What is your Oil temp?

[Jamesons Viggen]

My S52 seems to hit 230 on normal street driving. I am going to add a cooler and use an Rally Road filter cap. 230 degrees run hard on a track day is one thing. 230 just cruising around gives me a bit of concern.

[MartyBtoo]

My S54 oil temp stays right on top of the second zero of the 200 mark. It doesn't matter much what the outside temp is; I drove it in 105 degree temp last week, and the only time it moved was after a freeway run then parked. When I came back out and started it it was a few degrees hotter at first, but settled in to the usual temp after driving it a couple of miles; just needed a little air flow.

Marty

[orca4wd]

My 2000 S52 oil temp gauge hit around 220/230 in street cruise speed with outside temp hover around 80 degree.

[Jamesons Viggen]

My S52 seems to hit 230 on normal street driving. I am going to add a cooler and use an Rally Road filter cap. 230 degrees run hard on a track day is one thing. 230 just cruising around gives me a bit of concern.

Can someone post a picture of an oil cooler they'd recommend and it's location on the car? I have an heat exchanger/intercooler to deal with. I don't want to buy a larger cooler than I need. TIA

[Mr Bingley]

Can someone post a picture of an oil cooler they'd recommend and it's location on the car? I have an heat exchanger/intercooler to deal with. I don't want to buy a larger cooler than I need. TIA

The factory S54 oil cooler is ideal for that application as it mounts under the radiator--you need an S54 (or Zionsville) radiator for that though, but no big deal. If you're boosting an S52, you need oil cooling. S54 oil filter housing, RF oil distribution block, S54 oil cooler, S54 radiator, AN10 adapters, AN10 fittings and lines. Zionsville makes a nice kit and can customize their shroud for the fan offset to accommodate your SC.

[Jamesons Viggen]

The factory S54 oil cooler is ideal for that application as it mounts under the radiator--you need an S54 (or Zionsville) radiator for that though, but no big deal. If you're boosting an S52, you need oil cooling. S54 oil filter housing, RF oil distribution block, S54 oil cooler, S54 radiator, AN10 adapters, AN10 fittings and lines. Zionsville makes a nice kit and can customize their shroud for the fan offset to accommodate your SC.

I have a Mishimoto radiator with lifetime warranty I'd like to keep. I have a RallyRoad oil housing cap ready to go.

[///MRoadyJPL]

Buzzing through Annapolis today 99 F outside oil temp was 230 F straight up On my S52. Stop and go traffic.

[CB750]

2000 M Roadster, S52 with S54 radiator and oil cooler; 205-ish°C in stop-n-go traffic, 95°F ambient.

Oil+Temperature+Gauge.jpg

[rf900rkw]

I have a Mishimoto radiator with lifetime warranty I'd like to keep. I have a RallyRoad oil housing cap ready to go.

If you are married to the Mishimoto, then you are pretty much limited to a Setrab style cooler hung above or below the bumper. The problem with this is you end up with a series airflow rather than parallel. Any heat you dump into the air from the cooler is heat that can't be taken from the radiator downstream. Surface area is the answer on S52s.

[me77]

I think I'm the only non-M reporting in this thread:

90°F outside temperature, after a normal drive (30min.) while idling I have an oil temperature of around 208-210°F. That is what the DME shows as oil temperature, which it gets from the TOENS sensor in the oil pan as far as I know. I'm running Pennzoil Platinum Euro 5W40 in it.

[Jamesons Viggen]

If you are married to the Mishimoto, then you are pretty much limited to a Setrab style cooler hung above or below the bumper. The problem with this is you end up with a series airflow rather than parallel. Any heat you dump into the air from the cooler is heat that can't be taken from the radiator downstream. Surface area is the answer on S52s.

Yeah, I was figuring I would go the Setrab route. I figure go as big as I can above the bumper. I was concerned about blocking too much of the radiator.

[Swaybars]

Another oil temp data point: running 210-215 deg F after about 20 minutes stop/go traffic followed by about 30 minutes of highway driving @ ~70 mph. Ambient temp was 31 deg C (87 deg F) with a 45 deg C humidex.

Car & mods:
2000 M coupe, S52 w conforti stage 1 tune
recently installed a Behr/Hella S54 radiator with stock untrimmed S52 shroud, Behr/Hella expansion tank, replaced all coolant hoses
stock mechanical fan and fan clutch (were refreshed 3 years ago)
no oil cooler
no underpanels installed (stock plastic pieces are torn & waiting to install MM aluminum underpanel)
80 deg C (176 deg F) thermostat
Stewart water pump

Some observations from before I installed the S54 radiator:
Car had a BMW branded S52 radiator, I am assuming it was the original radiator that the car came with.
Car was overheating slowly when stopped and at low RPM. Oil temp would reach a steady state around 240 deg F after prolonged highway cruising in ambient temperatures of anywhere from 15-35 deg C.
Late last year I noticed the coolant level in the expansion tank was below the COLD line, no drips/puddles under the car when parked. I topped it up and it was not overheating for a while. Then the coolant level would drop and the car started to overheat again when stopped. Topped it up again and repeated the cycle. I noticed the leak was accelerating since the amount of time between top-ups was decreasing. Checked under the car again and noticed a small amount of semi-dry coolant on the front swaybar. I didn't notice any coolant in the oil, assumed head gasket was OK.

I used the Torque app and an OBD reader to monitor the water temp ever since I first noticed the water temp needle on the dash start to move to the right of its usual centre gauge position. The water temp was in the low 90 deg C range when on the highway and slowly climbed above 100 deg C when stopped. The highest I saw it go was 110 deg C.

At this point I assumed the car was leaking only under load and/or at high RPM. I decided to refresh the cooling system since the leak was getting worse.
I was suspecting a block in coolant flow. I didn't think it was the thermostat since that was replaced 3 years ago when I installed the aluminum thermostat housing and Stewart pump. That left the radiator.

Conclusion: Super happy with the S54 radiator so far. The water temp seldom runs over 90 deg C and usually stays around 85 deg C. The oil temp is also lower @ ~210 deg F vs ~240 deg F.

A big thank you to Randy and everyone else for all the posts on this subject. The posts regarding the Stewart pump characteristics, coolant level in the expansion tank and the relation to system pressure helped a lot to understand what I was experiencing.

[CMM3]

for anyone that may be interested TMS sells a flange that fits both s52 and s54 oil pans to mount a oil temp sensor.
https://www.turnermotorsport.com/p-3...sensor-flange/

I think the pan may be the best place to capture oil temp as this is were the spent oil accumulates after cooling the engine

[RAKraus]

Okay folks, the issue has been resolved! For those who have been keeping up with the original oil temp problem The issue has been diagnosed and resolved. In the 01’ & 02’ models (S54) there is a separate oil and outside temp gauge module that ended up being the cause of all my problems. Lots of money spent for a very minor issue. Very frustrating, but nice to know that I haven’t been putting a bunch of stress on the engine with legitimately high oil temps. Thanks again for all the input and suggestions.
This was taken after a good 5 min run on the freeway @ 75mph in 4th gear with the AC running!! ALL IS WELL!

[BimmerBreaker]

These cars have an oil and outside temp module?

[RAKraus]

....On paper...in the flesh!!!

[Tallyho322]

Did you have them plugged in to the opposite gauge or what? Not sure I know how you resolved it.

Greg

[RAKraus]

Bad module. That explains why this has been so difficult to diagnose. I’ve had the car for over 5 years and my outside temp had NEVER worked, however the oil temp readings seemed to be accurate (to the best of my knowledge) however as soon as this was replaced, both gauges are functioning properly.

[Curt C]

Another data point:

1999 M Coupe stock S52 with 144K on the odometer. Mechanical fan removed but SPAL puller added. Setrab oil cooler. I have boxed in my radiator as best as possible with flame proof foam and aluminum tape. Dash Command monitoring the water temps.

Las Vegas. 110 degrees fahrenheit. AC on the entire time. I got the car up to temp and then started a long uphill drive in traffic (maybe 6 miles). Car got up to about 214 degrees water and 240 oil on stock gauge. Water temperature gauge was just slightly off center to right. That road dead ends into a freeway with a significant incline maybe 2 miles or so. I got up to speed at about 75 and water temp maxed out at 221. Water temp gauge was at the 3/4 mark. Oil still at 240 ish. As soon as highway flattened out water went back to 210. Oil remained at 240ish.

The water got a bit hot but within spec. Oil isn't even near the limit. I was thinking the other day that perhaps one could cut a hole in the brake ducts, block the path to the rotors and reroute the air into the radiator area. You could easily reverse the modification and just run it in that configuration on really hot days. Thoughts?

[Mr Bingley]

I got up to speed at about 75 and water temp maxed out at 221. Water temp gauge was at the 3/4 mark. Oil still at 240 ish. As soon as highway flattened out water went back to 210. Oil remained at 240ish...Thoughts?

That would be too hot for my taste.

[BimmerBreaker]

Seems to be pretty normal for that setup to run a bit hot in those conditions. The A/C running pushes my car into what would be above TDC on the gauge in anything over about 100-105F ambient temps. Under that it will hold at what would be TDC. Reverting to mechanical clutch fan may help

[zellamay]

Oil cooler 2 6-21.jpgOil cooler 1 6-21.jpg


98 Z3M: I kept this old thread, thought I'd add to it for future readers. I'm in Phoenix, we often get 115 deg or so temps. I did everything humanly possible to get the "fan delete" to work, finally put the stock fan back in. Problems gone. (I know, some people knew this before I did). I should add here that I put in the CSF aluminum radiator and a Stewart water pump. They seemed to make little diff when I had the fan-delete, but they may be helping a bit now. See pics: I had an accident with front-end damage, so I took the opportunity to open up the below-bumper area. (I had read one pundit opinion that the M bumpers were too restrictive.) And this year I bought an oil cooler (the oil cap style) because I got a good deal and wanted even more heat-insurance. That open area is great for the oil cooler. Long-winded I know, but here are results: at 117 degF, I can drive any way I want to: lots of acceleration, cruising around 90 mph. Haven't seen 215 degF yet on the gage.

[z3forlife]

Are you able to use the stock filter or a different one.

[zellamay]

Are you able to use the stock filter or a different one.

NO, it now takes a different filter. I'll give you the number, HU816x, but it might vary depending on the cap you get.

[z3forlife]

I’ve got a similar setup and yes it uses a 330i filter iirc. Mann HU925/4. The Mahle version didn’t seem to have a smooth surface on the top and bottom it has a rubber? Bit that I didn’t think would seal as good. I’ve been happy with the kit but I may look for a S-54 filter housing and connect to the cooler that way. There’s no thermostat so i let it warm up when it’s cool out before any spirited driving. Keeps me cool though