[911monty]

Your temp gage indicates coolant temp (water) and heats up to 180 deg relatively quickly with a closed T-stat as it pulls the heat of combustion from the cylinders. Motor Oil conducts and transfers heat much slower and while it does conduct residual heat from the cylinders the majority of the combustion heat goes into the coolant. During this time the oil cooler is actually an oil heater. I believe it is generally accepted that the motor oil and engine block take a minimum~15 to 20 minutes to come up to operating temp. It takes a while to heat 2 gallons of oil. I really wish the oil temp (from the dipstick probe) was indicated on the dash.