot!", but for the most part, it wasn't too bad.

RoninLB, yes, we did join up with the 5 at Santa Clarita, right there near Magic Mountain, the old Castaic Junction. And yes, the original trombone cooler, not the upgraded Carrera item.

Here's a question - I notice that the cooler is covered by undercoating. Anyone know if removing that from the "trombone" has any positive effect on cooling?

RoninLB · 08-22-2010, 07:45 AM

you need a cooler

i've used the trombone in 110F deserts and as long as i kept speed to 65-70 mph it wouldn't overheat

Peter Seow · 08-22-2010, 08:33 AM

After 10 yrs of 911, it been like that oil level rises when heated but know mine was off the red zone when cold but still at the lower end.

Dont do cold readings.

engine rising to 3/4 is ok i am at 34 degress celius in poor traffic.

5String43 · 08-22-2010, 10:57 AM

Just filled up - we did 22.1 mpg for this trip, which pleases me a great deal. We pretty much ran at 70 mph on the freeways, but pottered around Santa Barbara in first and second gears, and were stuck for a long while in very slow traffic on 101 leaving town. I would think that on a longer all-freeway trip, mid-20s would be easily attainable, even bumping the speed up a bit. (Didn't have my Valentine 1 along on this trip, hence the conservative speed.)

psalt · 08-22-2010, 01:28 PM

5string43,

The US 82 911SC has a vacuum retard that pulls 5 degrees of timing out at idle for the HC emission test. Your engine will run cooler in traffic and cold start better if you disconnect and plug the gray hose at the back if the distributor. You will need to reset the idle speed to 950 rpm and you can do this with your fingers by turning the large slotted idle bypass screw on the throttle body.

5String43 · 08-22-2010, 04:51 PM

Clarification, please, psalt - I see two hoses. One of them is red plastic, the other is gray/black woven. I presume you mean the gray/black woven one. Yes?

psalt · 08-23-2010, 04:16 AM

The original retard hose was gray with a braided cover. I've seen the hoses hooked up incorrectly and replaced with different colors, so it is much better to understand what is happening. The distributor turn counterclockwise (another Bentley error). The vacuum canister has two nipples, the inner is retard, and it uses manifold vacuum (full vacuum at idle). The outer nipple is the advance, it uses ported vacuum (no vacuum at idle). The US 82 SC was detuned to run on 87 CLC and the max advance was limited to 25 BTDC, which is far from ideal for a 70 degree VIA hemi (early cars on leaded premium ran up to 38 BTDC). Most of these cars benefit from a few more degrees of advance, but the 911 engine is very sensitive too pinging when overheated, especially if you also have lean mixtures and oil dilution. Check your timing at high rpm. The optimum tune up uses the most advance for your fuel and temperatures. You can set up the lambda CIS with an analog dwell meter at the test port. You can find all the details in the archives, I've found 30-40 dwell to be best for most cars.

tcar · 08-23-2010, 07:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 5String43

First, the car's oil gauge seems to work only intermittently. For most of the trip, the needle sat down in the red zone. I stopped to check the oil level via the dip stick, everything's fine. Anyone have any idea what might be going on here? On past little neighborhood blasts, it would start in the red, but when things get warmed up, it would register oil level properly. Not once today, though.

That's normal.

The oil level gauge is ONLY accurate when idling, on level ground, with the oil at operating temperature.

It's supposed to 'bounce around'; it only measures how much oil is in the tank. When you're driving, most of the oil is in the engine, not the tank.

tcar · 08-23-2010, 07:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RoninLB

you need a cooler

i've used the trombone in 110F deserts and as long as i kept speed to 65-70 mph it wouldn't overheat

He has an SC.

All SC's have the trombone cooler.

He wasn't overheating.

mikesride · mikesride's Garage

Love to hear stories about cars that get driven!! My 82 sc only gets driven in the summer but it averages 25,000 miles per year!!!

ps mine gets almost 30mpg on the highway at 80mph, anyone else get that or higher?