Hi!

 

I have just done around 1000 km in our new Fabia Combi 1.0 TSI DSG. On a normal a-road run for over 20 minutes yesterday i noticed that the oil temp did never exceed 93 C (199 F), and spent most of the time between 80-87 C (180-189 F). Ambient temperature was around 6 C (43 F).

Is this normal oil temp for this engine? And is it normal for an engine to run this cold? I would have expected the oil temp to be at least 96 C (205F) or even higher. 

Hi!

 

Certainly seems fine!

 

Generally, with new oil in the engine, the oil will tend to run at lower temps. Once the oil starts to become contaminated with age, temps tend to go up a few degrees.

 

Nothing to worry about!

90-92*oC is the efficient and ideal oil temp for a TSI engine, or any Petroi Engine.

 

(I used to run a 1.4TSI Twincharger for hundreds of miles at temps below 0*oC with 5w 40 FS oil and the Oil Temp Indicator never went above 88*oC indicated even on the Motorway and i got my best Fuel Efficiency.

The 5w 40 FS had the Indicated Oil temp usually 2-3 degrees cooler than when 5w 30 FS LL oil was used.)

 

The Oil is a Coolant as is the Coolant, 

the Coolant gets up to around 90*oC quickly, to get the engine / engine oil up to that temp, 

then its job and the Colling System / Radiator is there to try and keep the Oil at about that temp, when the Oil goes into the 100*oC plus range the Cooling System is there to get the oil back near 90*oC as soon as it can.

In warmer weather cooling oil uses energy, and to use energy uses fuel.  Hence Antifreeze is also Summer Coolant, & there are different Viscosity oils.

 

Diesels are running hotter, the Oil Temp is hotter,  96*oC-100*oC, but take longer to get hotter usually. 

Why they are less efficient on short trips, not getting to an efficient temp for maybe twice as long as a petrol engine.

 

In Cold climates this is why some have Vents or Covers for the Radiator, in countries such as Finland.

 

Top 2 pics. 

This was a couple of days ago in a 2.0TDI.

146 miles in 2 1/2 hours, and the Oil Temp.

Same Journey in a petrol car and the Oil temp shows 90*oC in this sort of ambient temp.

Bottom 3 pics.,

Stopped after 2 hours for fuel, and 82*oC Oil indicated.

a 1.4TSI Cool Running. 

Good oil & not Long Life Oil & Super Unleaded.

 

 

Edited 12 April, 20188 yr by AwaoffSki

raz, as has been said your oil temp is fine. It will vary a bit on different days of course, depending on ambient temps and the motoring conditions, speed etc.  My 1.2TSI runs at around 93-94c in the winter and around 95-100c in the summer, that's after the engine is fully warmed up. On a really cold day (freezing conditions) the engine oil may struggle to stay above 90c. If doing a long cruise at motorway speeds on a hot day the oil temp on these petrol engines can go up near to 105c. All perfectly normal, in fact even 110c is ok and the oil is designed to cope with that. Regarding diesels, although those engines have a marginally hotter initial combustion, because they are far more thermally efficient than petrol engines, the overall running temperature of diesel engines is quite a bit lower than a petrol engine. Hence oil temperatures not only take longer to get to their full operating temp, but that operating temp will be lower than a petrol engine equivalent vehicle. It was normal for many of my diesel engined cars to run at 86-88c even when fully hotted up over a long distance, and in summer it would be around 93c on a long run. Again, all normal.

But now TDI's with SCR are a different story and do not run that cool when ambient temps are like between 6*oC to 26*oC.

Over 100*oC is normal at Dual Carriageway or Motorway Speeds.

 

As to small capacity 3 & 4 Cylinder TSI engines, then pick a number any number.

& the Oil Filled at a VW Group Engine Factory can be the oil used to protect an engine best, 

which is why it can be good for an owner to change that at the Fixed Service Interval or sooner, and see if the Fuel Economy improves. Rather than wait for a Variable Service Interval Oil Change.

Often it might anyway at around 8,000 miles.

Yes you are right about diesel running hotter than previous earlier models AwayoffSki. TDI SCR's have been about for quite some years now and some of my vehicles have had just that. But SCR does not make any differernce to the overall running temp of the engines, just the exhaust gases. However, diesel engines all run hotter than earlier models due to other factors that manufacturers have introduced to help improve warm up time. Thermodynamics and the laws of physics cannot be changed however, and the modern diesel still runs cooler than it's petrol counterpart and that cannot be altered. So although you may see an increased oil temp over earlier diesel engines, it is only part of the story and won't give the full picture of engine temp. My Warrior 2.5 diesel ran at 90c all the time even when thrashed.., and that was a very modern vehicle with a great engine.

Edited 12 April, 20188 yr by Estate Man

How modern an engine, what year. Euro 5 or Euro 6.

Mitsubishi were being investigated for the Emissions were they not, were they cleared.

EDIT.

http://bbc.co.uk/news/business-36099044 

 

Stefan Jacoby was with Mitsubishi for a while, then he was CEO of VW USA i2007-2010 introducing Green Diesels until he was not promoted to head VW, 

so went to Volvo as the boss in 2010 working for Geely, then off he went to be Head of GM Globally.

Small world really for someone who is a VW man through and through, even part of the Family that own VW Group.

http://sg.linkedin.com/in/stefanjacoby 

 

 

 

What the temperatures make a difference to is how the VW Group, Ford, Mercedes / Daimler, BMW, Renault, Citroen etc were able to have Emissions Systems they were allowed to have 'Inhibited' below certain temperatures so allowed the Cheating but only morally not by EU Legislation so they have Euro 6 Emission Co2 g/km figures.

 

No more from later this year though, hence engines discontinued, a 1.4TDi 3 Cylinder being one as an example.

 

I run a 2.0TDI 150 PS SCR DSG. 

Not around town for shopping though, because it can use 4.546 litres in 5 x 5 mile runs winter or summer.

Stinks something horrible used doing short trips, drinks Ad-blue and oil like an alckie used this way.

Yet easily go between 630-730 miles for 63 litres of Diesel in Summer or Winter when the runs are over 20 miles.

Funnily after the 2nd Ad-Blue top up it now sips the Ad-blue.

 

I will show you just how hot a Euro 6 TDI's Oil gets to at 60 mph or 70 mph through a 23 mile average speed area when next passing through one.

The Long Life oil is constantly needing topped up, and is not getting an oil an filter change for another 4,000 miles.

Luckily i do not own it, and never would own one that gets the Factory Filled oil left in for 20,000 miles, or even 18,500 miles / 2 years.

Edited 12 April, 20188 yr by AwaoffSki

AwaoffSki, yes they do drink the juice around town and the ad-blue can disappear quite quickly. Shorter trips are not the modern diesel engine forte. My Warrior was the Nissan 4X4 pickup. One of several diesel vehicles that I owned up until very recently. It was euro 6 but I've had the Navaro 2.5 diesel (euro 5) and the new Warrior 2.3dci versions (euro 6. Very clean but ran very cool indeed. Being a trade favourite for lugging heavy loads it was overcooled too. My neighboughs new Skoda was delivered by a Warrior towing a trailer all the way down from Preston. They can pull quite a load!

I still think this is too cold, so I used some foam plastic to cover the bottom right half of the front air intake. To my understanding, that is where the oil cooler sits. A short test run shown a bit higher oil temps (over 90C, 194F) which looks better to me.

Besides, the radiator looks *very* vulnerable, since the lower grill is actually only one horizontal plastic bar. So this foam plastic will increase the radiator protection as well.

On my previous car (Fabia III HB 1.2 110 TSI) I had both sides covered, and added extra heat/noise insulation to the hood, and the oil temp did not go beyond 106C (223F) even on long motorway runs in the middle of the summer, and warmed up quickly also on shorter runs.

 

What ambient temps are you talking about driving in now?

 

German / Czech Republic designed and manufactured engines and cars so you would think that the engineers have an idea about European Winters and summers.

 

As to the AC & Radiator protection from stones hitting vulnerable components, people sometimes fit mesh rather than anything that will restrict air flow required for cooling.

Other than in the coldest weather or season where reducing the cooling effect can be order of the day.

 

I would not mess about too much in trying to get oil temps or coolant temps to your liking when there is a small capacity 3 cylinder turbo petrol engine and a twin dry clutch gearbox. 

You could always change the oil you use which has an affect on the oil temps. 

Edited 19 April, 20188 yr by Offski