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High Oil Pressure and High Oil Temps

ironmark

ironmark

Junior Member
I noticed that the readings on my Dakota Digitals gauges have been showing that I am having what I would consider high oil pressure, when the engine is at running temp the oil pressure is at 17 to 20 PSI at a idle and when the bike is running 1500 RPM and above the oil PSI is 40 to 42. Also when riding at 70 to 80 MPH (around 2800 to 3000 RPM) the engine temps will range between 245 to 260 which I consider average when it is 75 degrees outside. The oil temps will get up to and hold at the same temps as the engine, for example= when the engine temp is 255 degrees the oil will climb to 255 degrees as well, I consider this to be to high for the oil temps. I do have the HD oil cooler on the bike which has the thermostat so I am wondering if the thermostat went out in the oil cooler housing and that is what is causing the oil pressure and temps to rise or could it be something else.
 
You might be having a gauge issue, both ends of your oil pressure seem high to me. I believe the norm is around 8-10 at idel and 32-35 on the high end after engine is hot. Are you running a stock oil pump? What wieght oil are you using?
 
Jeff Klarich said:
You might be having a gauge issue, both ends of your oil pressure seem high to me. I believe the norm is around 8-10 at idel and 32-35 on the high end after engine is hot. Are you running a stock oil pump? What wieght oil are you using?
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I would doubt that 2 gauges are reading wrong at the same time. The oil pressure gauge works off the HD oil PSI sensor and the oil temp gauge is a independently wired gauge. The oil pump is stock and I use Mobil 1 20/50 V-Twin oil. The oil PSI doesn't bother me as much as the high oil temps, there is no way that the oil temp should be the same as the engine temp. The Dakota Digital gauges read & display the engine temp by using the EITMS sensor so I do know what the engine temp is and when the bike engine temps get to 300 degrees the oil temps were around 230/235 and the oil PSI stayed at 30/32. Right now if the engine temp gets to 300 degrees the oil temp will get to 300 degrees and that is with the HD oil cooler on the bike.
 
ironmark said:
the oil temp gauge is a independently wired gauge.
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You never said if the Dakota digital gauges were reading normal at one time and then they started to read high. Or if they always have read high since you installed them. Where is the oil temp sending unit installed. Installing it in the sump vs the tank would make a big difference in readings. Sounds to me like the independent oil temp gauge is just reading high. Can you take the oil temp sending unit out, & using a beaker cross check the calibration using a candy stick thermometer. That is what I would try first. You need to determine if the oil temp gauge is accurate to start with.
 
When your oil temp is reading high, is your HD cooler hot?
If not, its either plugged off, the T'stat is shot, or the gauge is reading wrong.
Another check you could do is when the oil temp is reading hot use an IR temp gun to read the tank temperature directly.

Rod
 
I believe that the high oil psi and the high oil temp is directly related that is why I am leaning towards the thermostat in the oil cooler being the problem. The oil temp have run lower as I posted in my last thread the oil temp usally run around 215 to 230 depending on how hot it is outside. If the oil temp sensor was bad it would show false readings right off the bat but I can see the temps climb the longer the bike runs and the temps only get high when the bike is at high RPM for a extended period of time.
 
ironmark said:
I believe that the high oil psi and the high oil temp is directly related that is why I am leaning towards the thermostat in the oil cooler being the problem.
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Replacing the oil cooler thermo is not cheap ($100). If I was convinced that may be the issue, I probably would remove that adapter plate and check it for flow and restrictions. Maybe test run the bike without it to see what the results would be.

You may be right. It could be the adapter plate thermo. I would have to confirm that the oil temp gauge was in calibration first. Knowing where the oil temp sending unit is mounted would help. If it's mounted in the sump in a return line path, then restricted flow would increase oil temp. If it's mounted in the oil tank, restricted flow would decrease the oil temp. That's the reason I asked earlier where the sender unit was mounted but you never answered the question.
 
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