Ideal Oil Temp For Spirited Driving
 

I know you should keep the rpms under 2500 untill the oil gets up to temp, but my commutes to work are a bit short (30 minutes). Unless Im in traffic the car usually only gets up to 203°F. I do make sure to get the car past 212°F on the way home. Is it okay for me to step on it when the oil temp is at 170-190°F? What is the ideal temp for having some fun!

175 + is ok

I agree 175+ is good. I noticed with my car around 110 is when the piston slap noise goes away, so I keep things real gentle until after 150.
I never really noticed the piston slap from inside the car until I install sound insulation in the doors and back of the car.

Absolutely OK! If you're seeing only 200°F under spirited driving, you're doing fine. Oil that is too cool can also cause problems. The LS7 in my C5 saw 195°-200° during freeway cruising, and rarely saw 220° during, uh, performance driving. This is with a B&M 70266 Super Cooler

It’s fine, 220-240 is probably fine, and it shouldn’t get that hot unless you’re hot lapping it. I called it quits when mine saw 260 at an HPDE, guess what, my car is fine, that was 2 years ago. I’m going to try 5-40 oil, and overfilling it a half quart at an HPDE, which I didn’t know your supposed to do, if that has no effect, oil cooler is in my future budget. Stock car, normal driving, you’re fine. I also have an auto trans with 3.73 gears and 3200 stall, plus trans cooler and I saw trans temps of 225-230 at a peak, which is fine, manual trans cars probably see 250 degrees and there fine, trans cooler would help.

moral of the story, your car is fine, keep driving those C5’s.

What Trans cooler are you running ? what kind of trans temps did you see during HPDE?

I don’t recall what trans cooler it is, Finish Line Performance in Plainfield IL installed it about 12 years ago. At an HPDE with 3.73 gears and 3200 stall, I’ve only seen temps between 225-230 after hot lapping it for 20 minutes. On a hot/humid day here in IL, temps will be around 180. On a cold winter day, I don’t think trans temps go over 140. A 3600 or 4000 stall might be a little harsh because they whine alot more, hence increasing trans temps. The Yank SS3200 hardly has any whine with the 3.73 gear.

what do you do to get to 212??:cool:

These synthetic oils can see temps of 250+, 275+, and still be okay, you can step on the go pedal whenever you want.

If I recall correctly

285 F. Max Road Race discussions ..and Chevrolet Performance reading

…this was “Back in the Day”. Using real Dino juice as opposed to current Synthetics

which are likely superior in all aspects


Concur with warmup past piston slap for sure

I would let the oil get to about 100-120°F before doing any spirited driving, but 212°F is still "cool" in my opinion and wouldnt be a concern at all.

A good rule of thumb is that the oil needs to be at 180°+ for at least 10min to burn off moisture that is created in the crankcase. That is why short trips are not great.

At least 160°F before jumping on it. And the oil doesn't have to get to 212°F to burn off the condensate, water will still evaporate at temps below it's boiling point (212°F)

The oil temps you mention should be fine for doing some spirited driving.

I have the Dewitts radiator with their cooler option and I see about the same temps as Grinder, granted I am still on a lowly LS1.