yes to high of a temp can result in early retirement for your engine but if his engine doesnt start to make good power till it hits 270 or 280 then i wouldnt worry about it. I have seen engines that would run 300 degress all there life and have 6+ gallons through them and still running good. Now i would say any higher then and you prolly have a problem but some engines have to get up to those higher temps till they start to run good.

Now i never had a temp gun and i dont not know or care about the temps my engine's run at. I now as long as they are not running lean and do not have anything else wrong with them then they are fine. As long as nothing is wrong (such as air leaks and such ) and your not running it lean then you shouldnt have to worry about your temps. I have seen some people have temp guns and try to chase around a certain temp all day and they never had any fun with there rc's till i told them to get rid of the temp gun and they finally started to have fun. Yes a temp gun is still a valuable tool for a noob to have so they dont poof there engines but as long as your experienced enough and can tell when it;s lean or when it's rich then there is no need for a temp gun.

All a temp gun does is tell you what your temp is then you decide weather your running to hot- so you richen it up or if your cold- then you lean it out. Well i dont know about you but i can tell weather it's running lean or to rich so there is no need for a temp gun. Thats just money i can spend on a-arms and such. As i said make sure your not running lean or have an air leak and there is no need for a temp gun.

But i will say that most engines do run between 200 and 275-----BUT as i said most engines and not all engines.

But thats my opinion.