Can somebody tell me what temp. I should shut my engine off.

 

From what I can find out, the normal temp range for a performance build is ~210ºF - 230ºF, depending on other factors such as ambient air temp and traffic situation. That is the range I am seeing with my 95 build as I ride around H-Town this summer. After a hard ride on the freeway (70-80 mph) with the OAT at ~92+, my oil temp is usually right at ±220ºF, when I check it with a digital thermometer stuck down into the oil tank.

Most oil starts breaking down at 300ºF so I would consider anything above 250ºF as getting hot and time to look for a spot to cool down. When it starts getting hot, I start closely monitoring the oil pressure. If that starts dropping, it is time to shut down and take a break. I have not seen an oil pressure drop at 230ºF, indicated.

 

Well I have not ever heard on one Harley that has fried because of heat.

 

just because you haven't heard about it, doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

google it

 

I have Wards fans and an oil temp gauge that reads oil temps from the bottom of the pan. I wouldn't give either of them up, but that's me. Some of us like data and want to know what is going on, some don't.

I never obsess over the temp but if I am in a situation where the engine temps are getting out of my comfort range I start looking for a way to make things better. The fans are a big help to keep heat under control, the gauge allows me to monitor the temps.

 

I have.

I was at a performance seminar at my HD dealer and they shared the story of a guy who bought a new bike and when he left the sales floor he got hung up in traffic for an extended time on a hot day. The motor stopped and after towing and inspection determined it was fried. They did mention the MOCO replaced the engine.

I assume the guy had no clue and thought the air cooled engine was like a car?

 

this is oil temp. the op is talking cylinder head temp. two different readings. if you get used to looking at your oil temp, and then check your cylinder head temp, you'll have a coronary.

 

I do believe in ignorance is bliss on some things. And comparing a liquid cooled car to an air cooled motorcycle is two different beasts. A car can run out of coolant and over heat to the point of damage. A motorcycle is not going to run out of air and overheating to the point of damage is extremely rare or we'd be hearing about it constantly on this forum. This is the first thread I've ever read that mentions overheating to the point of locking up and it's a second hand story. They were engineered to take the heat. Now if it was a rushmore, I'd want to know the coolant temp. It was probably a rushmore that fried and being brand new on the ride home, it could have been a bad engine.

I'm not knocking you guys that want all the info/gauges they can get. Knowledge is king, Just stating my personal preference that knowing the head temperature is not that critical to me. If I had a high performance build, maybe oil temp.

 

You'll need to cool down before the bike does. I live in the south west and can't tell you how many times we've been stuck in stopped traffic with outside temps around 100f. 103/110 air cooled twin cams without any issues. Stop freaking out over engine/oil/head temps and ride the freaking thing.

 

Funny you should mention a coronary...BTDT already. Right now I am grounded because it is too hot and humid outside for my health, not the bike's. LOL.

I have checked it with an infrared thermometer when the oil temp read over 230ºF with the digital thermometer and my oil temp gauge and it gets pretty high...hotter than an aircraft air cooled piston engine, in fact.

This is a screen-shot before I attempted my first tune after getting this engine build up and running. I was in stuck in heavy traffic that day. It was hot outside (November can still be that hot down here) and the engine was running hot as you can see. I was able to tune it down some, but I was spooked and added an oil cooler and started researching different oils, and adding an oil temp gauge to monitor it...