Wild one
Senior Member
- Joined
- Jan 17, 2016
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Water only boils at 212 at sea level,the higher you go up in elevation,the lower the boiling point becomes.I've ran lots of vehicles with a 160 thermostat,and have never had any water condensation in the oil when i drain it,so i question that theory of needing oil temps of 212 or higher to boil off the water.Water will evaporate even when it's frozen solid,case in point look at an ice cube in your freezor after it's been there for awhile.I like oil temps of 200 alot more then i like oil temps of 220 or higher,the hotter the oil the thinner the oil film protecting moving parts. Just my 02 of observing engines and more importantly blown up engines (i've had more then my share of blown up engines,lol) over the years. Rod bearings in particular don't like thin oil films as the cushion factor is less@danielmid , I guess I forgot to consider the thermostat goes from fully closed to fully open across a RANGE of temperature. So, say you've been on a highway stretch for an hour, unloaded, and the engine temp is steady at 210 F, the thermostat may still be semi-constricted, thus still in the equation and keeping your temps up. You'd have to know at what temperatures the thermostat (1) starts to open and (2) becomes fully open at.
Huh. It would be interesting to get an old thermostat and run a little experiment on it to see what those two temperatures are. But also completely useless. I'm also just realizing now that water boils at 212 F. That explains why they like to get engine oil up to at least 212 F, to boil off any water that might have made it around the piston rings and built up in the crankcase.
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