The normal (and the max) engine temperature

[Apostle]

What is the normal operational temperature for R1150R's engine? And what is the maximum temperature that you ever seen?

I was busy last several months with work and had no many chances to ride my R. Recently took my bike for a couple day long rides and it seems that my engine runs hot. Both riding days were not really hot: about 20 degree Celcius (70 Fahrenheit). I measured the temperature several times during the ride. The temperature measured on cyclinder heads (measured by laser temp. gun) most of the time was about 130 degrees Celcius (266 Fahrenheit). A couple times my measurement showed 137 degrees Celcius (278 Fahrenheit).

QUESTION: Is it a normal operational temperature _OR_ is it something I should start worry about?

The engine oil and filter changed regularly each 3k miles. Same filter, same oil that I used for almost 6 years.

Thank you in advance for your answers,
Apostle

[macx]

The oil temperature would probly be more of a critical temp. In auto engines, you want the
oil no lower than the high 100's - i.e. 170 & up, without going over 250 or so max, depending
on the oil (dino or synth) and how old it is - oils increase the rate at which they lose their
additives and lubricating properties somewhere around those temps.

I've got experience with those heat guns as a Certified Welding Inspector, checking pre & post
weld temps, and have found that shiny surfaces will affect the readings considerably. I've seen
many times that a piece of metal that has a shiny surface will change the reading 30 or more deg F
just by moving the measuring point a couple inches from a shiny (i.e. polished or coated)
surface to an area with "natural" finish on the same piece of metal. Also, when you buy one of
those guns it doesn't come calibrated and so can be off. I bought one for home use and tried
alongside a calibrated one and at 200 to 400 deg F was off by nearly 50 deg F compared to the
recently calibrated gun, even though at 70+F it seemed to be accurate.

Having said all that, if you're really concerned I'd find a way to check engine oil temp. I've been
looking into an oil temp gauge and, aside from finding it difficult to mount the sensor in the oil,
it doesn't look overly difficult.

One could be mounted on the oil cooler side of the control valve so then all you'd see would be
temps after the oil is warm enuf to allow flow to the oil coolers, which is probly the area of most
concern anyway. Another place is to tap threads into a blind hole behind the bottom of the
front cover, and while you're sensing the temp of the crankcase which at that point is getting
an oil spray, I'd have to believe it's going to be a little low.

Other than that, drilling and tapping a hole in the lower part of the crankcase seems to be the
only other option, and that presents all sort of dangers & difficulties. I thought it would maybe
work doing it when changing oil - drill the hole with heavy grease on the drill bit to capture & hold shavings, cleaning & replacing the grease often during the drilling and using a slow drill speed, then similarly coating the tap with heavy grease to retain shavings, then immediately draining the oil (hot oil) and flushing the crankcase with a couple quarts of cheap oil before filling with the normal oil. If you do the hole below the top of the oil level in the crankcase, the oil in the case would also tend to push outward thru the hole and help keep shavings out of the crankcase. You'd of course want to find a spot thick enuf for sufficient threads, another challenge. I haven't researched that yet. If one drilled
thru that blind hole so the sensor was exposed directly to the oil spray inside the engine and therefore probly closer to accurate, there'd be plenty material for threads. Might be good to overfill the crankcase so there's oil pushing out when you break thru with the drill bit and with the tap, then of course draining & flushing right afterwards.

Back to your heat gun, I'd try to verify it's accuracy some way, esp on the shiny metal surfaces
that are on the outside of the engine. Were you targeting the valve covers or the heads directly?
That would also make a diff, with the direct head contact likely to be a little hotter.

That's basically a good approach, though. I've got my IR gun at home with me and will try that on mine and see what I get and post the results. It's hot here, ambients most often in the 90's during the afternoon. I'll try it after a 30 mile ride incl some stop and go and see what I get.

Or, a very simple and basic approach, after a long enuf ride to get the oil totally up to operating temp, immediately drain some oil (or when you're doing a routine change) and simply stick a cooking thermometer in the oil. Hot oil doesn't lose it's heat very rapidly, so if you'd do that within a couple
minutes you'd probly get a fairly accurate reading.

[omg1010]

My normal Oil temp at an environment temp of lets say 28° Celsius is around 95°-100° Celsius. However if I ride full speed on a highway I have seen the temp rising to 135° Celsius. I can say so because I have got a digital oil thermo ...

None of the oilheads come with such a thermo. The only indication in given on the bikes with the FID (which shows the oil temp in bars. I think these have a max of 5 bars where the 5th bar is around 140° Celsius and leads to a red-light indicating you should let your bike cool down.

Best regards
Oliver

[mmrabit]

I had a Harley dealer tell me when I was concerned about oil temp on a sportster that I had two options, he could sell me an oil cooler or I could get rid of the oil temp gauge. Either option would address the issue, and he really liked to sell accessories.
Mike
04 R1150R

[boxermania]

Apostle

The best measure of engine operation is the oil temperature, normally our bikes tend to run on the high end of the norm 180 F to 210 F. In some instances, under extreme conditions, owners have reported oil temperatures in the 240 F to 250 F which, from my own personal experience with lubricants, I would consider to be close to the point where viscosity begins to be afected.

Generally speaking the dyno oils are good to 300 F an the Syn to 400 F.

Last but not least CycleRob hasa very good install on an oil temperature gauge, BTW, the oil cooler thermostatic valve is set to open around 175 F, one can measure the engine oil temp, with the IR gun, on the inlet pipe to the oil cooler.