91MR2

Rabin, good info., I found the same regarding safe (and even preferred) oil temperatures. I'm chalking my more recently higher temps. to it being summer, until I can get a hold of an infrared thermometer (stopped at harbor freight again today, still out of them). Going to take another long drive tonight. And you're right re. car companies not putting these gauges in anymore, as it would def. wig out the average driver...well, if they bothered to pay any attention to them in the first place...

Did not know this, thank you.

Took the car for a long ride tonight, probably about 80 miles. Ran fantastic, and the oil temp. held steady at about 205-210 pretty much the entire ride. The outside temp. was a bit cooler, around 60 degrees, and was cruising mostly in 5th around 65-70 mph, with the occasional downshift and accelerating up through the revs. Posted some photos of the gauges on the way home. Coolant was around 175 the entire ride, started creeping up as I was idling to take the photos, oil was again pretty much right in the middle between 190 and the next dash (assumed to be around 228), so around 210ish...

Went to get an infrared thermometer yesterday at harbor freight but they were out of them. Will be stopping back this week to grab one. Haven't driven the car but will be taking it out today to run some errands and get some real miles on the car. Funny, I seem to drive my cars less the more sorted they are...

Yeah, in the US, classic cars almost have to be on a specialty or stated vale policy with a company like Haggerty or Grundy. In the case of my Mi16 and the MR2's, they are in that weird camp of being too new to be classics, but also too old to have any value, and regular insurance companies basically value the cars for scrap money. Quite sad.

Washed the car today, plan to drive it a good bit tomorrow and also going to pick up an infrared thermometer to check the oil pan temps. and see if the gauge is off...

Correct Mike, same here, we also had to send in photos. Although I'm not insured at 70K, ha...

Yes, I am going to be picking up an infrared thermometer any day now to check. With Haggerty, you do not need an appraisal, you just tell them what you want it insured for and the rate you pay is based on the amount of insurance. Of course it has to be within a certain range, you can't just insure a 405 for 50,000…

Thank you, will keep an eye out.

Forgot to answer your other question. Keeping the car OEM and as pristine as possible. I have it insured for 10K through Haggerty, which is a stated value policy. With all the time and money I have invested in this car, even if I ever wanted to sell, I wouldn't consider an offer under that amount. Then again, probably no one would ever consider that amount either, so I guess I'm good, ha...

Goce, thanks, I'll keep that in mind to not shut off until temps. come down. Where can I buy this oil cooler arrangement below the oil filter? Are they available?

Hi Rabin. I haven't had any check engine lights or codes since the injectors were ultrasonically cleaned correctly and put back in. No hesitations, no misfires, no issues at all, running great. It doesn't seem to rev that much differently than before, but I think that's because my fuel injector cleaner had definitely helped out in that department at first. Now that both axle seals (passenger side for the 2nd time in 2 weeks) are new again, that seemed to do the trick, the initial new passenger side axle seal must have just been a bad one, because it was leaking through the center portion quite badly. But that is all fixed now. I suppose my only concern left at this point is the higher oil temperatures that I've been seeing lately, than what I remember seeing before. As it has been discussed so far here, no one seems concerned about the temperatures I'm currently registering, but again I am pointing out that it is a change from what I used to have before. And that is what concerns me. Going from around 190-210 is what I was used to, but now seeing 240 even close to 250 is a bit concerning, because I'm not sure what changed…

Went to the garage this morning, totally dry underneath, we are going to call this one fixed…

Hey guys, so we put the 2nd "new" passenger side axle seal in today, so far, no leaks. I think I had just gotten a bad one...will continue to monitor... Otherwise, car has been great, just running those higher oil temps...

Yeah, I was half joking with my post, just because I knew since we put the axles back in the day before, the odds are likely that it would've been the Peugeot that was leaking it out… It was more of an annoyance than anything, because I was looking to take the car on a real shakedown run, about a three hour round-trip that morning, but that's what I walked into when I went into my garage… All things considered, I am very pleased with the car at the moment. It has come a very long way in the last six months, this will be sorted by the end of next week and hopefully that will be the end of it… The gear oil I was running was 75-90 weight, it was half Mobil1 and half Redline, using up what I had…both synthetic...

It looks like it's leaking through the middle of the seal, but I will let my mechanic know about this information, thank you.

Small backtrack, went to the garage this morning and instantly smelled gear oil...sigh...I knew which car to look under... Apparently the new axle seals (just the passenger side actually) from the new cv boot install decided to let go and spill a ton of fluid over the the floor. Must have been a bad one. Oh well, got a few new ones on the way, I guess we're down for another week...

Goce, thanks for that info., I didn't even know about this heat exchanger. I'll look into this...

Coolant temps. have been fine. When moving, usually around 175-190, when idling for a while, will get up to about 210, but the fans come on and kick it back down to normal...

By heat exchanger, I assume you mean the radiator? If so, the car has already been flushed out and new coolant run through...

On a different note, I just updated and tallied up my excel sheet that I've had since I bought the car (basically a chronological breakdown of all the parts/labor/jobs the car has had done), looking at my total investment into everything so far. I'm more into it than where I wanted to be, but still at a # I can feel comfortable with given the end product. And quite honestly, the bigger investment was the way to go here, since literally every system has been gone over now, and I have more confidence in the car than I ever would have had since we have taken it this far...

SRDT, you are correct, I still just can't get over how hot it has gotten lately. It is more that I don't recall it ever getting this hot before, and that is what concerns me, the change/increase in temperature, as I recall it never seemed to get much hotter than 210ish...

Also, worth mentioning, the oil temperature gauge hit around 240F on the way home. Going to try and get a hold of a thermal camera, per Rabin's advice, going to see if these temperatures are to be believed...if true, going to look into an oil cooler set up...

Hey guys, small update, finally got my axle boots replaced. This was the last major job to complete and the car is basically done now as far as the restoration/maintenance, at least for this year. Unfortunately we found after doing the timing belt that the cam seals seem to be leaking, so just going to wait until next year to do all that again. No other leaks that we've found, at least so far. For now, I'm just going to drive it for the rest of the year and enjoy it. Stay tuned for glamour shots in the future...

Rabin, good point, thermal camera is worth looking for. And yes, the Esprit has a greater cooling capacity, about 7.2 quarts.