[murph-54]

I know that there has been a lot of discussion about oil temps in the 335i, but I haven't been able to find a consensus as to what temp levels are safe. I run a lot of track events and have a 2007 MT 335i that has been heavily modded including suspension, BBK, FMIC, PROcede, Quaife LSD, track tires and wheels and a VK oil cooler. I run the car pretty hard. Although I saw a slight drop in oil temps after installing the VK oil cooler, I am still running at 285 - 290 degrees after 15 minutes or so even if ambient temps are only around 70 degrees. By the way, my coolant temps never get above 230 degrees (I am running about a 80/20 mix of distilled water to coolant with Redline water wetter). I have been using Valvoline Syntec, which is approved for the 335i, but am open to changing to another oil. I do not have problems with throwing codes or going into limp mode. However, I am worried about two things. First, is running oil temps of 285-290 damaging the engine and second, how quickly does oil break down at those temps? Also, what oil temps are others who have the VK oil cooler experiencing? Any suggestions as to what to do? I have spoken to people that I would consider to be experts and have received conflicting advice. One said to run a super highgrade lower weight oil such as 0-30 to reduce friciton and the other said to run a higher weigth such as 20-50 for the extra protection. Please help.

[200Duece]

suscribed

[nicknaz]

Originally Posted by murph-54

First, is running oil temps of 285-290 damaging the engine and second, how quickly does oil break down at those temps?

Any suggestions as to what to do?

Oil is a tough topic to get any sort of consensus about

Personally, when I have any doubts I send a sample of the oil to a place like blackstone labs to get it analyzed. That way you can figure out if the particular oil you are using is shearing down to a lower viscosity (the oil can't handle the high temperature usage pattern) or if the anti wear additives are used up (you need to change the oil sooner)

If you talk to an old school air cooled 911 guy I think the acceptable upper limit in that community is 280F and I've seen a post where someone said "if the oil hits 300F and the car still runs sell it ASAP" but part of me wonders with with modern oils and components designs is this still applicable...

subscribed also!

[ar design]

Hit me up if you are interested in testing our cooler setup. 290F is definitively not a good idea.

[murph-54]

Originally Posted by ar design

Hit me up if you are interested in testing our cooler setup. 290F is definitively not a good idea.

Definitely interested. I shot you an email over the weekend.

[murph-54]

Originally Posted by Nick Nazareno

Oil is a tough topic to get any sort of consensus about

Personally, when I have any doubts I send a sample of the oil to a place like blackstone labs to get it analyzed. That way you can figure out if the particular oil you are using is shearing down to a lower viscosity (the oil can't handle the high temperature usage pattern) or if the anti wear additives are used up (you need to change the oil sooner)

If you talk to an old school air cooled 911 guy I think the acceptable upper limit in that community is 280F and I've seen a post where someone said "if the oil hits 300F and the car still runs sell it ASAP" but part of me wonders with with modern oils and components designs is this still applicable...

subscribed also!

Testing is a great idea given that most of the opinions on what oil is best are subjective. I think it would be useful for us track junkies to get as much info as we can from folks that have had their oil tested after track use and what the results were. Would anyone who has run high temps (280 degrees or more) at the track and had their oil tested please share the info with the rest of us?

[nicknaz]

Originally Posted by murph-54

Testing is a great idea given that most of the opinions on what oil is best are subjective. I think it would be useful for us track junkies to get as much info as we can from folks that have had their oil tested after track use and what the results were. Would anyone who has run high temps (280 degrees or more) at the track and had their oil tested please share the info with the rest of us?

You should search on bobistheoilguy.com the forums there are chock full of oil geeks and you are likely to find a lot more tech there. Aside from BMW specific tech I think you should search for 370z and G37s threads because those cars also run the oil hot. I don't think WRX/STi/EVO threads are relevant because those cars come with water to air oil coolers and big radiator from the factory

EDIT: I shortened my post. all my analysis reports are of non LL01 approved oils so useless for E9X owners