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blackhorse
Samba Member
Joined: September 09, 2006
Posts: 229
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 Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2010 5:50 pm Post subject: Dipstick temp. |
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| I was told once that if the dipstick is too hot to touch - right after a run - then your engine is running hot. fact of fiction? If true, I think I have a problem. |
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Glenn 
Mr. 010
Joined: December 25, 2001
Posts: 76940
Location: Sneaking up behind you
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| Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2010 5:52 pm Post subject: |
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Spend $7 on a Pyrex deep fry thermometer and know for sure.
_________________
Glenn
74 Beetle Specs | 74 Beetle Restoration | 2180cc Engine
"You may not get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get"
Member #1009
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Max Welton
Samba Member
Joined: May 19, 2003
Posts: 10697
Location: Black Forest, CO
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blackhorse
Samba Member
Joined: September 09, 2006
Posts: 229
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| Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2010 5:57 pm Post subject: |
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| And at what temp. is the bird suppose to be ready? |
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Max Welton
Samba Member
Joined: May 19, 2003
Posts: 10697
Location: Black Forest, CO
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Glenn
Mr. 010
Joined: December 25, 2001
Posts: 76940
Location: Sneaking up behind you
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| Posted: Mon Aug 02, 2010 6:02 pm Post subject: |
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180-210 is normal
210-230 is hot
230-250 is very hot
250+ is turn it off.
_________________
Glenn
74 Beetle Specs | 74 Beetle Restoration | 2180cc Engine
"You may not get what you pay for, but you always pay for what you get"
Member #1009
#BlueSquare |
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kolt10
Samba Member
Joined: March 18, 2010
Posts: 327
Location: Alamogordo, NM
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| Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 12:34 am Post subject: |
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| Just pull the dipstick and put that in? |
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glutamodo
The Android
Joined: July 13, 2004
Posts: 26324
Location: Douglas, WY
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| Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 1:56 am Post subject: |
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Yes, just take out the dipstick and put the cooking thermometer in.
A couple of notes though - some cooking and "stem" thermometers have longer stems than others, and you want one long enough to get to the oil. And if your oil level is low, or parked downhill it still may not get to the oil.
And I've found digital ones to be more accurate. (but you can't leave digital ones in more than a few minutes because the heat will eventually make the LED display turn black til it cools off again)
-Andy
P.S. - in this thread I mention the remote-read digital cooking thermometer I tried 3 summers ago. Sounded like a good idea - but I found that engine vibration would eventually mess up the connection in the sensor stem. I've got conventional VDO oil temp gauges and sending units in my bugs now.
http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=241336& |
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zundapp
Samba Member
Joined: August 16, 2004
Posts: 514
Location: Never far from Fahrvergnügen
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| Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 9:58 am Post subject: |
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I've been using a Pyrex digital thermo for several years in my bus.
Just extended the wires to reach the cab. You can stick the magnetic base
to your dash to read, then easily hide it when you're no longer concerned about your oil temps.
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glutamodo
The Android
Joined: July 13, 2004
Posts: 26324
Location: Douglas, WY
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| Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 6:25 pm Post subject: |
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| zundapp wrote: |
I've been using a Pyrex digital thermo for several years in my bus.
Just extended the wires to reach the cab. You can stick the magnetic base
to your dash to read, then easily hide it when you're no longer concerned about your oil temps.
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You got luckier than me then if it lasted that long! I never saw any Pyrex brand ones, but I went through 2 Sunbeam gauge senders that just stopped working after enough time passed. Then I tried a different brand of gauge/sender and that one also packed up just after I got a VDO gauge - I had the two just long enough to learn how far off the different VDO sensors I had were before the cooking themometer sensor died again.  (I kept replacing them because I wanted to know if any of the various modifications and changes I was making to the cooling system were making any difference in temperatures.) |
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Helfen
Samba Member
Joined: January 19, 2009
Posts: 3450
Location: Vulcania
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| Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 6:31 pm Post subject: |
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Why not use the Gene Burg dipstick. When the oil pressure light goes on you either have no oil pressure or the dipstick is grounding at 225 deg. Either way you need to stop ASAP.
Don |
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wayne1230cars
Samba Member
Joined: April 05, 2010
Posts: 2685
Location: Canada
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| Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 6:46 pm Post subject: |
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| I have that on my 70 vw and it probably saved an engine one time when the thin, cheap firewall insulation that I had installed, let go and got sucked into the fan shroud. I had driven the car 3 miles on a cool night when the oil light came on. That is all it took to reach that high temp. BTW the lesson I learned on that was that those little prongs that hold the insulation to the firewall are very important. Some of mine had broken. |
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glutamodo
The Android
Joined: July 13, 2004
Posts: 26324
Location: Douglas, WY
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| Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 6:48 pm Post subject: |
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I tell ya, I wish that Berg warning dipstick would work for me - BUT, well, for me that thing would be going off all the time, so I won't use it. It's impossible to avoid, if I get up to freeway speeds in the summer, it's going to be well over 225. And nothing I've done on either car has made any kind of appreciable difference.  |
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Helfen
Samba Member
Joined: January 19, 2009
Posts: 3450
Location: Vulcania
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| Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 10:21 pm Post subject: |
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| glutamodo wrote: |
| I tell ya, I wish that Berg warning dipstick would work for me - BUT, well, for me that thing would be going off all the time, so I won't use it. It's impossible to avoid, if I get up to freeway speeds in the summer, it's going to be well over 225. And nothing I've done on either car has made any kind of appreciable difference. |
Andy, I not only use the Burg in both of my bugs, but they also make one to fit into a oil gallery end, so I use them on my restored Pontiac's and Oldsmobiles. When driving the bugs in temps over 110 degrees I have never had the oil temp get to 225 and if it did I would be on the side of the road.
Don |
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glutamodo
The Android
Joined: July 13, 2004
Posts: 26324
Location: Douglas, WY
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| Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 11:06 pm Post subject: |
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| Well, I talked about everything I tried to bring down my temps in that other thread. (well, on my 62. On my Baja I've never written up what I've done there) Really, the only thing that seems to make any difference has been... go down to lower elevations. I've found it runs noticably cooler in thicker, more humid air. Up here though, If I stopped at 225 degrees, I'd never get anywhere! |
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Hammarlund
Samba Member
Joined: June 15, 2009
Posts: 1539
Location: Central Texas
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| Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 6:51 am Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| Really, the only thing that seems to make any difference has been... go down to lower elevations. |
That makes sense. The air at even 5000 feet is noticeably thinner: just ask the people who play baseball in Denver. And, obviously, less density = less thermal mass for the volume of air that the fan moves, which is constant for any given number of rpms.
Down here, the problem is that if you pull over to let the motor cool off, it can take hours unless you can find shade. If you leave anything in the sun, it gets too hot to touch in just minutes; and, there aren't a lot of trees around here.
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Trying to diagnose electrical problems without paying attention to what the red light is telling you is like trying to play the piano without using your hands. |
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Harris
Samba Member
Joined: June 11, 2004
Posts: 1317
Location: Texas
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| Posted: Thu Aug 05, 2010 10:54 am Post subject: Dipstick Temp |
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Hammarlund,
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| there aren't a lot of trees around here. |
You've got to be in West Central Texas. I agree stopping to let the oil cool will take a while.
Andy,
I've always heard 225 and above is not good, but I may have been there and didn't know it before I started checking. Ignorance is bliss sometimes. Mine has not been above 210 here in Dallas-so far. Interesting about the elevation and oil temps. |
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itHaKa
Samba Member
Joined: February 20, 2008
Posts: 254
Location: Argentina
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| Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2010 7:40 pm Post subject: |
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i use this, only 50 dollars , works great , and has the oil level mark
no wires, very simple
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johnanddes
Satellite Wrangler
Joined: October 17, 2004
Posts: 692
Location: Orcutt CA
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| Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2010 8:10 pm Post subject: |
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Bought one at Walmart for about a buck during the summer, use it all the time. Seem to have consistent temps in the 200-210 range. A couple of days where it got to 90+ out here on the coast it was up to about 220-230.
_________________
John
1969 documented numbers matching bug
1968 F250
Keepin the ISS from colliding with space junk |
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zozo
Samba Member
Joined: October 15, 2005
Posts: 5217
Location: South of Ol' San Antonio
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| Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2010 8:43 pm Post subject: |
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| I got one at Academy Sports. It's way longer than the ones that I could find at the Targets, Wally Worlds, etc. It's long for use when you want to check stuff on the BBQ and not get burned. It gets down into the oil better than the 6" ones. |
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