[coupe89black]

hey everybody, let me start by saying I'm a complete n00b here so if I sound a little dumb please bear with me. I have read alot of posts on hear about engine temps and oil, but I'm still a little concerned on my car. So with that said let me begin, I bought my car last summer but really didnt have much time to enjoy it due to working alot and fixing up the house but this year I do have time so I was out driving the other day and I see my engine temp is staying in the 200's as high as 224 sitting in traffic, and I also noticed that my oil pressure went as low as 17 sitting at a stop light but back up into the 40's while driving, so my question is due to the fact that I have put mobil 1 synthetic oil in the car is that a normal reading on temps cause last year my temp for engine werent as high but I was running just regular oil. I dont remember what the oil pressure read last year but i am concerned if that is a normal reading also. thanks in advance for any help or advice. :bang

 

[grumpyvette]

first let me assure you thats fairly normal and acceptable for a corvette .
oil temp NEEDS to EXCEED 215F to clean correctly, and oil temp up to 240F -250F is nothing to worry about , coolant temps shouls generally run in the 180f 230 f range and be about 20F -30F degrees lower than the oil temp

you engine generally shows less wear and produces better power when the coolant temps between 190F-210F the oils between 220F-240F and the air is in the 50F-70F range

oil PRESSURE is a measure of RESISTANCE to flow if you want to increase pressure and you can,t change the clearances or the oil pump your next option is increase the visciosity of the oil your useing, if your clearances are so large that a 5w30 or 10w30 allows the fully warmed oil to drop to 15-17 psi at idle (which is perfectly safe) but you want it higher, swap to a 10W40 or 15w 40 , it will tend to raise the low rpm pressure reading

 

[coupe89black]

thank you very much i do feel better now about my readings. I do have one other question and that is should I stay with synthetic oil or go back to regular?

 

[grumpyvette]

theres nothing wrong with useing either, a good quality synthetic or mineral base oils, synthetics tend to have a higher tollerance to heat damage.
but Id sellect one with at least a decent amount of ZINC in it. (0.12 minimum)
zinc is a wear reducing additive

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zinc_dialkyl_dithio_phosphate

http://www.micapeak.com/info/oiled.html

http://minimopar.knizefamily.net/oilfilterstudy.html

http://www.shell.com/home/Framework...iwgen/press_release_2006/cj-4_intro_1006.html

http://www.baileycar.com/oil_additives_html.htm

I used to use 8 qts MOBILE 1 and a qt of marvel mystery oil
(never had any problems)

I now use 4 qts of mobile 1 , 4 qts of Valvoline Race oil , or SHELL ROTELLA and a qt of marvel mystery oil.

(Ive got a custom 10 qt oil pan)

because the recent changes in formulations too reduce emissions, in the newer oil, those changes reduced the oils ability to protect the bearings, but helped at least in theory to reduce emmissions

MOST OF TODAYS BETTER NAME BRAND OILS WILL WORK JUST FINE ...IF YOU USE A GOOD QUALITY OIL FILTER and change oil and filter at least every 4000-5000 miles but Id sellect a good synthetic or a mix of synthetic and top quality mineral oils with zinc in them as thats an important wear reducer

 

[jrzvette]

thank you very much i do feel better now about my readings. I do have one other question and that is should I stay with synthetic oil or go back to regular?

I don't think synthetics were available from GM when your car was built so you can run a good quality dino oil. If you do very limited driving and change the oil on a regular basis synthetic might be overkill.