SparTTan

but automotive-related and there is a lot of knowledge on this forum so maybe some can give me insight.

My wife's car is a MINI Cooper S, equipped with a few optional gauges. One of those is an oil temperature gauge. What does this tell me that the coolant temperature gauge doesn't? Do I interpret the information differently than the coolant temp? The oil temp always seems to lag the coolant temp. I'm just not sure why the car would need both---if the oil temp is above normal, wouldn't the coolant temp be also?

TIA - I know, wrong forum, but I don't visit the MINI forums that often so I don't know what the vibe is there.

JohnLZ7W

with a boosted car you usually want the oil to be warmed up before you get into boost. Since the TT doesn't have an oil temp gauge we're stuck with just waiting for the coolant to get up to temp and hoping that the oil is warm enough as well. If you have an oil temp gauge you'd have a better idea of when the engine was ready to boost.

TT_Nuge

It's surprising how long it takes the oil temp to even move once the coolant is at temp

JustJeff

oil wear/breakdown.

higher temps can indicate low oil.

DumpTTruck

performance. High coolant/ low oil temps can indicate hot pistons (lean etc). Low coolant/high oil temps can indicate oil flow issues.

Oil will brake down at lower temps than the coolant. I wouldn't want much over 200*F.

SparTTan

whereas the coolant gets up to temp pretty quickly.

DumpTTruck

As it should be. 120*F for most oil is perfect.