[turbojet3]

My car was built the first week of 2007. Step & Sport destined for Florida.
I can see the hose beneath the oil filter, but it looks like it snakes back to the drivers side with a suspended air radiator behind the coolant radiator.

[RiXst3r]

Originally Posted by turbojet3

My car was built the first week of 2007. Step & Sport destined for Florida.
I can see the hose beneath the oil filter, but it looks like it snakes back to the drivers side with a suspended air radiator behind the coolant radiator.

Mine looks the same, nothing down where the MT oil cooler is, but it looks like it goes to something else behind the main radiator. Whats the highest temp you have seen?

[RiXst3r]

here is someone with a build date same month as mine, but says he has the oil cooler..

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showpo...&postcount=114

Originally Posted by mesier1111

Its not true, my AT with the sports package has both a tranny cooler as well as oil cooler.....course mind was delivered in October, so possibly that changed with later releases, I have no idea. Mine was also HIGH SPEED SYCHRONYZED.....no, not sure what that means.

[picus]

Originally Posted by RiXst3r

confirmed, I do not have the cooler... I also flogged my car for about 45 minutes today, probably floored it over 30 times from 0-80, and she stayed at 230F the whole time...and even ended with a full run up to 130mph. like I said before, no matter how hard I try, I cannot get above ~255F

Not sure if this matters, but I check my oil level regularly... even while at full 255F, my oil has always been on "MAX" since day one... some mentioned oil consumption... I wonder if the high oil temps and oil consumption go hand in hand...

Another thing to ask is how many people that are experience temps above 260F are still running the original break-in oil? Mine was changed at 1500 miles... It could be your oil viscosity causing the higher temps...

I'm not running break in oil. Had it changed at 2500km.

Originally Posted by turbojet3

My car was built the first week of 2007. Step & Sport destined for Florida.
I can see the hose beneath the oil filter, but it looks like it snakes back to the drivers side with a suspended air radiator behind the coolant radiator.

Now that is weird. From the pic of the front air dam you do not have the oil cooler. Also, the pic of the engine - there should be two hoses very obviously going from just to the right of the hose pictures, down into the area behind the foglight. I've received confirmation from 3 BMW employees (1 service manager, 2 that work for BMW corporate) that *all* AT/MT w/zsp built after Nov 31, '06 have the oil cooler; so either they are wrong or your car is a mutant. I'd say they are wrong. My faith in the information I receive from BMW is getting pretty low, this is not the first time info they've given me has been proven incorrect.

Originally Posted by RiXst3r

here is someone with a build date same month as mine, but says he has the oil cooler..

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showpo...&postcount=114

Ya, I have no idea what high speed synchronized is; probably just means higher limited, which all zsp cars have.

The oil cooler is looking more and more random each day. :/

[BavarianRocket]

I would guess that if I kept driving it hard the temp may have increased.... the interesting thing is my car normally stays around 230 or so... this was one instant.. and like I said above.. I just happened to go to the oil part of the on board computer and the level was in the middle...then as it cooled, it went back to max... so maybe the sensor just reads low when the oil is hot and not as thick

[texasturner]

What would be interesting data to add to this topic is if some with the oil coolers would post their highest temps as well so as to see if the oil cooler makes a big difference or not. When I get mine in April I will do that.

[picus]

Ya, I figured we'd keep it simple at first.

I've been reading a lot about this and it looks like most owners hover right in the 120-130C range regardless of the cooler. If folks with the cooler want to chime in and let us know the max oil temp they've seen that'd be good. Just make sure to specify you have the cooler.

[mayno]

where do I go to find out when my car was built?

[picus]

Originally Posted by maynardc

where do I go to find out when my car was built?

I believe the production date is on the inside of the door. Alternatively, you VIN will have identifying numbers/letters. A search will probably answer what means what for you.

[BoostedInPhx]

If you have not had a chance to read the 2007 Engine Management Document http://www.e90post.com/forums/attach...8&d=1165592709
this might help explain the higher oil temperatures some are seeing while it is very cool outside. The cooling system has not only an electric fan but an electric coolant pump that can be shut off or have its speed varied based on the engine operation conditions and outside temperature. This allows some unique features such as continuing to circulate coolant through the turbos after the engine is shut off. This prevents the oil from coking in the turbos from the residual heat in the exhaust system and cats. On page 47 of this document it describes various engine operating modes and the temperature that the cooling system and engine management system tries to maintain. This assumes the radiator is big enough and the outside air temp is not too high. In the ECO (economy) mode the desired temp is 108 deg C (226 Deg F). This is done to improve fuel economy. If the coolant is this warm the oil temp is sure to follow. I think I saw a post that indicated the autos had an oil to coolant heat exchanger instead of the oil to air unit. In normal mode the desired temp is 104 deg C (219 deg F). The third mode is HOT with a temp of 95 deg C (203 deg F). The final mode is Hot + map - thermostat mode with a temp of 90 deg C (194 deg F). This forth mode is entered when the user wants optimum performance and does not care about fuel consumption. This is closer to the temp most of us expect an engine to run at. On Page 48 there is a discussion of intelligent heat management options. These cars implement some serious automotive technology. Far different then some of my first cars including my original Mini. This may also explain the lack of a coolent temperature gauge. That gauge might raise more questions then answers as the temp goes up and down. Finally on page 49 is a chart showing the System Protection that is implemented at various oil and coolent temps. This shows the decrease in power as the temp increases. Hopefully when the outside tempuratures increases the oil temps will not increase. It still sucks that some cars did not get the oil to air cooler. My 335i Sedan with sport, step and paddles is due to be unloaded in California on March 20th so I am trying to cope the best I can in the mean time. This is also my first post so bear with me. Thanks also for all the good info and work that everyone has provided.

[picus]

Thanks for the post Boosted; it was very informative. I'm going to read that doc right now.

[RiXst3r]

Here is how the engine handles an overheat scenario

[picus]

"Thank you for contacting BMW Canada.

According to our information, 150C is within the proper operating tempurature of the vehicle, for the engine oil. Should the tempurature reach 161C, you will receive a red warning lamp. The coolant should stay below 125C or you will also receive a red warning lamp.

This production change was a decision of BMW AG, and no reason has been given. Please feel free to visit a local retailer to have the heat issues diagnosed.

Sincerely,

Customer Care"

So they say 161C is the max allowable temp. Of course we know that at 161C the car will be in emergency mode and shut down (or go into limp mode). So I guess the end result is what I expected; wait for the car to overheat, then bitch. OK.

[RiXst3r]

sucks you have to risk damaging your engine just to get some attention

[Ninjaneer]

Originally Posted by RiXst3r

sucks you have to risk damaging your engine just to get some attention

So that gives us 4 years / 50K miles to try to overheat it!! j/k

[picus]

Well luckily I'd say there is a high probability that if it overheats once it will overheat three times. As a result of my wifes job I am very familiar with the Ontario lemon law...

"A defect would have to cause "substantial impairment to the use, value or safety" of the vehicle or cost more than $1,000 to fix.

Dealers will have three chances to fix substantial problems while the car is still under warranty. After that, manufacturers would have to buy back a defective vehicle or provide an equal replacement at no additional cost. "

Hopefully it never comes to that.

[picus]

I wanted to update this for those that care....

I talked with an SA for ~2 hour yesterday and we went over the issues related to the oil cooler, or lack thereof. He really did put my mind at ease about it, cliff notes were:

- It is very unlikely these cars will ever overheat during normal use, extended or otherwise. This includes in traffic with the A/C on on a hot day - there is a lot of technology in this car to prevent that. We knew this though.
- Even during hard use it's going to be tough to overheat these cars.
- That said, hot lapping a car with or without the oil cooler could definitely cause a problem, we some people have already reported. He said that the oil cooler will likely *not* stop the car from overheating if such a situation arises. It's more to keep the hot oil temp from transferring to the engine.
- Adding the oil cooler is a straightfoward prospect, he said probably two hours of labor and parts should anyone want to do it themselves. He said if they could confirm a car overheated without the cooler they would likely add it, but only after making sure nothing else was wrong, since an overheat would be abnormal.
- Adding a second or larger cooler to cars with the cooler is also possible and not difficult (good for guys who intend to track the cars).

So I'm less concerned. We will see how this summer goes.

[RiXst3r]

I wonder why some cars are more likely to overheat than others... for example... some 335's run at a higher normal temp than others, both without the oil cooler.

I can and have hot lapped my car for over 30 minutes one time, and never got over 260F... where other cars show temps higher than this from just normal driving.

I really think that there is something else going on here. Maybe some cars are creating hotter exhaust than others, from AFR's or atmospheric conditions...