Engine Temp 230 degrees
 

My supercharged 502s that produce 600hp each run a little hot. After cruising at 3200rpm for 15 minutes, my engines temp creaps up to 225-230. I slow down to idle and the temp drops to 185-190 in about 3 minutes. What is too hot. I use Mobile 1 15/50. Any input or advise?

i had this problm 3 weeks ago, it sounds like your not getting enought water flow, and have you shot it with an infrared gun to see your true temp/. my 1st guess wouldd be water pump if not that water line is getting restricted ( is it both or just one motor that runs hot??)

Wiggle the water pump to see if it feels loose. If it does replace it. It's better to spend a few hundred on water pump and impellers than smoke a motor

No infrared gun. Both engines are doing the same thing every since I purchased the boat in 2004 and had new engines built. Water pump impellers have been changed out 3 times. I still don't know if 230 degrees is even something to be concerned about. I never let it get past 230 degrees. The oil coolers are the original coolers from 1994. The boat has always been a freshwater boat. Maybe new oil coolers or a double water pump. Should I spend the money or not worry about 230 degrees.

that is pretty hot for light cruising. I would try and fix it.


Is it both engines?

Yes, both engines. When the engines get close to 230, I get off plane and idle in gears for a few minutes to cool it down.
Kind of a pain in the ???, but at least I havn't burned up my motors.

You're talking about engine oil temps correct? If so I wouldn't worry one bit about 230 - hell if has to get over 212 to burn off condensation.

If you're talking about water temp - good lord....

Oil Temperature, not water temp. If water temp gets that high, an alarm goes off. I had that happen once when the impeller got destroyed while I was running the boat on the trailer. I think I got all the rubber pieces out. Both motors still run the same. Does anyone know what temperature is too high for a superchaged motor.

There was a thread in the General QA section that said 230 240 wasn't anything to worry about.

EDIT - actually there are lots of threads and the general consensus is that 230 isn't bad.... I wouldn't let it ruin your 4th of July.

o yeah that alot diff/ i was thinking water temp wow cause that wound be bad!:lolhit:

some more questions- what happens when you leg it at 4000+ for some length of time? Where do they go then?

Did you SC the engines from stock? if so you may need to add a oil cooler to each if you start getting past where you are now.

sustained 245+ starts to get bad for your engine longevity.

Oh yeah...
 

Dan Olson, Teague, CP, Rex, and other sell very high quality coolers.

I use an aeroquip my self. Cant get em anymore, but I wont ditch it until it doesn't work anymore which is hopefully a looong time.


Uncle Dave

The 250 B&M blowers were already on the engines. I replaced the 454 block with a Dart 502 block and had all new internal parts. I don't really run my boat over 4000rpm for a very long time... maybe 20 seconds. I have the old style 1 Inch bravo 1's and I'm afraid I am going to break them. I don't want to be out of a boat until I can afford some Arneson Surface Drives and add some more modifications to my engines to increase Horse Power. That's going to cost a lot!

The stock engine cooling stuff from merc barely gets it done at its rated power, but is way better than nothing. It sounds like with a modest amount of horsepower gain, you just need more oil cooling capacity if you're going to be expecting these units to live a long time.

Does that engine have iron heads?

I'd lower my Water T stat to no higher than 130 ,

- or maybe even 100 if you run for long periods of time the risk under 130 water is moisture not burning off quickly enough and contaminating the oil.

Arnesons are an awesome, but unconventional package, and as long as a boat closely matching your setup has been modded by them - you are golden. If not you could have problems (as you could have problems with any aftermarket drive not exactly matching what you have now)

If your parameters fit an Arneson it is a very worthy investment imho.


Uncle Dave

BTW- there is a ton of argument about whats too hot with little agreement about the upper number.

some will tell you 280 is where things go bad other will tell you the oil companies rate their stuff to 330

Oil coolers "tend" (more controversy) to measure the drop from 280+ adding more controversy. (The department of redundancy department)

- and absolutely everyone agreeing that cooler is better to the water boiling of 212.

- so head for the low target.

Uncle Dave

I would look into a larger oil cooler with a thermostat inline. This system will will keep your oil at optimum temp. LIke stated before the merc. system in barely adequate at best. Adding the superchargers probably put you over the edge in the oil cooler department.

So what's too cold? My temp (taken from sender installed just in front of pad adapter) is 160-180. It has stock thermostat in adapter, I think 165*, but Merc could not confirm this.
Water never over 110, no thermostat per Whipple direction.

IMO, 220-230 is damn near perfect for the oil temp. I mean....don't you want it to be more that 212 so condensation/dilution gets burned out of the oil??

My boat runs at 130 water temp and 230 oil temp.

Just talked to Teague, they say I'm right on the money & they run their Whipple motors without any thermostat & like to keep the oil cool. Lot's of conflicting opinions, probably none are wrong, just different. They say run it, a bit of condensation is normal & they see it in their motors too. I'm not talking thick goo, just a little white. Maybe if everyone looked after a hard run they'd see it as well. Anyway, still waiting for a call back from Dustin for a second opinion, he'd be the one who has seen more blower motors than Teague.

FWIW, water vapor starts to develop around 160. Regardless of the temp over that, there's no magic about getting that water vapor out of the system. Some of it gets sucked out through breathers, some of it is going to condensate under the valve covers. And since it's not a sealed system, as soon as it cools, moisture will find its way back in.

Conventional oils break down in the low-mid 200s, synthetics stay together into the 300s. And then they're burnt.

The temperature at which the oil will start burning is called the flash point.

GTX 10w40 213 degrees
Mobil 1 15w50 230 degrees
Valvoline 10w40 216 degrees

I use Mobil 1 15w50. Flash point is 230 degrees. Where did you get that information, as I get really close to 230 degrees.

Those "flash point" temps are where the vapor "may" ignite. Not sure where those temps came from but they seem low; most flash points are in the 400 range. EDIT: :D I think those are Celsius temps.

Completely different than the temp at which oil breaks down.

Just an FYI, I spoke to Dustin Whipple & Teague, they say heat is the enemy of blower motors & 160~180* is the recommendation, water 110~120*, no more. In fact Teague says condensation gets worse @ higher temps. (though I would agree boiling should clear it, until you cool it down idling into the marina, where it would condensate again).
Whipple believes my issue is block pressure, Teague says run it:drink:

This site has the lower numbers...

http://www.calsci.com/motorcycleinfo/Oils1.html

This site has flash points in the 400's

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

It would appear that the flash points in the 400-500 degree range is correct.