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Photo by Marc Gibaud,
Clouds on Tres Cerros and
Mount Fitzroy, Argentinian Patagonia



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  #1  
Old 7 Aug 2014
R80 R80 is offline
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The thermometer dip sticks will probably not show the real oil temperature because they only dip inside the engine oil for a very short distance. The most lenght of the stick inside the engine is in contact with the internal engine air, which is hotter than the oil in the oilsump. So I assume, that the dip stick shows a higher temperature.

Normaly oil temperature above 120°C may become critical (depends on the used oil). The air-cooled engines reach often very high oil temperature - so I use an engine oil with 10W-60 or at least 20W-50 specification, to have some reserve.

I have a similar thermometer dip stick - and I only get nervous when it shows a temperature above 130°C - then I just stop and let it cool down. But I have also reached 140°C without a damage.

An oil-cooler may also be a good investment.
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Old 20 Sep 2014
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Sounds normal.

I tried a thermometer, and got rid of it. The reading was nonsense. Hot pipes, high oil consumption? Not unusual. Is the oil condition good? 20w50 should stay in good condition without going black and thin. That's the important thing. I've got a cooler and a thermostat. I found that without the thermostat the engine was slow to warm up.
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Old 20 Sep 2014
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Another entirely normal airhead feature is that after a long ride i can switch the ignition off, leave it for 30 seconds, switch the key on, and it restarts the engine all on its own. The bike has now done almost 100,000 and the engine is still excellent, and almost run in.
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Old 21 Sep 2014
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Originally Posted by R80 View Post
Normaly oil temperature above 120°C may become critical (depends on the used oil). The air-cooled engines reach often very high oil temperature - so I use an engine oil with 10W-60 or at least 20W-50 specification, to have some reserve.
A friend and I rode 2 GS's ('94 & '95) through parts of the Taklamakan desert on packed and not so packed sand roads where temperatures got to over 46c.
We had changed the oil to full Castrol synthetic 10w-60 in Urumqi and never had any problems. We were not pushing the engined hard though. They were both fitted with the standard oil cooler.
7 years later and the engines have still not had a re-build and mine is now over 100,000.

Years ago an American said to me, "Oils cheap, engines aint" Never a truer word....
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Old 7 Oct 2014
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Thanks guys, I've fitted an oil cooler and it's dropped 15degrees. That plus the comment about the dip stick thermometer not reading true oil temperature makes me think I'll leave it at that and cope with a little carbon the plugs. Better to ride it than worry about it.
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Old 7 Oct 2014
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Thanks guys, I've fitted an oil cooler and it's dropped 15degrees. That plus the comment about the dip stick thermometer not reading true oil temperature makes me think I'll leave it at that and cope with a little carbon the plugs. Better to ride it than worry about it.

125 deg at 70MPH is fine.
The dipstick thermometer senses temperature only at the end, which is quite a bit lower then the oil-level. You can try to heat it with a lighter...

I have compared a dipstick thermometer with a VDO-thermometer placed at the drain plug and found them to be very equal. The dipstick thermometer is a bit faster.
IMHO a thermometer is a nice thing, and I back off when it reaches 140 deg.

Edit: make sure that the oiltemp is above 100 deg at most trips to remove water (condensation).
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Old 8 Oct 2014
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Oil isn't even at it's correct working temperature until it's at 100C.

Those temps on an air cooled engine wouldn't worry me.

Your viscosity rating 40/50 etc is actually measured at 100c

As for those temp gauges. They may not be totally accurate but what they do show is variations. If you're usually running a certain temperature and it suddenly drastically changes, then it's a great warning that something is going wrong. Especially when your oil is low because it WON'T register a temperature you're used to.

You should test your temp gauge in boiling water too. See how far out it is.
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