On my Renault Alliance GTA (SCCA ITB) car I found on the back of the engine block what looked like a block-off plug. I unscrewed it and discovered it was plugging an oil galley. Why it was there I don't know, but it made a perfect place to put an oil temperature sender. Maybe the MINI engine has a similar stray oil passage block-off somewhere? (I haven't looked that close on mine to know for sure.) As for temperatures, as a general rule, at operating temperature (i.e., water at around 180-190F) oil temp is typically around 210-240F. Modern synththetic oils can take a few trips past 300F with no problem, but with any sustained high temps like that an oil change should be done. In my race car at the end of a session the oil temerature is only around 230F, but I have a small 10-row oil cooler mounted in the airflow behind the grille; without the cooler I imagine it would be running a good 50 degrees higher or so. |