[bimmer72]

Drove the car to work and all of a sudden a CEL and SES light pops on. Thought it was the procede since I recently update to the newest firmware and map, so restarted car and cleared the codes. Drove for about 5mins and the light popped back on...Parked at a starbucks lot to grab my laptop from the trunk. As I was walking to the rear, I notice a trail of oil leading to my car Yikes! I popped the hood and oil was everywhere. Looked like the shroud around the fan slice the oil line.

Had the car towed to my house. I bought a new line and replaced the old one. Thing is the car only had about 1qt of oil left. I must've drove for about 50miles with low oil. The car runs fine but just wondering if any possible engine damage may have occur?

[francisomar]

As long as there was oil in the engine there must be no engine damage, check the oil for metal particles or shavings if there are non then just add oil and continue driving

[Turkeybaster115]

Is this an AR design oil cooler kit?

[bimmer72]

Yes it is the ar design kit

[NiVeDh]

The car only had 1 qt left? That could be a problem considering it normally takes around 7 qts.

[Turkeybaster115]

Originally Posted by bimmer72

Yes it is the ar design kit

Same thing happened to me. On my drive to work a few weeks ago, my car started sputtering, and the car threw a limp mode. luckily, I was just a few blocks from work when this started happening. as I got closer the car started shaking worse, and then it threw a cel, and wrote: oil pressure low, possible engine damage. I parked the car, popped the hood, and there was oil everywhere. I got the car towed to the stealership, and got in touch with ar design. They sent me their stainless steel lines, and the dealership installed them. These so called "lightweight" lines are dangerous. No matter how carefully installed it seems they will rub and break. I had no engine damage, but they said I had little oil left in the car. I didn't start the car after I parked it, and I topped off the car before this all happened so maybe there was about 3-5 liters of oil left in the engine.

[bceagle1991]

Can this happen with the new stainless steel lines? I recently installed the kit and it came with SS lines, wondering if I should wrap them in some Reflect-A-Tape or something similar to protect them?

[Turkeybaster115]

Originally Posted by bceagle1991

Can this happen with the new stainless steel lines? I recently installed the kit and it came with SS lines, wondering if I should wrap them in some Reflect-A-Tape or something similar to protect them?

This shouldn't happen with the stainless steel lines.

[enrita]

wow scary stuff...

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Good catch, I'm sure the car had more then 1 quart of oil. Not every drop comes out when you drain it.

[CSL335i]

Same happened to me, with AR Design second oil cooler with black lw oil lines. I was 30km away from my target, which was actually the BMW service point at my parents town. During driving suddenly i have engine error, limp mode. I always check oil level in case of any engine error, but it shows normal, No other error messages, like oil pressure to low or something. I keep moderate driving with automatic cruise control.

I stopped the car in front of the BMW service and realized that there is oil everywhere. One of the ARD lightweight oil line has a hole on it.

Just two-two and a half liter oil was left in the engine. Luckily when the case happend i drove moderatly, the oil temp was around 115celsius, so i think the thermostat was not open wide, therefore the oil was leaked in small amount.

No engine damage, my car runs fine. At this moment ARD OC is out of my car, but this is rather related to my custom oil cooler kit with better fitting, which is under construction.

Laszlo

[CaptainInsano]

Same thing happened to me. Luckily I noticed the trail of oil behind me while leaving work and pulled over. Got some epoxy from Home Depot to plug up the hole and drove the rest of the way home.

I ended up getting some custom steel lines at a local shop here in the bay. Also, I am running custom brackets for mounting the Setrab since the ones I got from AR didn't fit at all. Basically the only part from AR I'm still running is the core.

Never again will I buy cooling kits from a company. It's all custom fab from here on out.

[Tuner1984]

You should be fine. If you had found no oil then u mighta been SOL.

[tibra1]

Originally Posted by NiVeDh

The car only had 1 qt left? That could be a problem considering it normally takes around 7 qts.

+1

I would repair the line..add oil and use a magnetic drain plug..drive the car for a bit and see if you have any metal shavings on the plug..if u do that will tell u if u have caused wear in the engine

[zsapphire7]

wow... thats pretty rediculous. Thats a lot of people who have the same issue with the lines...

I guess anyone with aftermarket coolers should definately check lines periodically for any wear and leaks

[onesuperboi]

I don't remember reading so many posts of a particular product failing.

I have heard of one other problem that could be related and that is with their stainless steel brake lines. One of the people on this forum had a failure at the drag strip and had to use the hand brake to stop if I recall correctly. Maybe there will be problems with their stainless steel lines for the oil cooler kit as well.

[tibra1]

Originally Posted by zsapphire7

wow... thats pretty rediculous. Thats a lot of people who have the same issue with the lines...

I guess anyone with aftermarket coolers should definately check lines periodically for any wear and leaks

I would nver run an aftermarket oil cooler when the stock OC does an adquate job.

In a track setting u would gain more benefit from upgrading the water radiator and leaving the stock OC alone

And for the price they charge for these u would think the lines would be pretty much bullet proof and routed perfectly.

[acdHQK713K]

Good to know there is no pressure failsafe in this system. Bad design.

[zsapphire7]

Originally Posted by tibra1

In a track setting u would gain more benefit from upgrading the water radiator and leaving the stock OC alone

Id like to see your data on this.

[Mike@N54Tuning.com]

Originally Posted by zsapphire7

Id like to see your data on this.

+1

[vasillalov]

Originally Posted by zsapphire7

Id like to see your data on this.

It is in the stickie thread in the Track and AutoX forum. Yeah, upgraded radiator provides A LOT more cooling capacity than an oil cooler.

[UltraRacer13]

Originally Posted by vasillalov

It is in the stickie thread in the Track and AutoX forum. Yeah, upgraded radiator provides A LOT more cooling capacity than an oil cooler.

Where in that thread is that conclusion reached exactly?