To be running an oil cooler, coupled with the fact that it's only spring. I was thinking 235 is warmer than I would want my oil to be. Gotta wonder where it would go when summer arrives with the heat and humidity?

 

Oil gets hotter than that in your Toyota!!
Big Block

 

Depends on the oil, depends on the cooler. I'm of the opinion that an oil temperature gauge is just one more thing to stress about. Run a quality synthetic and stop worrying about your oil temperature. 235 is well within acceptable temperatures. Start worrying when it hits 290.

 

I would agree with you except...I can feel a VERY noticeable decrease in performance when my oil temp exceeds 230. This may also be map related as I get some pinging when oil temps are over 230. I don't believe damage is being done, but my motor definitely likes the 185-220 or so range. Usually I'm able to keep it there. But like another poster stated, it's only spring. Once I get my new map and pipe I'll judge from there.

 

The cams I purchased on E-bay came in yesterday. When I got home I checked them out. They are in pristine condition and look to be very low miles, BUT they are definitely NOT SE-255 cams. I'm not sure what they are for sure, but they are press fit cams, not one piece. They look to be stock cams to me, but I could be wrong.

Be careful on e-bay.

 

I don't have my manual with me (didn't ride to work today), but I'm pretty sure that 200~240 degrees is the normal operating temperature for your bike. Butt dynos are notoriously inaccurate, but if you really are feeling a noticeable decrease in performance, you have an issue with your tune. Your bike should run like a top with 230 degree oil.

 

Not really. "Normal" by HD's definition and "optimal" aren't the same, and HD's spec of 230° for "normal oil temperature" refers to a stock bike. Tony's bike has a PCV with remapped AFR's and should be running cooler than he is, IMO.

What's more, the ECU will retard timing when a certain head temp is reached, and IMO if oil temps are 230° the head temps are high enough to trigger a change in ignition advance. I can definitely tell a difference when my bike's oil temp gets above about 210°, although the way this works with the '07 is different from later years. I think mine starts this process when the front head reaches 250-260°, which isn't that hot. Jamie at Fuel Moto could give more precise info on this, as I've discussed this with him in the past.

 

Which, as I said, indicates that he has a problem with his tune. If you're seeing a performance decrease with 210 degree oil, I'd question your tune as well. There's no way you should be yanking timing at 230 degrees, much less 210. I'm not familiar with the PC (I use a TTS), but is there some way you can monitor that and change it?

Edited to add - I'm not slagging anyone here, I'm actually curious. I wouldn't think twice about the bike running at 235 degrees unless it had been running substantially cooler under the same conditions and then suddenly spiked up.

But I stand by my statement that there's no way that you should be pulling timing if you're only showing 235 degrees (or 210). Something sounds very wrong with that.

 

OK contacted the e-bay seller and he seems genuinely upset he made this mistake. He has the real SE-255's that are stamped CVO 255 and he's over-nighting them to me.

For those of you that have PM'd me about the cams, once I check them out I'll put a price on them.

What is confusing is that the part number etchings on the cams he sent me start with 255. I can see where he may have made an honest mistake if he's not the one that did the swap. Guess we'll see when the other ones get here.

 

This behavior has nothing to do with the PC, and I don't know if TTS has any control over this programming strategy in the stock ECU. I know the PC doesn't.

Jamie at Fuel Moto told me the '07's begin retarding the ignition very early, IIRC around 250° measured on the front head. I don't know the spec on the '09, but 250° isn't hard to reach in summer riding. Jamie has access to more details of the ECU than most of us, as well as much more experience working with them, and I have no reason to doubt his statement to me. This "feature" is obviously to control detonation at higher temperatures.

Good point, but I personally wouldn't want my oil running 235° even in heavy summer traffic, although it has reached 230° on rare occasions even when switched to my rich map. These bikes will climb to these temps occasionally, especially if running stock AFR's and/or no oil cooler.

I don't recall Tony saying whether his bike was in traffic when it hit 235° or not, but remember that he's running a Stage II, which because of increased displacement and compression should run hotter than a TC96 with 255 cams in the same environment. If he saw 235° after sitting in slow-moving traffic for 20 min. I would consider this normal, even for a bike with a cooler and AFR's adjusted for cooling.

This behavior is related to head temperatures, and although the oil and head temps relate they don't do so directly. E.g., when head temps climb it takes the oil a while to catch up, conversely when cooling. I've seen head temps reaching 290° on my bike while idling in the garage, the temperature that EITMS kicks in, before the oil reaches 220°.