How long to warm up engine oil
 

Hi guys,

Just a quick question, every day I ride to work, the highway is only 4 kms away from home. I'm normally running late so I'll ride up the hw at 120 kph. How long does it take for the oil to warm enough before damage ? is 4 kms of under 3500rpm enough ?

Thanks Matt 3AJ

10km between 3 & 4krpm is considered sufficient. I am at present looking into the possibility of fitting a heater pad to my oil tank - if anyone has a good suggestion they are welcome to post it!

Thanks for the reply, I should also say I always have the oil level at the "full" mark. I've noticed when the level is low and the engine is hot, its difficult to select neutral. Easy gauge !

I plan on fitting a temperature gauge, but not in the oil reservoir - either I need to ride without the side panel or need to cut a hole to read it. I've found a temp gauge that fits in front of the fuel tank. Nice and easy to read. However I wanted to fit a magnetic sump nut and I'll that's where the oil temp sensor fits, so unless I can find a magnetic oil sensor plug.... nothings moving forward. I also use decent grade oil.

Cheers
Matt

I've recently fitted an oil temperature gauge into the oil tank of my XT600E. I find that after around 8km of riding from cold in the morning - treating the bike fairly carefully - the oil tank temperature is 80degC. On a quiet ride in the countryside the bike varies between 80 and 100 - so I consider the 8km to be a good warm up distance.I have yet to work the bike hard in hot weather to see what the max operating temp is.
Having said this, what harm would be done driving hard after 5km at around 60 degC?

60 deg C. seems enough to me, especially because my 660 hardly gets hotter than that except in warm summer weather.
Matt, you're supposed to always keep this engine above 3500 rpm!

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Fred, XTZ660, Holland.

Thanks guys,

Fred after checking this morning, its fair to say I keep the rev's between 2500 and 5500 rpm and never go into 5th gear unless at 3500+....rarely do I rev the bike above 5500.

I'm hoping it all hold together for a few more years yet ...

For information - I went out yesterday on a mildly hilly ride and took a bit more notice than usual of my oil temp. gauge. My bike rattles for the first 5 or so km - don't know why - and I noted that the rattle had gone away at 60deg C at oil tank (under the tank on the XT600E). So 60deg C seems like a good temperature and can be achieved in 5 or so km obviously depending on speed, hills etc. Later in the day, on a few hills (say 200m 300m climbs) the bike was running at 80-90degC.