Hello,

I have a 21 plate Fabia 3 estate 95BHP in SEL trim. That has just been serviced at my usual independent. It was the 4 year Skoda service so it was new 0w2o engine oil, new oil filter, new cabin filter and new spark plugs and also a new Skoda sump drain plug and washer, All the parts were obtained from Trade Parts Specialists ( TPS) so I dont have any worries about any of the parts being sub standard, I have always found TPS to be really good, no problems ever. I went out for my normal weekly 40 plus miles round trip to keep the battery in good order and discovered the following. Before the service, on a motorway run , in warm but not extreme temps( 21 degrees C) the oil temperature showed as 97 degrees C . That was at speeds of between 70 and 80 mph with a very brief 85 to get past a dithering driver. Before the service, at about the same temps and the same road speeds it would show at 94 degrees C, i do not recall it ever going higher.

Now I know that the oil has to get hot to do its job properly and 3 degrees C more isnt really that much more. My understanding is that the new spark plugs will give a better spark than the 4 year old plugs and that will increase the oil temperature. Likewise, I believe the new engine oil being that much purer than the stuff that had been in there for 3700 miles will also increase the oil temperature. Is my understanding of these two things correct?

Because my wife has been very ill and is now in a care home, probably for life, I havent spent as much time as I used to really looking at the various things like oil temperature and reading the handbook. That will probably not surprise anyone reading this. However I did have a good look at the handbook today and it says the Mark 3 Fabias have a warning light and a message if the engine oil is too high. I have had the usual low oil pressure warning lights for quite some years now and low oil level too if I am remembering correctly. I am positive I have never had a warning light and message for too high an oil level in any of my previous cars. I realise the handbook does list things that vary by trim but I would have thought an SEL trim would have had this if it was listed in the handbook. Can my fellow Briskodians tell me whether my car will have had this from new? If I have it will be a "first" and I think could be a useful thing to have if a careless fitter had accidentally overfilled the engine oil. If anyone knows how overfill it has to be before the sensor operates and the light and the message come on that would be the icing on the cake to know.

Thanks, I look forward to reading your posts.

Very surprising if it never went to high 90,s indicated or even 100+ in hot weather even at 70 mph in the UK. That is perfectly normal. As to 80 mph and above then perfectly ok. Other than you are exceeding the speed limit not how the oil is designed to behave. What matters is how soon the oil which is a coolant gets the cars coolant back down to an indicated 92-94 degrees when you slow down.

PS. Low oil pressure and low oil warnings. Were you running with low oil levels. Are you still running with too low a quantity of oil. Do you check it when cold then at operating temp after the service. ??? Have you ran with too much oil in? Are you checking the oil level?

Edited 19 July, 202519 Jul by Ootohere

Engine oil running temperatures variance is far too complicated for me to understand but I'd not worry about generalisations on the oil temperature with your car if the oil is to standard and fresh or not run too long after it should have been changed.

Not all 0w-20 oils are the same so you can get variances from using them but all 0w-20 oils will be of a good standard (unless counterfeit) you want to worry more about admitting to speeding on an open public forum. 😄 😄 😄 I'm sure you meant kph or typed wrong num,bers.

3,700 miles year old oil might be more messed than 20,000 mile year old oil.

You could look at it the other way round and ask why the previous oil was running at 94 and not 97.

What happened to the engine oil filter change and clean of filter box and tubes/hoses.

The weekly 40 mile trip will help a bit with the engine oil and with the engine and all other systems on the car as well as the battery especially if those include the occasional Italian-tune up blow-out run style, higher revs not higher speeds necessarily (and certainly always within speed limits.

As said before there's an easy way to tell if the engine has been overfilled with oil it's the dipstick, no electric, electronics or computer programs to potentially give false results.

Sorry to hear about your wife, you have probably just transferred worries about her to the very unimportant car. Rest up you've had the car serviced, just drive it as required for now.

Just for non-like-to-like comparison, I drove my wife's 2015 1.2 (4-cylinder) 90PS Fabia on a 50 mile round trip this morning, much of it dual-carriageway so some at a car indicated 70 mph.

5w-30 oil was changed earlier this month as part of a staggered service, car had outside temperature at 19c, oil temperature was 100c, a little higher than I was expecting but of no concern as easily within car running range and well below what the oil is designed to cope with.