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No doubt that higher oil temperature would result in lower oil
pressure.
However, unless the engine is running with insufficient oil, I don't
see
how the oil level would drive oil temperature.

In flight, the oil eventually reaches a temperature equilibrium. It
cycles
through the engine, into the pan, then through the oil cooler. At a
given
power level, the engine adds X calories/minute (or joules, or whatever)
to
the oil and the cooler removes Y calories/minute. Eventually, the oil
temperature stabilizes at a temperature where X = Y. Oil level doesn't

change that temperature.


Sure, an airplane with 4 quarts in the sump will reach operating
temperature
faster than one with 8 quarts in the sump, but the difference isn't
that
great, and in the end, both engines should end up with the same oil
temperature...


KB


///////////////////////////
KB, First let me say you explained yourself well. My thoughts are this,
if the oil pump can move 4 quarts a minute through the motor and the
motor has 4 qts in it then the time spend in the sump/oilpan is
minimal. The sump/pan has intake tubes in it and a large surface that
dissapates heat as the air passes over the surfaces. If the oil level
is low the hot oil coming out of the motor is recirculated right back
before it can shed alot of its heat. If there is more oil in the
system, then it can spend a little more time in the sump/pan which then
will let it loose extra heat. Think of it like this, suppose you had a
solar heater for a swimming pool, the thing moves 10 gallons a minute
and raises the temp of the liquid passing through it 20 degrees. If the
pool holds 100 gallons then it will rise in temp pretty quick, if it
held 30,000 gallons by the time all the water is circulated, the
surface area will dissapate heat faster then the solar panel can keep
heating it.

If you had a 10 gallon pool with the same heat rejection ability as your
30,000 gallon pool, you'd get to the same temperature as your 30k gallon
pool. It ain't the mass of the fluid, it is the heat added to or rejected
from entire system. No doubt the 10 gallon pool would stabilize at the
equilibrium temperature faster, tho...

I agree if the pool was perfectly insulated then your
temperature equilibrium concept is valid. Am I missing something here??

I would say that regardless of oil level, the sump rejects Z calories of
heat per minute (due to the excellent heat conduction properties of
aluminum), so it really doesn't matter whether there are 4 or 8 quarts in
the sump. If you don't change the radiating area of the sump or the amount
of calories you need to reject via the sump the dwell time of the oil in the
sump really shouldn't matter in a meaningful way.

KB