Oil temps too high?

[makenzie71]

What's too high? What's normal operating temp?

It's my 1981 GS750. I'm seeing an average of around 220*f. Hottest I've seen was 238*f while idling in traffic. Where should I get concerned?

Temps are taken from the pressure plug on the filter cover.

[Nessism]

I wouldn't start to get concern until about 275 degrees F. Synthetic oil is a good hedge since it doesn't thin as much in heat and has better film strength so it stays on the metal parts.

[makenzie71]

I run Rotella T 15-40...I won't run full synth on an engine I didn't rebuild (also don't like running $10/qt oil).

[TheCafeKid]

Mac Im with Ed on this...Normal indicated running temp on my 1100 is 210, and while its been cool around here, even in the summer i never saw it run at that unless im sitting in traffic. HOWEVER i run a pretty big oil cooler on it, and my 750 would run above 210 pretty normally, never saw any ill effects.

[Griffin]

My 700 has an oil temp gauge as standard equipment (who knows how accurate it is?), and for the past twenty-four years, "normal" temp on it has been right at 200 degrees. On a 100 degree August day riding across West Texas twenty years ago, it got up to and stayed at about 250-270 degrees for several hundred miles with no ill effects. In tight traffic on hot days it will get up to 240 or maybe a bit higher even, doesn't seem to hurt it.

I have the fairly small stock oil cooler on it, and always run Rotella synthetic 5W-40 oil. It seems to work great and only costs about $18 a gallon at Wal-Mart.

[makenzie71]

Awesome. I just didn't know if I should be worried. My Vapor allows me to set a warning and a critical oil temp light so this will give me a good idea of where to set them.

[bwringer]

Worry less.

Ride more.