Overheating oil when towing caravan

[jimboholmes]

Has anyone else noted how high the oil temperature becomes when towing caravan in uk ambient temparature?

My mk3 Octavia 2L diesel oil temperature runs at 110 degrees C when towing 1100 kg caravan on level roads and 125 degrees C when climbing hills in 20 degree ambient temperature.

Skoda Octavia UK sales literature says it is good for towing 1600 kg caravan up 12% inclines.(1 in 8 hill)

Owners manual says do not exceed 110 degrees C otherwise slow down and reduce load. Tricky when towing!

I have been in discussions with Skoda UK customer services for 15 months and they have come up with no answer.

I had Octavia mk 2 for eight years towing same caravan without any concerns about oil temperature because mk 2 did not have oil temperature gauge.

Skoda UK were unable to advise why Mk 3 has oil temperature gauge fitted.

[Gerrycan]

It is about what you would expect, or possibly better, judging from everyone else's related experience in similar topics.

I think by 'reducing load' Skoda just mean to slow down a bit and drop down a gear. The temptation is to put the foot down and maintain speed, just because it can do it.

 

A recent  post from our resident friendly techo suggested that as the oil ages then indicated temperatures will run higher. He was not overly concerned as the oils are toa pretty high specification.

Should not be any problem but if you do a lot of towing then more frequent oil changes would not do any harm.

[daljames]

My C5 Audi Allroad 2.5TDI used to get up to 125 when under a huge load, and that was a lazy de-rated engine. My 135 TDI Scout (184 for you HP people) runs at about 100 no load, with load 110 on the flat and 125 up hills. My 125 TDI passat (170HP) is about 5 less, but it isnt all wheel drive. I've got comfortable with it up to those temps, beyond 125 i slow down. As stated, its one of the highest spec oils for our cars.

Edited 29 November, 2016 by daljames

[andsoutham]

i asked a well known VW specialist about oil temp issues after a recent trip to the nurburgring where my temps got up to 130C at one point. he said if you are regularly seeing these temps then just increase the frequency of servicing. Modern fully synthetic oil is very good these days and can stand higher temperatures

[glosrich]

Sounds like it needs an oil cooler kit. 

 

Something like this that connects to the oil filter bracket:

 

http://www.katecool-motors.com/engine-oil-cooler-kit/volks-wagen/golf-mk6-1-4.html

 

Dont seem to do one for diesels though.

[GordonTate]

I have a Kodiaq 4x4 190 and it is the best tow car I have ever had, which includes Merc MLS and Kia Sorrentos. Oil temp stays at 90 at all times. My caravan weighs 1700 kilos and the Kodiaq (7 seater) handles beautifully.

[logiclee]

10 hours ago, GordonTate said:

I have a Kodiaq 4x4 190 and it is the best tow car I have ever had, which includes Merc MLS and Kia Sorrentos. Oil temp stays at 90 at all times. My caravan weighs 1700 kilos and the Kodiaq (7 seater) handles beautifully.

 

Are you sure that's not water temp you are looking at.

 

Typically oil temp will be higher and will fluctuate depending on load and ambient temp.

 

The water temp gauge will sit at 90 as it's comforting. It isn't really 90 all the time though.

 

Lee

[Kenny R]

As above if the temp stays at 90 at all times it’s the water temp your looking at not oil temp.

[Nickj633]

Correct. Am in the middle of a caravan holiday. My Scout will maintain an oil temp of between 108 to 112 degrees C. Water temp will sit at 90, however if I have put a load on the engine and the oil temp rises quickly, then the water will rise briefly to about 100 degrees, to absorb the temp from the oil, then settle back to 90. Will be changing the oil on a regular basis due to towing.

[Ranger]

Just picked up on this topic, I’ve a 190 4x4 Kodiaq which tows a caravan with an all up weight of 1890kg and had performed faultlessly up until last week.

 

Being fairly new to caravanning, it’s been run on fairly short trips, 50-60 miles for each leg but on the longest single journey so far, 100 miles in mixed traffic, the engine overheat warning came on momentarily. Stopped within 30secs and Stood the car for 30mins, all warnings gone, on starting the oil temp  on starting at idle was 82deg.

 

Moving off, the next 50miles we’re uneventful but monitoring the oil temp, it hovered around 112-115deg, peaked at 118deg. The outside temp was 18-20deg. Monitoring it since, running solo it’s almost constant at 90deg.

 

Dealer has suggested booking the car in for a diagnostic check but couldn’t offer any other thoughts until they’d looked at it. The car has a factory fitted tow bar (does this bring with it any cooling pack upgrade?) and runs with a 10k service interval cycle.

[J.R.]

Completely normal, nothing to check except the contents of your wallet.

[Ootohere]

Check at normal operating temp which is an indicated 90*c Coolant and around the 90*c oil temp that your oil is up in the area A of the dipstick after having stopped the engine for a few minutes.   That is as it tells you in the owners manual.   It advises to be up to max capacity when towing .   Just do not over fill.  Also check the strength of the coolant which is anti freeze and summer coolant as well as rust inhibitor.  

Edited 16 July, 2022 by roottoot

[J.R.]

4 hours ago, J.R. said:

Completely normal, nothing to check except the contents of your wallet.

Having read your posting again I take that back.

 

The oil temperature is normal but if you had an engine overheat warning that should be investigated, presumably the engine coolant temperature, what was the temperature guage indicating?

 

I would get someone to scan for fault codes and maybe do some live data measurements of the coolant temp sensor during warm up.

 

The oil temp is acceptable and to be expected however if the engine coolant gets too hot the oil wont be cooled as much as it would normally.

[Swirly182]

I know this thread has been revived but to add more info, my vRS TSI sat at 105degC mostly today with a jump to 107degC on an incline with an indicated air temp of 26degC. Caravan is 1420kg MTPLM, don't know actual weight. Towbar is aftermarket, no cooling upgrade.

[Ranger]

On 16/07/2022 at 11:11, roottoot said:

Check at normal operating temp which is an indicated 90*c Coolant and around the 90*c oil temp that your oil is up in the area A of the dipstick after having stopped the engine for a few minutes.   That is as it tells you in the owners manual.   It advises to be up to max capacity when towing .   Just do not over fill.  Also check the strength of the coolant which is anti freeze and summer coolant as well as rust inhibitor.  

I’d not noted the water temp when the warning came up but immediately after it was nudging above 95deg. The warning came up just a week after an oil service at a dealer and the level was fine when it was checked the day after the warning. The oil temp has been sat at a steady 90-92 degrees since, albeit running solo throughout (and it’s not been out since Saturday!).

[Ootohere]

Running solo is not the issue though is it?

 

Had you checked the Oil cold when collected and then again at operating temp and is it to the top of the crosshatch when at around the 90*oC indicated oil temp?

 

The coolant was maybe topped up at the service to MAX and can set it;s own level.

?

Where is the coolant now when cold, still at max or between MAX & MIN?     

There is MIN & MAX because there is no 'FILL TO THIS LEVEL'. 

[Ranger]

I’d not checked the coolant cold but after standing for about 10mins, it was at the max mark on the header tank.

 

Its been standing since Saturday, albeit in near 40deg temp, so I’ll check them cold tomorrow and see how they look but there’s been negligible difference between the hot and cold coolant levels in the past.