SR20DET Optimal Oil Temp and Coolant Temp.

[om3ga]

What is the optimum running temperature for the oil and coolant? What temp would you want the oil to run all the time and what temperature should the coolant be at? IE: as if you were setting up an Electric fan setup to come on at a certain temperature.

Im mainly wondering because im going to get a larger oil pan and watch the oil temperature to see if im going to also need an oil cooler, and if i do end up getting an oil cooler im wondering if it will need some type of inline thermostat to regulate the temperature.

I want to use the stock clutch fan, but im going to have to buy a new one somewhere and i havent been able to locate one. Ive just been researching Electric fan setups as a backup plan. Most ive seen come with the sensor that you stick through the radiator fins.. Is that very reliable? Or is the stock Clutch fan setup really the best route.

[Dousan_PG]

u can get a stock from from Westco nissan or phase2
done. no excuse there.

temp? i keep water under 100
oil temp, with the big cooler and no thermo, i dont worry about oil temps. usually when the water temps are too high, oil tmps ar ealos. they work hand in hand.
but i do track only stuff w/ the SR. no street driving.

electric fans suck.

[fliprayzin240sx]

I run an HKS oil cooler with thermostat, Greddy radiator with FAL fans, billion thermostat, Greddy oil pan. Water temp cruising never gets higher than 74 degree. With AC on, it gets a bit hot. Track wise, water temp hits 85-95 degree depending on how long I run it and oil temp gets no higher than 95-100. Water temp, keep it under 100, oil temp, keep it under 110. Oil starts breaking down at 120 ish.

[om3ga]

Yeah i saw them at Westco phase 2 just has electric crap :( Ill just buy one from Westco, What kind of oil cooler do you run? Ill probably just try to get a greddy one eventually but im going to be running a tomei oil pan for now but i want to keep an eye on the oil temp so i can stop and let it cool down when the oil gets too hot. I'm going to be doing both street and track driving so i want to make sure its reliable on both ends.

Yeah i never liked electric setups.. I mean they can be clean looking but never as efficient as the stock clutch fan setup IMO.
u can get a stock from from Westco nissan or phase2
done. no excuse there.

temp? i keep water under 100
oil temp, with the big cooler and no thermo, i dont worry about oil temps. usually when the water temps are too high, oil tmps ar ealos. they work hand in hand.
but i do track only stuff w/ the SR. no street driving.

electric fans suck.

[Autobacs]

I set my FAL fans to come on at 93 C (200 F) which is the temperature the OEM fans come on.

The radiator thing is just fine as long as you have a water temp gauge to set it on.

I make sure my water temp reaches at least 80 C because on the Power FC you will have fuel correction until you reach that water temperature.

[Dousan_PG]

greddy kits sucks

i run a setrab w/ earls -10 lines and a tomei engine thing and a greddy pan
works awesome.

[burnsauto]

earls 19 row oil cooler, tomei block, greddy thermostat/filter block, DD its around 70ºC, beating on it for awhile brings it up to around 85ºC.

[0wn3r]

lol, wtf? under 100 degree Farenheit? I'm not JDM enough to get a celsius gauge, but my SR water temp runs 170 d F with stock fan setup. I suppose you could always get an aftermarket thermostat if you were worried. You don't want to exceed 210. I only have an oil pressure gauge so can't help you there.

[Dousan_PG]

It's not just "jdm"
it's the system pretty much the entire world uses.

[0wn3r]

It's not just "jdm"
it's the system pretty much the entire world uses.

After 17+ years of school I just wanted to say thanks...and I got you this to show my appreciation:

http://scienceblogs.com/zooillogix/Favorite%201%20-%20Three-Toed%20Sloth,%20Ai.jpg

[upstate240sx]

After 17+ years of school I just wanted to say thanks...and I got you this to show my appreciation:

http://scienceblogs.com/zooillogix/Favorite%201%20-%20Three-Toed%20Sloth,%20Ai.jpg


lmfao wtf..?!?!

[Autobacs]

For real.

I'm scratching my head on that one and I've got a Masters degree.

[Dousan_PG]

im at a loss for words


but you win!

[om3ga]

greddy kits sucks

i run a setrab w/ earls -10 lines and a tomei engine thing and a greddy pan
works awesome.

Sounds bad ass, Im definitely going with the stock fan clutch setup, and im going to most likely piece together my own oil cooler unless i get a good deal on a kit. Either way im getting the Tomei Oil Block adapter.

LOL wtf is that sexy beast? I want to chew on your sloth

[Firestorm]

i run a mocal 19 row oil cooler with inline thermostat and greddy relocation kit...my car barely sees oil temperatures above 90° Celsius.

my water on the other hand can get hot pretty quick, when i'm driving on the track it's fine but on the autobahn water temps pass 100° C very fast (stock radiator, needs to go soon).

[GSXRJJordan]

Water temp should be kept as close as possible your thermostat temp - I ran a 180* thermostat in the SR, but dropped to 160* for the RB (SR head hits peak volumetric efficiency at around 210*F, RB works just as well a little cooler, plus RBs tend to run hot so that extra flow might help keep it cool).

Oil temps will be above 200*, 220* is fairly normal under load, but 240* or so is too hot. Water temps can go all the way up to 230* under pressure and still be effective, but by that time you'd better be cresting that mountain or finishing that lap, because you're on the way to overheating (already boiling off coolant, and the more that boils off, the easier it is to boil the rest).

I highly suggest running an oil relocation/cooler setup, especially with a forced induction motor - I saw my "under load" coolant temps drop 20* or so once I installed a cooler. I don't run an oil thermostat, but after a year of watching my oil pressure/oil temp driving on the street, canyons and track, I would actually recommend getting one if budget permits... it really does help the oil come up to temp during those colder (50* is 'cold' for me) days and nights. That being said, after a 5min warm up and a mozy around the block, my oil temps are above 180* and stay there, even when lugging along at 2500rpm on the freeway.

[HemiCharger]

Water temp should be kept as close as possible your thermostat temp - I ran a 180* thermostat in the SR, but dropped to 160* for the RB (SR head hits peak volumetric efficiency at around 210*F, RB works just as well a little cooler, plus RBs tend to run hot so that extra flow might help keep it cool).

Oil temps will be above 200*, 220* is fairly normal under load, but 240* or so is too hot. Water temps can go all the way up to 230* under pressure and still be effective, but by that time you'd better be cresting that mountain or finishing that lap, because you're on the way to overheating (already boiling off coolant, and the more that boils off, the easier it is to boil the rest).

I highly suggest running an oil relocation/cooler setup, especially with a forced induction motor - I saw my "under load" coolant temps drop 20* or so once I installed a cooler. I don't run an oil thermostat, but after a year of watching my oil pressure/oil temp driving on the street, canyons and track, I would actually recommend getting one if budget permits... it really does help the oil come up to temp during those colder (50* is 'cold' for me) days and nights. That being said, after a 5min warm up and a mozy around the block, my oil temps are above 180* and stay there, even when lugging along at 2500rpm on the freeway.


sorry to bring back a thread from the dead. I am getting into the summer months were I live and my temps are creeping a little. Is that a correct statement that 210* F is optimal temperature range for an sr? That seems high mine never goes above that figure and if it is optimal then is that were you want the engine to run? During winter and spring months I never ever go over 190* F thank s

[Purp240]

I set my FAL fans to come on at 93 C (200 F) which is the temperature the OEM fans come on.

The radiator thing is just fine as long as you have a water temp gauge to set it on.

I make sure my water temp reaches at least 80 C because on the Power FC you will have fuel correction until you reach that water temperature.

Hey guy sorry bring back this old thread but I'm trying to figure out where everyone is getting thier temp readings from. I have a power fc and I barely ever see water temps above 79 or 80 degrees under normal daily driving (That's why I quoted autobacs). When u guys say the stock fans are set to come on at 170f for an sr, where is that reading taken from. I have a fan controller that the sensor is in the lower rad hose. I set it to make the fans come on at 65c. I think this is way to cold cause my fans are working very hard switching on and off. I'm guessing cause my temps fluctuate so much. I'm scared to let them get hot to see if they stabilize.

Does anyone know where the power fc takes it reading from? I'm very confused as to what is normal because everyone seems to take a reading from a different place.
I don't think my power fc takes the reading anywhere near where my fan controller takes the reading because of the differences in temps. My power fc reads around 79 to 80c all the time but my fan temps are kept around 65c which I'm thinking is too low now.
Also just a FYI all of my driving has been done during the hot summer months. 85 degrees and up I don't know what it's going to be like in the winter when it's 30 degrees.

My car is s15 sr20 with gt 2871r with fmic and I still have working Ac which I barely use.

Any info helps. I'm an sr20 newb.

Anthony

[e1_griego]

The thermostat is keeping things at 76.5*C (assuming it's stock) so the car should always run around 78-83*C.

PFC reads from the coolant temp sensor that the ECU is reading from; it's by the thermostat.

[Purp240]

ok thanks that clarifies some things for me...

so my temp sensor for my fan is in my lower rad hose. This is as close to the stock sensor as im going to get, so why the big difference in temps?
Im using a circuit sports fan controller that has a coolant and oil temp readout.

could my sensor for my fans be wrong? is there that much of a differnce in temps from the rubber lower hose then by the thermostat housing??

i just took the car for a ride around town...its 87 degrees outside right now... i set my fan controller to make the fans come on at 72C this time and i watched my power fc water temp and it stayed between 70-81c .... is this what i want?


also i forgot to mention before that i have a Koyo rad with FAL fans and im pretty sure i have a nismo thermostat in there as well...

im just trying to get this cooling thing squared away so i know whats normal etc etc.
this car is going to see alot of track events on weekends and some normal driving during the week, so i want to make sure its as reliable as possible before running the road course events

also i have an upper radiator cooling panel on order and ive sealed up all the gaps around the radiator with foam....

does anyone know if there is some sort of lower panel for the zenki s14 to keep the airflow thru the radiator and not under the car?? i dont think these cars even came from the factory with any type of front undertray....

thanks for the info
anthony

[e1_griego]

Well if you're worried about it, just put a clutch fan back in it and you'll never have a problem.

[Purp240]

Well if you're worried about it, just put a clutch fan back in it and you'll never have a problem.

i wish people would stop telling me this....i know this but its not gonna happen

im stuck with shitty efans
dont ask why

[e1_griego]

Truth hurts, apparently.

My car always ran hot on the freeway with my FALs, well hotter than I thought it should.

Never a problem with clutch fan. Been rock solid ever since.

[burnsauto]

im going to ask why. If you want super reliability, you may want to consider it. And this is coming from a guy running electric fans. A friend of mine made the switch back to a clutch fan and loves it.

SR's have the reputation for running a little hot, but just as long as you're staying under 190 degrees (87.7 C), you'll be perfectly fine. If you're doing some track driving, and they increase over 200, you may want to pull over and let this cool down. Don't get too caught up in the numbers of it, just know what the threshold is, and stay below it. If you're overheating, just make some adjustments. With some driving, you'll find the happy medium where the engine is most comfortable.

I had a coolant leak once (this was years back), doing some congested daily driving, and I noticed that my oil temps were noticeably going up before my water temp. I figured something was up, pulled over, found I was low on coolant. At the time, the water temps were not alarmingly high. Just food for thought.

[pacotaco345]

The last track day I ran at grange it was 75* out and I was seeing water temps of 230* after two hot laps, this was with an ebay aluminum radiator and terrible fitting altima fans that probably pull more air in from the side than through the radiator. I have a derale 19 row oil cooler hooked up to the car too but I don't monitor those temps.

I've since bought a koyo n-flow and summit brand 3100 cfm fans, hoping that does the trick and keeps the temps within a reasonable range. Don't follow my example though, I have no idea how I didn't blow a headgasket bashing limiter @ 15 psi and 230 degrees.