[Fox Starwing]

So, I have noticed something rather odd. Driving my 2017 1SS, my oil normally sits at about 185 to 190 or so during cruising in the summertime. However, during winter, it cranks up to 225 to 230! Is the car able to somehow divert from the coolers during winter to keep the temps from dipping down too far? I have no idea why this happens, 230 is well within operating temps for the oil, and 185 may be a hair low as it isn't above the vapor point of water. Just wondering if anyone else has noticed this happening.

[Crushin_LT1]

I've only driven during winter really, but I noted the temperature on longer drives tends to stay over 200, dunno if it was 220-230.


I guess I will see, summer starts in about a week or 2 here.

[Fox Starwing]

I get the feeling it has to do with ambient temperature at startup, could be wrong though. Wish I could pick an engineers brain who worked on the engine.

[Andrew S]

I have 2018 SS. Also driven only in winter (picked it up in December).
I will keep an I on this

[Trochoidal]

Originally Posted by Fox Starwing

So, I have noticed something rather odd. Driving my 2017 1SS, my oil normally sits at about 185 to 190 or so during cruising in the summertime. However, during winter, it cranks up to 225 to 230! Is the car able to somehow divert from the coolers during winter to keep the temps from dipping down too far? I have no idea why this happens, 230 is well within operating temps for the oil, and 185 may be a hair low as it isn't above the vapor point of water. Just wondering if anyone else has noticed this happening.

This hasn’t happened to me. In the winter I run right at 178-181 on the thermostat for coolant temp and about the same oil temp unless getting on it.

A couple of thoughts come to mind and here are a few questions. First question (gotta ask) is are you low on oil? Are you using factory gauges to get your data? Maybe during the summer the fans are turning on to keep the car cooler because of running AC (if you use it in the warmer weather).

[Fox Starwing]

Originally Posted by Trochoidal

This hasn’t happened to me. In the winter I run right at 178-181 on the thermostat for coolant temp and about the same oil temp unless getting on it.

A couple of thoughts come to mind and here are a few questions. First question (gotta ask) is are you low on oil? Are you using factory gauges to get your data? Maybe during the summer the fans are turning on to keep the car cooler because of running AC (if you use it in the warmer weather).

Nope, I am using an aftermarket scanner that plugs into the OBDII port. Oil is good and recently serviced. Thought it was a thermostat issue, but techs at my local dealership have looked at it and said everything including thermostat is working A-ok. I am getting the coolant flushed, and then I guess I'll just keep an eye on it. The coolant was also at 230 degrees, and the fan was on, so I dunno what is up unless it is an intermittent issue. We shall see what shakes out when I get it back from the coolant flush. I somehow doubt the techs really know, cause I rarely see temps over 200, even in the height of summer. May say screw it and take it to my local Corvette and camaro only speed shop. They got a bunch of old heads there who would probably get things sorted in a jiffy.

[Trochoidal]

Originally Posted by Fox Starwing

Nope, I am using an aftermarket scanner that plugs into the OBDII port. Oil is good and recently serviced. Thought it was a thermostat issue, but techs at my local dealership have looked at it and said everything including thermostat is working A-ok. I am getting the coolant flushed, and then I guess I'll just keep an eye on it. The coolant was also at 230 degrees, and the fan was on, so I dunno what is up unless it is an intermittent issue. We shall see what shakes out when I get it back from the coolant flush. I somehow doubt the techs really know, cause I rarely see temps over 200, even in the height of summer. May say screw it and take it to my local Corvette and camaro only speed shop. They got a bunch of old heads there who would probably get things sorted in a jiffy.

Ah the old timers will probably get you squared away. I’m gonna keep an eye on this thread to read what you find is the issue.

[Fox Starwing]

Well, I think the issue is a cooling issue now, not an oil issue as I first suspected. Maybe putting it in storage over the winter, something in the coolant drifted down and closed off a hose somewhere, or restricted flow. Picking it up in a little bit, we shall see how the coolant and oil behave.

[Fox Starwing]

Well, coolant flush didn't help. Back to square one. Lingenfelter installed a 160 degree Tstat during their upgrades, but the dealership didn't even make a note of it, they just said the Tstat is "working" so frankly I don't think they actually checked it. Ordered another one from Lingenfelter, probably do the install myself as it is a simple three bolt job on the front of the engine block and easy to get to. Will update once that is complete. If that doesn't fix it, I'll be completely bamboozled and will probably have to really let a pro puzzle through it.

[TheRealJA105]

Most likely you are correct in it being a thermostat issue. The oil cooler is a liquid to liquid plate cooler, meaning the coolant cools/warms the oil. Under street driving conditions they should almost always be close the same temperature, which is what you have noticed because both temps are up.

[Rnovrit]

This is an interesting read. Here is my 2 cent theory. Again, just theory. The oil cooler is cooled by the engine coolant flowing through it. During colder weather, the thermostat closes off to reduce the flow of coolant to regulate engine temps. This reduced flow of coolant extracts less heat from the oil cooler resulting in a slightly higher oil temp. I could totally be wrong but this seams to make sense in my head. Maybe someone with a higher work knowledge of the system can confirm or point out the error of my thinking.

[TheRealJA105]

Originally Posted by Rnovrit

This is an interesting read. Here is my 2 cent theory. Again, just theory. The oil cooler is cooled by the engine coolant flowing through it. During colder weather, the thermostat closes off to reduce the flow of coolant to regulate engine temps. This reduced flow of coolant extracts less heat from the oil cooler resulting in a slightly higher oil temp. I could totally be wrong but this seams to make sense in my head. Maybe someone with a higher work knowledge of the system can confirm or point out the error of my thinking.

The thermostat is a mechanical device with a single temperature set point. It always opens at the same temperature. Until it fails and doesn't work...

[Rnovrit]

Originally Posted by TheRealJA105

The thermostat is a mechanical device with a single temperature set point. It always opens at the same temperature. Until it fails and doesn't work...

Correct but it is not necessarily on/off. There is a bit of variable opening volume to them.

[TheRealJA105]

Originally Posted by Rnovrit

Correct but it is not necessarily on/off. There is a bit of variable opening volume to them.

Correct, but it does not change it's set point based on the outside air temperature.