Very high oil temp on interstate, XLT 2025 2.3 MPC.

[Nomadic Ranger]

Temps are normal in town and when driving around 55mph. On interstate for 3 hour road trip with speeds 70-80 and the temp gauge pretty much held this constant until we went back down to 55 and it slowly went down.

I’ve seen post saying it’s normal and that ford says high temps are normal, but good lord man it’s almost in the red!

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[Ron Quixote]

I get the same reading on long interstate pulls.

 

[snowman3]

I never would have expected that. 2k rpms at 70mph you are probably in 10th gear. Not pushing the engine hard. engine temp is good. tran temp is good. No turbo boost. What would be making the oil hot?

 

[Intercontinental_Ranger]

Were you towing? I just did a 4 hour trip, same average speeds, oil temp was dead center the whole way

 

[Nomadic Ranger]

I never would have expected that. 2k rpms at 70mph you are probably in 10th gear. Not pushing the engine hard. engine temp is good. tran temp is good. No turbo boost. What would be making the oil hot?

I’m not sure. I’ve messaged Ford about it but it’s a little high for “low stress” cruising.

 

[Nomadic Ranger]

Were you towing? I just did a 4 hour trip, same average speeds, oil temp was dead center the whole way

Ours was a 3 1/2 hour trip but broken up into two 20 minute stops. Not towing and I only had a tonnea cover and luggage in the bed. it was also down hill technically (going to the beach) and at night when it was cooler. I’m just concerned about long term oil life and motor damage from it running so hot. I’ll probably be changing it every 3k if it’s this high on long interstate trips.

 

[stemplar]

Ours was a 3 1/2 hour trip but broken up into two 20 minute stops. Not towing and I only had a tonnea cover and luggage in the bed. it was also down hill technically (going to the beach) and at night when it was cooler. I’m just concerned about long term oil life and motor damage from it running so hot. I’ll probably be changing it every 3k if it’s this high on long interstate trips.

Send a sample of your oil to a lab like Blackstone for analysis at the next change; include the tbn to measure how well the additive package is holding up. Only worry if the science tells you there’s something to worry about.

 

[ryanO]

Temps are normal in town and when driving around 55mph. On interstate for 3 hour road trip with speeds 70-80 and the temp gauge pretty much held this constant until we went back down to 55 and it slowly went down.

I’ve seen post saying it’s normal and that ford says high temps are normal, but good lord man it’s almost in the red!

I have a 2025 XLT with the 2.7L and never see anything about the halfway point. If I were you I'd get a unit to plugs into the OBD2 port and monitor the actual temps

 

[kvranger]

The coolant reservoir cap wasn’t sealing on mine from the factory and I had this problem. New cap solved it for me

 

[MasterCylinder]

Temps are normal in town and when driving around 55mph. On interstate for 3 hour road trip with speeds 70-80 and the temp gauge pretty much held this constant until we went back down to 55 and it slowly went down.

I’ve seen post saying it’s normal and that ford says high temps are normal, but good lord man it’s almost in the red!

As a suggestion. Don't rely on those factory gauges to be anything but a guesstimate. Use forscan and those readings to understand the range of temps your seeing per your on dash gauge readings. Many same type vehicles will display a slight difference in factory gauge readout.

 

[mahtomedichris]

The 2.3 MPC doesn't have a oil temperature sending unit. The computer generated reading is bogus. Fords engineers and my nerdy Ford Dealership mechanic told me so. Personally I don't even pull the gauge up anymore.

 

[ryanO]

The 2.3 MPC doesn't have a oil temperature sending unit. The computer generated reading is bogus. Fords engineers and my nerdy Ford Dealership mechanic told me so. Personally I don't even pull the gauge up anymore.

The ECM calculates it and its more accurate than a sensor. I'm not an auto engineer but I am a design engineer and work on massive Central Utility Plants. In today's day, sensors are becoming more obsolete and for good reason. As we move closer to operations that require no humans, we are able to get better and more accurate data from computer calculations rather than relying on a "sensor" that WILL fail and WILL generate faulty data. Sadly, many "technicians" and older operations people refuse to believe this and will eventually be replaced (within a year we will be able to run a hospital utility plant with zero people necessary) because they believe they know better.
In this case, the ECM is gathering multiple data points and running complex calculations that are more accurate than a sensor over time.

 

[mahtomedichris]

P.S. My nerdy Ford mechanic is 27. And the computer generated oil temp needs a software update.

 

[Nomadic Ranger]

The ECM calculates it and its more accurate than a sensor. I'm not an auto engineer but I am a design engineer and work on massive Central Utility Plants. In today's day, sensors are becoming more obsolete and for good reason. As we move closer to operations that require no humans, we are able to get better and more accurate data from computer calculations rather than relying on a "sensor" that WILL fail and WILL generate faulty data. Sadly, many "technicians" and older operations people refuse to believe this and will eventually be replaced (within a year we will be able to run a hospital utility plant with zero people necessary) because they believe they know better.
In this case, the ECM is gathering multiple data points and running complex calculations that are more accurate than a sensor over time.

So using Forscan to look at this data would be best then? It’s not quite in the red I just feel like even the “dummy gauge” should not be that high. Do we know the range of temps these motors operate at?

 

[ryanO]

So using Forscan to look at this data would be best then? It’s not quite in the red I just feel like even the “dummy gauge” should not be that high. Do we know the range of temps these motors operate at?

I 100% would get an external temp gauge that connects to your OBD2 port and pull the actual temps from the ECM. IMHO, anything above 260 for normal driving would concern me. Others here may offer a specific temp range they would recommend to consider.

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