What is the optimum oil temp for best performance out of the LS1 Engine in our cars? I've been adding pieces and parts to drive down my coolant temp and have managed to go about as far as I want to go but I want to make sure that I'm still within the proper operating range for oil temp or see if I need to add an oil cooler as well.

thanks/George

 

My opinion is that you still want the oil temperature to get to around 212 to boil off any water that condensed into the oil.

 

Do a search on "sweet spot" and look for post's by Evil Twin, a retired GM engineer. He has all that information.

 

From a professional chemist - I don't think it's necessary to reach 212 to remove water. Water has a vapor pressure below its boiling point, and it will evaporate. What the optimal oil temp is, I can't tell you, but you are still going to get rid of water below 212.

 

You are correct duegatti... what do you mean you dont think?? of course its not necessary.
Talk about global warming !.. Do we really have to heat the earth up to 212 F to get rid of all those rain puddles? And if we have to get our engines up to 212 F do we also have to drive the car into the sea, so we can do it at sea level? shouldn't there be a sea level indicator next to the water temp indicator in the car? So much urban legend still plagues this forum.
the question should have been, where to I get the best performance, and at what cost is that performance to the longevity of the engine?
Now that is the question.. The LSX was designed to bench mark at 200,000 miles of reliability, One of Dave Hills mandates ( the first engine design to break the 100,000 mile bench mark.)... there are many many members here with 400,000 miles on their LSX. Many keep in touch with me via PM. Cold will give you a better shot at timing advance.. but hot will give you engine longevity. Hot enough for coolant and oil to flow properly. You run the coolant too cold and the engine oil will chill out too.. Not a good thing for this engine design.. OH, the tuners will tell you they can squezze out a few more ponies from a cold engine..but they never tell you what the long term cost will be., their job is to get you more HP...and a cold engine will do that. But that engine will never see 400K or 300K. but there is a sweet spot.... I wonder what that is Its here somewhere on this forum.. I know its there... its been posted a few hundred times. over the last 12 years.

 

I've searched sweet+spot. got back to this post
Ive searched oil+temp. got to one regarding cold weather and this post
I've searched oil+Temperature got back to here and the one above.

I'd do another search on Evil Twin but can you narrow down or point me to a particular post.

and darn I need to get spell check working again.

 

Whats with the being cryptic without just giving someone an answer? Lol.

 

Try this thread: http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-t...-oil-temp.html Look at post #10. Hopefully this helps any and all interested parties.

BTW, I used these search terms: "sweet spot" oil

Also in the above-linked thread, check out post #14...follow the link for some additional interesting reading, with feedback from Tom DeWitt on oil cooler performance.

Again, hope this helps those interested

 

I'd say oil temps between 190 and 210 deg F are desirable. GM has designed the car to run in that range with normal driving. Of course, if you are on the track the oil temps will get much higher than 210.

 

Cryptic??????
If you read what I said, there are two different versions of optimum. And different iterations between the two versions.
We built the car to last a long time. Be dependable with minimum maintenance. People push the design limits to attain better performance., and wind up reduce dependability... I can't tell you how many people wish their car was back to stock... about 1/3 of the 20,000 private messages Ive received over the last 12 years with major issues with heavy modding... for all the problems and money spent on their car. I have nothing against performance..but where do you draw the line ?... the design we built into the C5 platform is where we drew the line. People find they can do better than we did, then want help when things go wrong.. Nothing cryptic about it at all.

I just did a quick search and found lots of post by me on this issue.. I dont bookmark my post... I just did an advanced search using my name and "sweet spot"

here are two of the many..

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-t...tat-query.html

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-t...ning-high.html

 

Not stir the pot, but here's another post from Bill (aka Evil-Twin) regarding the "sweet spot" for oil temps: http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-t...l-coolers.html Post #5...explains the basis for the sweet spot (well, I seem to think so )

Bill...I'm in agreement with your statements above.

 

I was joking. What I meant is, usually when someone post a question like this, theyre looking for a set number. Which I know depends on many things. Even tho you gave him a good answer, Im sure he was looking for maybe a range of numbers. Trust me, I understand the cons that come along with heavy moddifications. You have to decide whether the extra maintenance and cost is worth the performance gains. For me it is but then again I can dive into an engine teardown in my home garage while others need a manual to do an oil change.

 

Thanks guys ( I assume) for the links. Most have to do with coolant so I did not find them on my search. Not sure why I did not find the oil temp one that Evil-twin posted but now I've read it and have the information I need.

At this point I think my car is running in the sweet spot but will see how it performs on the 29th when I go to the track.

I'll let you know how things work out there in the real world.

George.

 

Over the years, I have butted heads with a few people ( just a Few )... I would have never let the OP hang...posting too much info in open forum usually leads to an open invitation for some legends in their own mind to argue my input. I usually wind up giving an inquiring member a Private message with the appropriate information.

 

^this.

As a chemist, I agree with this post.

There was a thread on this a few weeks ago on the Z06 forum where some were quite determined to convince everyone that the oil MUST reach 100C.

 

Legends in their own mind...there are many here.

.What I use to tell people here all the time ( newbies ) was to be very careful who you take advice from in this forum...There are many qualified members here who know their stuff... but there are fare more who " Think" they know something " when in fact , they are clueless.

 

I completely agree. You post something that you know for a fact works for you since youve tried it or done it and you get a bunch of guys posting how youre wrong or something. Just like the "what oil to use" threads. Lol