[N54Society]

Before spirited drive to redline a couple of nights ago:
My car would not get hotter than 220-230 driving my 22 mile commute to work. Not really gunning and almost freeway miles the whole time.

After spirited drive to redline a couple of nights ago (the following day):
My car now gets up in the 240-250 on the same drive and I'm taking it very slowly. Not pushing the car at all.

Ambient temperature: 80F (both days - just a couple of days apart).

My only mods are BMS DCI and VRSF CP+BOV. Could it be that when I ran the car really hard I might have burned off the protective properties of the oil? I mean, during that redline session, I never saw the oil temps rise above 250. I did redline gears 1-5.

Right now, from what I can tell (and I ALWAYS watch the oil temps), my temps are 10F hotter than usual. My car should be around 230 after my commute, not 240F as it is now.

Oil is Mobil 1 0W-40 and only 2k miles old. The level indicated it was less than halfway between min and max so I topped it off and it now sits at max. The coolant was replaced 2k miles ago too. I put enough in and purged the system of any air. I used one gallon BMW blue coolant and another gallon of distilled water. I opened the cap for coolant reservoir this morning and noticed the red floaty thing was all the way down, not floating. Could it be that I evaporated the water/coolant (most likely water) from the system? The car is too hot to do it or else I would do it right now.

Thanks for any help in advance.

[335NJ]

Redlining 1-5 will significantly bring the engine oil temp up. Do you have an oil cooler?

[N54Society]

Originally Posted by 335NJ

Redlining 1-5 will significantly bring the engine oil temp up. Do you have an oil cooler?

Yes, it will but my temps have been higher days after that redlining incident. It starts off at 160 and climbs gradually over 15-20 minutes. It's like my new high temp after the car has been on for more than 20 minutes is 240F. That was not the case for the past two months, basically since I got the coolant flushed and replaced. Yes my car has an oil cooler.

[mojobmw_e90]

Check ur valve cover gasket

[Tom Droze]

Originally Posted by vbp6us

Yes, it will but my temps have been higher days after that redlining incident. It starts off at 160 and climbs gradually over 15-20 minutes. It's like my new high temp after the car has been on for more than 20 minutes is 240F. That was not the case for the past two months, basically since I got the coolant flushed and replaced.

Coolant is actually very poor at absorbing heat and your car will actually run cooler on pure water. You might try draining some of the coolant and adding some distilled water to dilute the coolant.

[N54Society]

Originally Posted by mojobmw_e90

Check ur valve cover gasket

I replaced the valve cover using the ECS kit along with the oil filter housing gasket on August 20th, 2015. The coolant hose and flange that go into the head were also replaced. It's not that.

Originally Posted by Tom Droze

Coolant is actually very poor at absorbing heat and your car will actually run cooler on pure water. You might try draining some of the coolant and adding some distilled water to dilute the coolant.

Hmm...doesn't coolant raise the boiling point of water? If I run just water, shouldn't I add water wetter or some equivalent?

[JStang]

240 is perfectly normal. Not sure why you were seeing 220.

[Jaronbwall]

Can I say water pump?... You may want to check it depending on how old it is. Mine slowly went out over the course of a few days.

[Sgop335]

All the guy make good points. Has the wp replaced? How many miles?

Water wetter may be a good idea, im running approx 40 60 water w water wetter. Max temp for me on a hot day are 235 after spirited driving. Nowadays im around 220, its cooler now.

If i remember correctly think my temps crept up before the wp died.

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Are we reading oil temps or water temps here?

The gauge on the cluster is for OIL temps.

220-240 is normal for oil.

Water temp should be 220, not shown on cluster.

[Tom Droze]

Originally Posted by vbp6us

I replaced the valve cover using the ECS kit along with the oil filter housing gasket on August 20th, 2015. The coolant hose and flange that go into the head were also replaced. It's not that.



Hmm...doesn't coolant raise the boiling point of water? If I run just water, shouldn't I add water wetter or some equivalent?

Yes, but that only becomes significant if you are approaching the boiling point. More importantly you want your cooling system to be as efficient as it can be at removing heat. To do that you need a fluid that is a good conductor of heat, which coolant is not. If you run water only, yes, add Water Wetter, but I suggested just diluting your current coolant mixture with distilled water.

But like others have asked, are you reading oil temperature or water temperature?

[Sgop335]

Its reasonably obvious op is referring to oil temps.

[ajsalida]

Not sure I have the chronology right. Was the oil level low when you did the 1-5 redline run? And how about the coolant?

Depending on the chronology it could be you had a minor coolant leak and low oil level, running to redline increased stress and made the coolant leak worse and you lost a ton of it. After going back to normal driving you're riding around with both low coolant and low oil ergo higher oil temps due to less fluid to absorb and dissipate heat. Similarly you could have an oil leak as well, or blew a bunch of it out the exhaust during the run from something leaking internally.

If the oil temp issue did not go away after topping up oil and coolant, this scenario is wrong obviously. First thing I'd do is pull the cover off underneath and inspect for coolant & oil leaks.

edit: if you're losing that much coolant and oil on one redline 1-5 run and there are no external leaks, this is not good. HG.

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Originally Posted by Sgop335

Its reasonably obvious op is referring to oil temps.

How so?

Why does he keep referring to coolant temps if oil isn't coolant?

Why does he keep insisting it should be 220 when operating temp of oil is technically 238 on this platform.

A majority of people that own this vehicle don't know the temp gauge is for oil. (this would exclude savvy and typical enthusiasts).

[ajsalida]

Well car had both low oil and low coolant last night according to him. Question is whether that was the case prior to his 1-5 run or the run somehow caused it.

[Sgop335]

Originally Posted by Jeff@TopGearSolutions

How so?

Why does he keep referring to coolant temps if oil isn't coolant?

Why does he keep insisting it should be 220 when operating temp of oil is technically 238 on this platform.

A majority of people that own this vehicle don't know the temp gauge is for oil. (this would exclude savvy and typical enthusiasts).

Jeff i agree we find many in here thinking the gage is coolant temp. But op says oil temps at least a couple times in his post.

Also, my oil temps (gage) are anywhere from 220 -235 depending on my drive and amb conditions. So i see where he is coming from.

[3THRTY5]

Check your coolant level....top it off with distilled water if need be. As long as you're not going over 250 you should be fine. These motors take forever to warm up then run hot. Seems normal to me

[N54Society]

Originally Posted by Jarronbwall

Can I say water pump?... You may want to check it depending on how old it is. Mine slowly went out over the course of a few days.

The water pump and t-stat were replaced January of 2014. I don't believe they've gone bad.

Originally Posted by Sgop335

All the guy make good points. Has the wp replaced? How many miles?

Water wetter may be a good idea, im running approx 40 60 water w water wetter. Max temp for me on a hot day are 235 after spirited driving. Nowadays im around 220, its cooler now.

If i remember correctly think my temps crept up before the wp died.

Yes, the WP was replaced January of 2014, not that long ago. That was around 80k miles. I'm at 112k now. Can you explain what you mean by "40 60"?

I'm going to try water wetter too. Did you use any coolant along with the water and water wetter?

Originally Posted by Jeff@TopGearSolutions

Are we reading oil temps or water temps here?

The gauge on the cluster is for OIL temps.

220-240 is normal for oil.

Water temp should be 220, not shown on cluster.

Oil temps.

Originally Posted by Tom Droze

Yes, but that only becomes significant if you are approaching the boiling point. More importantly you want your cooling system to be as efficient as it can be at removing heat. To do that you need a fluid that is a good conductor of heat, which coolant is not. If you run water only, yes, add Water Wetter, but I suggested just diluting your current coolant mixture with distilled water.

But like others have asked, are you reading oil temperature or water temperature?

I'm reading oil temps.

Originally Posted by Sgop335

Its reasonably obvious op is referring to oil temps.

Thanks.

Originally Posted by ajsalida

Not sure I have the chronology right. Was the oil level low when you did the 1-5 redline run? And how about the coolant?

Depending on the chronology it could be you had a minor coolant leak and low oil level, running to redline increased stress and made the coolant leak worse and you lost a ton of it. After going back to normal driving you're riding around with both low coolant and low oil ergo higher oil temps due to less fluid to absorb and dissipate heat. Similarly you could have an oil leak as well, or blew a bunch of it out the exhaust during the run from something leaking internally.

If the oil temp issue did not go away after topping up oil and coolant, this scenario is wrong obviously. First thing I'd do is pull the cover off underneath and inspect for coolant & oil leaks.

edit: if you're losing that much coolant and oil on one redline 1-5 run and there are no external leaks, this is not good. HG.

The oil level was at a quarter over the min mark. I topped it off to max. I do have a leaking oil pan which lets oil seep out but it's not significant. Coolant level has been pretty stable. It went down a little but not much and I topped that off as well.

Originally Posted by Jeff@TopGearSolutions

How so?

Why does he keep referring to coolant temps if oil isn't coolant?

Why does he keep insisting it should be 220 when operating temp of oil is technically 238 on this platform.

A majority of people that own this vehicle don't know the temp gauge is for oil. (this would exclude savvy and typical enthusiasts).

I know what I'm reading is the oil temp. The reason why I'm asking about oil and coolant is because the oil temps could go up if you don't have enough coolant. Oil cools the engine, and the coolant cools the oil, as I understand it, so there is a correlation. I used to see 230F oil temperature after a 30 minute drive. 220F in some cases.

Originally Posted by ajsalida

Well car had both low oil and low coolant last night according to him. Question is whether that was the case prior to his 1-5 run or the run somehow caused it.

I added exactly one quart (I only used 6.5QT during the last oil change, so it burned half a quart or so) and it jumped to max. I got a chance to add distilled water this morning and it wouldn't let me add more than a cup before the red floaty thing popped up. It can't be from a lack of coolant/water if the floaty thing rises, right?

Originally Posted by Sgop335

Jeff i agree we find many in here thinking the gage is coolant temp. But op says oil temps at least a couple times in his post.

Also, my oil temps (gage) are anywhere from 220 -235 depending on my drive and amb conditions. So i see where he is coming from.

Yeah, I was referring to oil temps, not coolant temps. I don't even know where to check coolant temps.

Originally Posted by 3THRTY5

Check your coolant level....top it off with distilled water if need be. As long as you're not going over 250 you should be fine. These motors take forever to warm up then run hot. Seems normal to me

I hope you're right and it's normal. I topped the reservoir off this morning using only a cup to get it to the full mark (aka the red floaty thing rising).

Could it have been a bubble stuck in there all this time that needed to be purged out? I can't see that being the case either because the system ran so nice and cool over the past couple of months. I'm perplexed. I'm thinking an oil change and coolant flush is in order, even though it was done 2 months ago. I know for a fact that the radiator fan kicks on. I know my oil level is at max (has been for a couple of days, checked it on the freeway and a standstill). Coolant is topped off, from what I can tell, using the red float in the reservoir as my indicator. Not sure what else to check.

Action items:
-Add water wetter

[j1gilles]

Leaking injectors can cause oil temps to rise... An oil temp of 240 is normal though so I would worry about it.

[Sgop335]

Red floaty thing, cute.

Yo, most coolant mix are 50 50, 40 60 means 40% coolant 60% water.

[marcvtec]

Anything under 250 is fine, party on wayne!
top up all fluids and enjoy