Oil Temp Sensor Location? Stock ecotec oil temps?

[immortality]

Hey guys,

I'm in the process of fitting a oil temp sensor on my VT ecotec. Ideally I'd put it in the side of the sump but I'm not keen on drilling/tapping the sump without been able to clean it out. This car has the larger 24mm steel sump plug so I was thinking of fitting the temp sensor into the drain plug. Worst case I ruin a sump plug?

Thoughts and opinions please?

[immortality]

Bugger, lets try it.

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Need to step up my machining game at home. Drilled it by hand, didn't quite get it straight but good enough...

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This was a solid sump plug so I counter bored it so there is a heap of room around the sensor, hopefully that helps it read more accurately.

[Charlescrown]

Clever way to do it.

[vlad01]

The VWs had a kit for a drain plug sensor just like that when I was a kid stuffing around with them.

I had a think about it, there isn't really one ideal place to read oil temp as many areas will have different temps. The sump is probably the all rounder baseline, but I'd prefer to read the temp being fed into the oil gallery, but even that has many nuances, housing temp, flow rate/sensor response etc...

[immortality]

Added a pressure sensor...

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The VWs had a kit for a drain plug sensor just like that when I was a kid stuffing around with them.

I had a think about it, there isn't really one ideal place to read oil temp as many areas will have different temps. The sump is probably the all rounder baseline, but I'd prefer to read the temp being fed into the oil gallery, but even that has many nuances, housing temp, flow rate/sensor response etc...

Yeah, I'm just hoping it gets a decent temp reading there in the sump plug. On my old VN (where all these sensors and gauges are coming from) the temp/pressure sensors were fitted in the remote oil filter housing so I'd expect that to read a bit warmer than the sump.

Engine currently has a 20w-50 diesel oil in it that I put in to clean the engine out after all the work done on it. I want to see if there are any major changes going from the 20w-50 to a 15w-40 temp and pressure wise.

I might also swap out thermostats and see how the coolant temp effects oil temp.

Then I have a little engine oil cooler (coolant to oil) that I'm going to test with and see how that changes things.

[immortality]

I'm quite interested to see what the normal running oil temps are on a stock engine. If it's anything like my old VN then it runs quite warm compared to the coolant temp.

Clever way to do it.

Thanks

[Charlescrown]

I don't think it makes much difference where yo put it with oil temp. Not like coolant where you get big differences in differetnt locations. What temps are you getting?

[immortality]

I don't think it makes much difference where yo put it with oil temp. Not like coolant where you get big differences in differetnt locations. What temps are you getting?

This is the first time putting a oil temp sensor on a ecotec for me.

Previously I had one one my 3800 V6 and that oil runs hotter than the coolant. What I found was the oil took quite a bit longer to come up to full temp but the running temp was higher than the coolant temp. I'd have to go back and have a look to find actual numbers. This was just doing regular cruising, obviously some spirited driving brings the temps up much quicker.

[VK_3800]

Audi does it too. Temperature reading won't be an issue there, probably a good spot as the large volume of oil above it will avoid any fluctuations. My only concerns would be that the connector is in a safe spot (looks OK) and if there was a magnet on the plug you'd have to remove it.

For the Torana I installed a combination pressure and temp sensor on the pump in the usual pressure sensor spot. Haven't really looked at any readings yet.

[immortality]

I don't think it makes much difference where yo put it with oil temp. Not like coolant where you get big differences in differetnt locations. What temps are you getting?

I've had a quick look back and from what I can find, just cruising would see about 200°F running a 180°F thermostat and a quick squirt on the gas would see it come up to 215°F.

Audi does it too. Temperature reading won't be an issue there, probably a good spot as the large volume of oil above it will avoid any fluctuations. My only concerns would be that the connector is in a safe spot (looks OK) and if there was a magnet on the plug you'd have to remove it.

For the Torana I installed a combination pressure and temp sensor on the pump in the usual pressure sensor spot. Haven't really looked at any readings yet.

I'd love one of those sensors but then how would you display it unless you have some sort of aftermarket dash?

Yeah, I'd expect to see less oil temp fluctuation with it in the sump. The sensor is above bottom of the sump so something would have to flick up to damage it or I'd have to rip out the bottom of the sump. No magnet