oil too hot? General poor running?

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whitecabby
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat Mar 22, 2014 11:37 am
What year is your cabby?: 1989
Do you own a Cabriolet?: Yes

oil too hot? General poor running?

Post by whitecabby »

Hi,

I tuned up my Cabby last summer; say 5,000 miles ago. Maybe less. It ran great thereafter.
When I started it this summer (or heck, I have a bad memory, maybe it was doing this when I parked it for the winter), it just wasn't running right. I checked all the plugs and replaced one. Rotor, wires, cap all appear fine.

Here's what a notice:
* general feel of a "miss", particularly at lower rpm
* sometimes at lower rpm something occurs that feels and possibly sounds like someone has hit my engine with an aluminum baseball bat; just prior to a stall or near stall
* oil temp gauge is uncomfortably close to red line at interstate speeds (70 - 85mph). I am using 20/50.

I've located and replaced some bad vacuum lines; I've run Seafoam through the gas tank; I've replaced the O2 sensor on a whim because it had clearly been tampered with at one point in time.

What would you suggest I do next?
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Briano1234
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Re: oil too hot? General poor running?

Post by Briano1234 »

Automatic or manual, how hot was the outside air temperature? As the 89 has a oil stabilizer if the engine is running hot, then the oil would be too.
Automatics run hotter than a Manual, I saw my oil temp gauge climb into the red on a road trip 75MPH 95 Outside Air Temp, and a/c was on.
But I didn't have an oil cooler, and it is a automatic... which is why I added an External Oil Cooler to my ride.
Now I can't get the oil above about 115.
Briano

Yes as matter of fact, I have the Luck o'the Irish...everything I touch turns to fertilizer of the bovine variety.
You can lead a user to a link, but you can't make him Click.... :screwy:
whitecabby
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat Mar 22, 2014 11:37 am
What year is your cabby?: 1989
Do you own a Cabriolet?: Yes

Re: oil too hot? General poor running?

Post by whitecabby »

I'm a stick. It gets to about 10C below the red line and then I start to baby it. No a/c.

What's the oil stabilizer? Thanks for the reply!
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Briano1234
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Re: oil too hot? General poor running?

Post by Briano1234 »

That is the thing that is above the oil filter flange, and square looking. Oil Cooler

It could be that your t-stat is stuck and if you haven't replaced it in a while then you may want to flush and back flush your cooling system and replace the t-stat.
Briano

Yes as matter of fact, I have the Luck o'the Irish...everything I touch turns to fertilizer of the bovine variety.
You can lead a user to a link, but you can't make him Click.... :screwy:
whitecabby
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat Mar 22, 2014 11:37 am
What year is your cabby?: 1989
Do you own a Cabriolet?: Yes

Re: oil too hot? General poor running?

Post by whitecabby »

Briano, the coolant seems to be running at normal temp; only the oil appears to be running hot.

If you think the t stat is worth a shot I'll do it anyway; I don't recollect if I did it when I got the car or not and its a nice cheap shot..are you thinking that one of the gauges may not be accurate and this is just a good place to start?

Oh -- outside air temps have been running 65 - 80F.

Thanks, Josh
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Briano1234
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Re: oil too hot? General poor running?

Post by Briano1234 »

The 89 had a factory oil cooler installed. The square thing between the oil filter flange and the filter.
I suspect that you have a bad sender. Changing a t-stat is a good first step.
Changing the sender for the oil temp is also a good step. You can also get a non-contact temp gun to check the temp of the oil pan which should be close to the oil temp to see if your gauge is off.
Briano

Yes as matter of fact, I have the Luck o'the Irish...everything I touch turns to fertilizer of the bovine variety.
You can lead a user to a link, but you can't make him Click.... :screwy:
whitecabby
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat Mar 22, 2014 11:37 am
What year is your cabby?: 1989
Do you own a Cabriolet?: Yes

Re: oil too hot? General poor running?

Post by whitecabby »

Thanks Brian; I chuckled on my drive to work today to realize that in this conversation I've said that my cabby operates at normal coolant temp while in another post you have helped me with I have said that my coolant gauge stopped working when I yanked the a/c compressor - so, I'll clarify even though I know your advice above is still solid - I was having the high oil temp reading prior to losing my water temp gauge :)
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Briano1234
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Re: oil too hot? General poor running?

Post by Briano1234 »

Is your Water temp Gauge working?
How are you judging a normal water temp?

Have you changed your main grounds?
Briano

Yes as matter of fact, I have the Luck o'the Irish...everything I touch turns to fertilizer of the bovine variety.
You can lead a user to a link, but you can't make him Click.... :screwy:
whitecabby
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat Mar 22, 2014 11:37 am
What year is your cabby?: 1989
Do you own a Cabriolet?: Yes

Re: oil too hot? General poor running?

Post by whitecabby »

No, water temp gauge quit working after I removed the a/c compressor (and dummy light on). I haven't replaced grounds yet; but you pointed me toward directions on the cabby info site on another post (thanks; I was clueless where to start)

Oddly I lost my speedometer today and possibly simultaneously seem to be running rougher yet.

I am hoping to have the opportunity to look at the grounds tomorrow
whitecabby
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat Mar 22, 2014 11:37 am
What year is your cabby?: 1989
Do you own a Cabriolet?: Yes

Re: oil too hot? General poor running?

Post by whitecabby »

oh, I forgot to mention - keeping in mind I haven't had an opportunity to look deeper at the solutions above yet - I jotted down some additional information in case it adds to the discussion.

So, at 70+ mph after 15 or so minutes I'm running about 135C oil temp.
At 65mph I cool down quite quickly to about 125C.
I'm running about 1.75 - 2 BAR at 65mph once warm. I am running 20/50.
I'm not sure what of that is normal.
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Briano1234
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Re: oil too hot? General poor running?

Post by Briano1234 »

Flush your cooling system and install a new t-stat.
135 isn't bad, but it could be better.
Verify that your Fan is working.

See how to safely remove your vent. Remove the Drivers side vent, worm your way up to the back of the speedometer to verify that the cable is still attached.

Diagnose and fix your gauges... Mane a engine has blown because of a wonky gauge.
Briano

Yes as matter of fact, I have the Luck o'the Irish...everything I touch turns to fertilizer of the bovine variety.
You can lead a user to a link, but you can't make him Click.... :screwy:
whitecabby
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat Mar 22, 2014 11:37 am
What year is your cabby?: 1989
Do you own a Cabriolet?: Yes

Re: oil too hot? General poor running?

Post by whitecabby »

Short update - getting at the thermo was much more difficult than I anticipated; partially due to some prior hack repairs. Taking advantage of the situation to fix some items correctly. May as well replace the water pump while I'm this far since they are cheap...

In the meantime, I think I've discovered the hot oil and running problem - I think my timing belt is worn - evidenced by burn marks off center of my nearly new rotor. Sure enough, the belt looks looser than I would expect.

That being said, it was just as well that I had the excuse to dig into the thermostat as I hadn't changed it or flushed it in the 3 years I've had it. Unfortunately I'm missing much of my short driving season, but hey ... it has to be done!
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Briano1234
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Re: oil too hot? General poor running?

Post by Briano1234 »

Timing belts if they have 1/2 twist are usually not the issue. I would set the timing manually then follow the CIS duty cycle steps outlined in Cabby-info,com
If you aren't running NGK plugs, that is another issue. I had crappy perf from a set of Bosch. You can get burn marks on a rotor after 5 minutes of running, 47 jugavolts spark gapping can leave carbon scorching in very little time.


Speedometer or odometer if both you may have popped the cable off of it. You can take the drivers side vent out and worm your arm to the back of the cluster and POP it back on. If it is the Odometer then that is usually the gear inside the unit.

I have a how I do that on the water pump replacement from "above".
And if you haven't replaced your main grounds now it the time to do so.
Briano

Yes as matter of fact, I have the Luck o'the Irish...everything I touch turns to fertilizer of the bovine variety.
You can lead a user to a link, but you can't make him Click.... :screwy:
whitecabby
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat Mar 22, 2014 11:37 am
What year is your cabby?: 1989
Do you own a Cabriolet?: Yes

Re: oil too hot? General poor running?

Post by whitecabby »

Thanks - Yes, we looked to timing because of the location of the burn marks. Marks were pretty well off center. Timing belt seemed loose enough to have jumped; which seemed to explain why it went from running questionably to "whoa what happened" :)

I'm anxious to get back to timing to see if it is the problem. The water pump and thermo replacement has been giving us fits - but your guides online have been a tremendous help. Our headaches have come from the quality of the job done last time around and lack of time to complete it in!

Dang, I've missed most of our summer! But hey, its the first real problem I've had with the car in the time I've owned it..
whitecabby
Posts: 34
Joined: Sat Mar 22, 2014 11:37 am
What year is your cabby?: 1989
Do you own a Cabriolet?: Yes

Re: oil too hot? General poor running?

Post by whitecabby »

interesting; the timing belt was loose enough to twist a full 180. And it was a Napa belt so not original. Interesting.
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