The International CBX Owners Association

Looking to fabricate and install a custom digital (chip based) oil temp sensor, to monitor my bike's oil temperature.
The sensor itself is tiny (like a small transistor) and so thinking of fabricating / modifying one of the many oil way plugs already used on this great engines (see pic). I wonder which one would be closer / more representative, to an 'optimal location' in the engine, to gauge oil temperature.
Any thoughts?
It goes without saying that there could be another obvious place, where I can place my sensor, I have not thought about.
Thanks
Aris

Aris:

There two different opinions regarding what an oil temperature sensor should measure and/or protect against: Excessively high temperatures or too low temperatures. If you are looking for the high end of the spectrum, you need to go as close as possible to an oil path coming from the head. The other "school of thought" ignores the high temperature side, mainly because it is not that much of a concern in daily use and focuses on the low side. Oil with too low temperature has marginal lubricating ability and oil kept below 200° ( about 95°C) will not rid itself of moisture very well. Trying to ensure a proper warm-up, I am particular to the second philosophy and install oil temperature senders in the oil tank/sump/reservoir.
I have one on a CBX in the drain plug. If your ambient temperature during the riding season is regularly over 85°F (30°C) and you have a lot of stop and go cycles, you may want to go to the high side.

I would use sump/reservoir, Aris. Other locations are too transient to be very indicative of overall conditions.

Back in 81, I installed a Stewart Warner temp sensor by drilling and tapping one of the block plugs. Seems to work just fine. It's the device with the blue-insulated ring terminal in the attached pic.

Thanks guys, this is very useful to get me going.
Al, what sort of oil temperatures are you experiencing with your setup?

Aris
I put a sensor on one of the left hand oil plugs and in the winter with temps in the 50's it stays around 180. Last weekend here in Atlanta with a temp of 84 it sat around 210 but went up to 250 in stop and go traffic.
Ross

Alberta has a cool climate. Oil temp usually runs between 200 and 260 F: lower on days where you'd rather not ride anyway. In Arizona, I've seen it hit 300 F.

Thanks Al, this is encouraging.
The sensor I'm looking to use is OK (just) at 300'F (~150'C where I come from).
Aris

We use Celsius too, but at the time I installed the sensor and gauge, the only commonly available set used Fahrenheit. I installed an oil-pressure gauge at the same time, which was calibrated in PSI. If either gauge quits working, I'll install metric.

If the oil temp tops 300 F, it's probably time to give the bike a break.

AJ, that's one nice clean installation. Good stuff!

asacuta wrote:
If the oil temp tops 300 F, it's probably time to give the bike a break.

Honestly, I would not let it go that high. Oil starts losing some of its lubrication qualities just above 250°F. Occasional excursions to 300°F are probably O.K., but if the temp gauge registers 300°F, you are looking at a continuous temperature level.

Synthetic oil can probably handle 300 F (at least, many manufacturers say it can); dino oil has long passed into dangerous territory at that temp.

Larry Zimmer wrote:AJ, that's one nice clean installation. Good stuff!

Thanks.

asacuta wrote:Synthetic oil can probably handle 300 F (at least, many manufacturers say it can); .

...and then you get into the debate, whether you should use synthetic oil in a CBX

Please.
No!!!!!!!!
All I wanted was some know how, so as to choose my oil temp sensor wisely.

Of course we could steer this thread to oil pressure sensors!
Which is the next objective for me.