running temp on track..

V

Vanne

Senior member
 Dubai
So ive beern taking a few notes and it seems that my car runs pretty hot on the track, initially I thought it was just the olil temp that was high (130 degrees) … (seems after looking at the logs it even goes up to 135) but I thought the water temp was steady and in the green arc... (it might actually help if I would actually look at the gauges sometimes while screeming round the track) :rofl:

anyways, while looking at the logs, I can see that the water tempo is really high too.. :|

So I bought a new Motorsport thermostat.. (55degree fully open)… (probably the old thermostat needed replacing anyways... lol) anyhows, hope this sorts out my issue.

Ive also got the oil divertor and a heater removal kit on order...

anyways, heres to hoping this will look better than this screenshot of one of my 32 laps last session.

(thamks for the info Josh :))

Log%20snapshot.png
 
Not sure I understand the logic of a 55'C stat - all that is going to do is delay the time it takes for the car to get to normal operating temperature of around 90-95'C which is not usually considered a good thing to do, especially on the road. It's not going to increase the capacity of your cooling system at all. You need more surface area on your radiator or better airflow for that.

If your OEM stat was stuck closed or gunked up or something though, then obviously that needs to be addressed.
 
I guess we will see how it goes, car doesn't get used for road use anymore, only for getting to and from the track. Eitherway a good flush of the cooling system and the hack engineering oil thermo delete will hopefully bring a change. :thumbsup:
Might add some wetter water too.. :wink:
 
Not had mine on track, but done some occasional 'lengthy' spirited drives before and I've noticed my oil temp doesnt seem to get up to the 90 mark until I actually start 'driving it'. Even after considerable time sitting around 3k rpm, it still kinda hovers around the 80 mark. Then when I do start giving it some, it quickly goes up to 95/100+.

Does that sound normal? I'm guessing the colder temperatures we've had recently dont help either. I'm also unsure of what I should be looking at as a 'max oil temp' going off the gauge should be? I've seen it get to about 105/110 and thought I'd better let it cool again
 
I've had mine at 130ºc+ on a summer day (30ºc+) at the 'Ring, and the orange temp light came on.

I did a full cooing system refresh soon after that and haven't seen it above 120ºc anywhere since.
 
Everyone gets really paranoid about running temperatures - what I see here is nothing much to worry about honestly - controversial eh!?!?! :poke:

Not really... :D back on the day I was a powertrain development engineer for Cosworth - most important thing to understand is where temperatures are being measured so best to understand that before anything else. Most car manufacturers have a a sign off criteria of stabilised oil and water temps of 150 degrees in the main oil gallery and 105 degrees top hose at an ambient temperature of 40 degrees Celsius - this meaning the hottest part of the water circuit and the oil temperature required to maintain oil film thickness in the main and big end bearings. I've run engines at these conditions for thousands of hours on both dynos and test tracks without issue.

So, what does this mean for us? I'd suggest don't worry if your car seems to be getting hot - likely it isn't other than you're pushing it a bit harder than you see in day to day use. For the track, yes, some oil cooling upgrades are worthwhile (especially if you live in the desert like Vanne does!!) to give a safety net - when oil fails at high temps, it tends to fail fast. More regular oil changes with the right specification oil are also critical, especially with the S54's bearing issues. I'd question any water cooling upgrades other than regular maintenance around coolant changes or waterless coolant. A fresh/upgraded radiator with coolant flush is a great idea for a car that's 10 years old...

Unless you are runing significantly more power (and therefore more heat to oil and water) then the standard stuff or mild upgrades should be up to the job, even on track.

Enjoy, don't fret too much, trust the millions BMW spent on engineering and maintain regularly... :driving:
 
Thx Mikey,

That makes me feel a bit better mate. I'll refresh a few things and maybe I'll just order an OEM thermo as well (they are cheap enough) and Chuck that in there first, along with the oil diverter in place, hopefully I'll see mangable temps on the oil. 120 is a target for me. Might remove and completely flush out the radiator.. probably has sand in it.. lol.. everything has sand in it here.... Hahaha :thumbsup:
 
Beedub said:
i use a additional Large setrab oil cooler. It get warm but manages heat VERY well.
Click to expand...

Thanks Byron, yeah I've got an extra 13 row oil cooler in my right fang.. might see if I need another in the left fang...
 
Thanks for the help guys, ive taken note of what you guys said and canceled my order, and made a different order.

list now comprises of:

OEM water thermostat (80 degree)
Oil diverter (hack engineering)
M6 (OEM) oil cooler (will need custom mounting) and has 1 liter extra capacity.

That's the list, ill also:
Flush the complete water system, delete the heater core, and get some "water wetter"..

I am calculating that will help. :thumbsup:
 
Sounds good...! :thumbsup:

The only thing I'd be mindful of with deleting the heater core - and I could be wrong here, so please don't take it as gospel... Heater cores can be used to balance cylinder head water flow to stop hot spots in the water jacket as part of the overall water circuit - these are extremely hard to spot as they tend not to raise the overall water temperature, but they can cause individual cylinders to run hot, with the associated problems of burnt out valves, head gasket failure and so on. Heater cores also are good source of discharging heat - up to 10 kW so might be worth saving yourself some work and leaving it in place.

Good luck! Sounds like a good project - that M6 cooler should help for sure.. :D
 
Mikey_Boy said:
Sounds good...! :thumbsup:

The only thing I'd be mindful of with deleting the heater core - and I could be wrong here, so please don't take it as gospel... Heater cores can be used to balance cylinder head water flow to stop hot spots in the water jacket as part of the overall water circuit - these are extremely hard to spot as they tend not to raise the overall water temperature, but they can cause individual cylinders to run hot, with the associated problems of burnt out valves, head gasket failure and so on. Heater cores also are good source of discharging heat - up to 10 kW so might be worth saving yourself some work and leaving it in place.

Good luck! Sounds like a good project - that M6 cooler should help for sure.. :D
Click to expand...

I'd head the same thing - it was a known thing on the xu10j4rs engines in the Peugeot 306 gti6s I used to own - people did heater matrix bypasses and then ended up with head gasket issues after running them hard for exactly the reason you described above....
 
Removing the heater matrix gives you even less cooling capacity. At least if you are pushing hard you can whack the heaters on full and open the windows. Makes quite a big difference to engine cooling. Water wetter will also give you no benefit over a water/antifreeze mix.
 
Vanne said:
Beedub said:
i use a additional Large setrab oil cooler. It get warm but manages heat VERY well.
Click to expand...

Thanks Byron, yeah I've got an extra 13 row oil cooler in my right fang.. might see if I need another in the left fang...
Click to expand...

my one is huge. like 3/4 of the water rad size. Will need to dig out the model number, also uses all aeroquip fittings.
 
ph001 said:
Removing the heater matrix gives you even less cooling capacity. At least if you are pushing hard you can whack the heaters on full and open the windows. Makes quite a big difference to engine cooling. Water wetter will also give you no benefit over a water/antifreeze mix.
Click to expand...

Cheers mate, I'll leave it in place :thumbsup:
 
mmm-five said:
I've had mine at 130ºc+ on a summer day (30ºc+) at the 'Ring, and the orange temp light came on.

I did a full cooing system refresh soon after that and haven't seen it above 120ºc anywhere since.
Click to expand...

What exactly did you do to your cooling system?

Eg. did you refresh with OE parts or aftermarket?
 
R60BBA said:
mmm-five said:
I've had mine at 130ºc+ on a summer day (30ºc+) at the 'Ring, and the orange temp light came on.

I did a full cooing system refresh soon after that and haven't seen it above 120ºc anywhere since.
Click to expand...

What exactly did you do to your cooling system?

Eg. did you refresh with OE parts or aftermarket?
Click to expand...
It was mainly to replace the thermostat and check out how damaged the rad & oil cooler were from stone chips, etc.

Just used OE parts, as the previous system had lasted 80,000 miles and I thought I might as well put all new parts on whilst the system was drained.

We replaced the water pump even though it looked fine as it’d already been paid for and it just meant everything was on the same schedule (have got the old one with my spares somewhere.
 
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