Wildguzzi.com
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: rickrs on March 26, 2025, 10:47:27 PM
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Hi,
I've got a 2020 V85TT and living in Queensland, Australia we see some fairly hot summer days, so I was thing of installing an oil temperature gauge just to keep an eye on the oil temp as I have had a couple of occasions of being stuck in traffic and have the engine get a bit rattly. Being an air cooled motor I know it won't take long periods of idling or slow work so I'd like to know what the oil temp is doing before I get an engine warning light.
I see there are two plugs at the front of the motor which I believe could be pick-up points for an oil cooler - is this correct - see attached photo. If so I would use one of these to plug a temperature sensor in. I wouldn't go to the extra effort of an oil cooler as I don't believe its necessary for norm road use.
(https://i.ibb.co/XfnTQSmC/V85-TT-engine-Plugs-1.jpg) (https://ibb.co/XfnTQSmC)
Your expert opinion please :bow:
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I’m not familiar with the oil system on that engine but I can tell you what I learned from running an oil temperature gauge on several big blocks for lots of miles. I drilled and tapped the drain plug for a sender to an electric Stewart Warner gauge , first on a Cal2, then on a’99 Special Sport. It took an average of thirty miles for the sump oil to stabilize, then it would fluctuate a little, maybe ten degrees,from there according to how I ran it. On days that the ambient temperature was over 80F or so, it would stabilize in about 20 miles. I had a hard time getting it up to 220F but on hot days with higher speeds it would get there. I think the hottest I ever saw was 230.I was hoping to cook the condensation out but it mostly ran too cold for that so I tried to run it thirty miles whenever I started it.Then out of curiosity I was going to put cylinder head temp gauges on but I realized that I was distracting myself too much, watching gauges. Now I just run reliable idiot lights and a voltmeter. I thought the oil pressure light should be labeled “ replace main bearings “ but never had an oil pressure problem. Hope this helps.