I have a 2001 Sportster Sport. I bought it used and haven't gotten an owners manual for it yet. Does anybody know the upper limits for the oil temp?

Well most of the bikes that i've read on this forum are in the low to mid 200*F mark. I have an '03 and it hangs out at about 220*F. By the way Welcome to the Forum...

Oil breakdown with dino oil occurs above 250 degrees for any sustained length of time. If it gets to that point, which it should'nt unless your running in extremely hot ambien air temps., you need to use synthetic oil & get an oil cooler. :wonderlan

Oil should optimally reach a temperature inside the engine that will vaporize any moisture present. My understanding is that at temperatures over 230F, conventional oil break-down accelerates significantly.

Depends on where you measure it. That 230F is in the tank, so it would be around 150 or more in the engine.

If your oil is not getting to at least 180 in the tank, then you should be changing it more often in order to protect against the very damaging effect of accumulating moisture.

How's zat? :)

Oh yeah, I highly recommend a good quality synthetic. Certainly doesn't hurt.

Interesting numbers... I am seeing only about 150 to 155 now a days in the oil tank. And I seen some other posts here the same numbers... but just started checking it. It is cool here though. The ambient air temps I have been riding in are from 45 to 55 F...

Interesting numbers... I am seeing only about 150 to 155 now a days in the oil tank. And I seen some other posts here the same numbers... but just started checking it. It is cool here though. The ambient air temps I have been riding in are from 45 to 55 F...

same here—150/155

It's probably a little hotter in the engine than the tank. The heads breathe a bit of moisture.
I wouldn't worry about lower temps than 200. :)

I agree.........Temps at 160 are normal if you like to ride in cold weather. I
Make a habit of idling my bike for 3-5 mins after a ride before I shut it off.
Helps with the moister build up.

I have a 2001 Sportster Sport. I bought it used and haven't gotten an owners manual for it yet. Does anybody know the upper limits for the oil temp?


OK, great information in all these replies although was not my question. I too bought a used 01 sportster and was also not sure of the upper limits for the oil temp. Was thinking about an oil cooler for riding in hot weather i.e. arizona etc. Confirms my thinking except now I have more information to work with. Very useful information. :clap .............. sportyblue

the ambient temp doesn't have a great effect on the oil temp...


now that may sound like a strange statement........ but how the bike is riden will make more difference...


even up to extremes in ambient temps your normal good quality dino oil will hold up under normal riding ..

HOWEVER ....

an oil cooler and different oil may be nesc if you ride in high ambient temps in traffic.....

the stop start of urban traffic makes it difficult for enough air to flow over the engine to keep it at normal operating temp..... and MAY require a cooler ... but get one with a thermostat and you'll be surprised how little the thermostat is opened

the ambient temp doesn't have a great effect on the oil temp...


now that may sound like a strange statement........ but how the bike is riden will make more difference...


even up to extremes in ambient temps your normal good quality dino oil will hold up under normal riding ..

HOWEVER ....

an oil cooler and different oil may be nesc if you ride in high ambient temps in traffic.....

the stop start of urban traffic makes it difficult for enough air to flow over the engine to keep it at normal operating temp..... and MAY require a cooler ... but get one with a thermostat and you'll be surprised how little the thermostat is opened

I think you're right Stevo. I don't have a thermostat because I'm wary of it sticking in the middle of ON/OFF and blocking flow, but it doesn't seem to be needed that much unless it's really hot out or traffic is bad. When it's not too hot I stick a cover on it to block airflow over the cooler. I run synthetic oil because of the wear test comparisons that have been done.

I have a 2004 1200, and I notice that while riding in cooler weather (40's and 50's) I don't get much above 180 in the tank. In the middle of summer it gets well into the 90s here sometimes, and temps stay around 190-205 in the tank. In traffic on HOT days (at Americade) I've seen as high as 215-220, but that's been. Luckily there you can shut it down and just roll down the hill into town.

You need higher temps to get the moistiure out as others have said, but too high and you get breakdown. I was told not to switch to syn and not to get a cooler because my bike doesn't run that hot already, and running it cooler would limit it's ability vaporize the moisture. If you're seeing temps above 210-215 on a regular basis, then you may want to get a cooler, run syn, or both.

I don't think the oil temp in a Sport should be much different than anything else given the same environment and riding habits.

The hottest I've ran was about 190 in 90+ weather. I had M1 15w50 in there..people running HD Oil were about 10-15 degrees warmer

Well then I guess I should be seeing some higher temps when the weather warms up? Although some of you are discounting the effect of ambient temps I am not too sure I can go along with that. I know it affects automotive transmission temps. And those are air cooled. I realize it does not do much to Engine temps from water cooled motors because of all the controls and artificial cooling but I suspect it plays a more major role here than is being implied.

Here is an interesting tidbit I found by Googling. And seems HD specific and mirrors what some of the members are saying about best operating temps being above 180 and normals being between 200 and 240. But it also makes the claim that HD oil is good up to about 300 degree's.

there is also that disconnect between tank temp (which we are reading) and actual engine temp (which most of us cannot check). that relationship would be interesting to know. So we could apply a correction factor to our Oil tank dipstick.

http://www.munising.com/harley_oil.html

So I will carefully trace and watch my temps as the weather warms up. Supposed to be up in the low 70's the next few days. So I expect to see it getting in the 170 range if its linear to ambient. We shall see...

Normal oil temps in the oil tank are going to fluxuate with outside temps.

Right now with temps in the low 40's I tend to get oil temps right around 150 to 170 degrees after a 30 minute 70 mph ride to work. In the middle of the summer when outside temps are in the 90's I tend to get oil temps on the 190 to 210 degree range. So air temps do have some effect on oil temps, but it is not as drastic as one might think.

Unless you are riding in 100 plus degree temps, or in stop and go traffic in summer, or are really running it hard in the summer, then your temps shouldn't be above about 220 or so. If you are getting temps in the 250 range, you need to check engine tuning.

Normal oil temps in the oil tank are going to fluxuate with outside temps.

Right now with temps in the low 40's I tend to get oil temps right around 150 to 170 degrees after a 30 minute 70 mph ride to work. In the middle of the summer when outside temps are in the 90's I tend to get oil temps on the 190 to 210 degree range. So air temps do have some effect on oil temps, but it is not as drastic as one might think.

Unless you are riding in 100 plus degree temps, or in stop and go traffic in summer, or are really running it hard in the summer, then your temps shouldn't be above about 220 or so. If you are getting temps in the 250 range, you need to check engine tuning.

And just what the hell do you think you know about engine tuning? You think you got a fast bike or something?:p

And just what the hell do you think you know about engine tuning? You think you got a fast bike or something?:p
:D :shhhh maybe :shhhh

Just a thought but... For those of you seeing sustained temps over 200 deg, wouldn't a lean condition cause the engine to run hotter, thus the oil would be hotter? I only ask because we seem to have two groups emerging here: those w/ temps around 150-160, and those w/ temps around 190-200. I for one have an 01 1200S that runs in the mid 150's, low 160's during the summer. I've been using Mobile 1 V-Twin since last summer and noticed a 15-20 deg drop in oil temps since the switch.

Thoughts?

Cheers,
Luke

P.S. I'm with Stevo, + or - 30deg of air temp is not going to affect the engine/oil temp noticably unless you standing in traffic a lot. Its all about air flow over the engine, not air temp.

Lean at cruising speeds would heat things up a bit. Pig rich can cause excess heat as well. Driving style will give the biggest variance in oil temps. Lugging it in heavy traffic or flogging it for exteneded periods both cause higher temps.

temps in the sump of 200-210 are normal 240-250 degrees in the sump and the temp closer to the heads is gonna be closer to 300 degrees and thats to hotfor prolonged engine life. If in doubt spend the money on a cooler and run syn. oil. Its the cheapest insurence you can buy to extend the engine life.

On page 3-14 of the 04 service manual, when checking oil pressure "Engine oil should be at normal operating temperature(230*F)". I never got mine that hot.

Finaly saw the dip stick read close to or right on 200 F today... ambient temps in the high 70's... almost, if not right on, 80 today.

the ambient temp doesn't have a great effect on the oil temp...

I strongly disagree. Oil temp in 50F ambient conditions versus 100F will be significantly different, all else being equal. I've seen it and measures it myself. We're talking about a difference of 40F in oil temp in the tank, 180F versus 220F.

How the bike is ridden as you say also is very significant.

For instance, at the track on that 100F day, my oil temp hit 250F in the tank, where out cruising the countryside it didn't rise above 220F.