Epic Oil Diverter Valve Success!

I need a beer after this little adventure. A ridiculous number of things needed to be removed and then it took all of 3 minutes to substitute the valve for the thermostat. No idea how guys have made the swap w/o removing the oil filter housing. That spring in no joke! Curious what type of impact this will have on track day temps.

Pretty sure I have this in my e46, never ran without it though so dont know temp difference.

Please report on findings.

I am curious to if this makes a difference in oil temp around town t
Also

roastbeef wrote

Please report on findings.

Will do, although will be a few months, maybe March?

jballer123 wrote

I am curious to if this makes a difference in oil temp around town t
Also

Car doesn't see much non-track driving now so don't know that I'll be able to help you. Plus, it's winter here so even if I went out for a spin I'd never warm up in these temps.

Yeah, I know it's technically winter in San Diego, technically.....

I have one on my S54. Not a good idea for street driving below 50 degrees with 10w-60. The oil will never warm up.

It gives you a couple of minutes more of time below the red. Otherwise it didn't make a significant difference. I think a fresh OEM oil cooler and diverter valve will make a big difference.

bigjae1976 wrote

I have one on my S54. Not a good idea for street driving below 50 degrees with 10w-60. The oil will never warm up.

It gives you a couple of minutes more of time below the red. Otherwise it didn't make a significant difference. I think a fresh OEM oil cooler and diverter valve will make a big difference.

Thanks for your input! Very much appreciated! Stay safe and warm out there in the new Antarctic!

I've had the car for its' entire 10yr life and had a bunch of fun daily driving it for about eight of those years. Never did do much winter driving, especially after getting the SC. Big slow SUV was just the safer option.

Started tracking last year and got quickly hooked so the car has become pretty much a dedicated track toy. Still have seats and brake ducts to put in before the weather warms up!

Congrats! You will like this!

roastbeef wrote

Please report on findings.

Installed it in my frd's e93 in Nov18.

Starting with Cons:
1- Takes a lot of time to get to operating temps - minimum 12 mins. I think its safer to install an external thermostat but not sure if that makes sense.

PROS:
1- after a good warm up Highway temps, city, and traffic temps Dropped from ~102C to 98C (215f to 208f)

2- Motorsport events temps: from 125C to ~115Cv (256 to 239f)
however the car actually take less time for oil to cool back down.

We did this on his car as the oil filter housing was leaking. We will monitor this more and report so we can see if we got lucky or everyone have the same outcome.

I put the same valve in my n54 also and it lowered my oil temps around 15 degrees !

i wonder how this would pair with the motorad thermostat that is supposed to get the car up to temp faster... might help get temps up faster, but then keep the temps cooler overall.

roastbeef wrote

i wonder how this would pair with the motorad thermostat that is supposed to get the car up to temp faster... might help get temps up faster, but then keep the temps cooler overall.

The valve is supposed to allow full flow to the cooler. Even when the OE t-stat opens some oil bypasses the cooler.

On my S54, I have the valve and an in-line thermostat. It's an eBay unit which is the same thing that vendors sell except it costs 1/3. Its better than not having a t-stat. There is still flow to the oil cooler when the t-stat is closed. It's a function of keeping some pressure in the loop after the t-stat until it opens. So it still won't warm up as fast as the OE setup but it's better.

Thanks for posting this up!

I just ordered one for my car as well and will post up my results with it on track, in the canyons, and around town.

(I did a write up of my first experiences with the oil diverter on track showing AIM Solo data charts. The main post is #1091 and the conversation continues in the next couple posts: https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1158445&page=50 )

dogbone wrote

(I did a write up of my first experiences with the oil diverter on track showing AIM Solo data charts. The main post is #1091 and the conversation continues in the next couple posts: https://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1158445&page=50 )

Thank you good sir! Given the amount of labor involved I'm happy to hear it will be worth something!

SonnyJack wrote

Thank you good sir! Given the amount of labor involved I'm happy to hear it will be worth something!

Yeah, sometimes you do mods that don't net very much. But this one seems to be showing something. I'm hoping as the air temps warm up, the diverter continues to show that it can help control oil temps. Being supercharged, we need all the help we can get.

So, you're in Laurel, MD? I grew up in Silver Spring, right off Seminary Rd/Georgia Ave exit off the Beltway. Went to U of M College Park. (Then 20 years in Los Angeles, and just moved to CO in June. But the track car is still in CA.)

dogbone wrote

Yeah, sometimes you do mods that don't net very much. But this one seems to be showing something. I'm hoping as the air temps warm up, the diverter continues to show that it can help control oil temps. Being supercharged, we need all the help we can get.

So, you're in Laurel, MD? I grew up in Silver Spring, right off Seminary Rd/Georgia Ave exit off the Beltway. Went to U of M College Park. (Then 20 years in Los Angeles, and just moved to CO in June. But the track car is still in CA.)

Oh yeah, those SC'ers generate an intense amount of additional heat.

Small world! Yep, been in HoCo Laurel for almost 20yr now. I know exactly where you grew up. My parents still live in the house I grew up in over in the Kemp Mill section of Silver Spring. I graduated from Northwood HS a VERY long time ago. Have moved away several times but always seem to find my way back.

SonnyJack wrote

Oh yeah, those SC'ers generate an intense amount of additional heat.

Small world! Yep, been in HoCo Laurel for almost 20yr now. I know exactly where you grew up. My parents still live in the house I grew up in over in the Kemp Mill section of Silver Spring. I graduated from Northwood HS a VERY long time ago. Have moved away several times but always seem to find my way back.

hehe I went to Good Counsel High School when it was still all-boys and in Wheaton on Georgia Ave!----not that palace they built in Olney that's coed now! hahaha (My dad went to Northwood HS. He was among the first batch of students when they opened the school back in the 50's. hehe They closed it in the 80's and then re-opened it some time after 2000.)

What tracks do you like to visit on the East Coast?

dogbone wrote

hehe I went to Good Counsel High School when it was still all-boys and in Wheaton on Georgia Ave!----not that palace they built in Olney that's coed now! hahaha (My dad went to Northwood HS. He was among the first batch of students when they opened the school back in the 50's. hehe They closed it in the 80's and then re-opened it some time after 2000.)

What tracks do you like to visit on the East Coast?

I'm sitting here in my office laughing my ass off at the moment! Knew Good Counsel moved but had no idea they went co-ed. Wow! Yeah I was a Northwood Indian, then they closed, and now they're Northwood Gladiators. Just not the same.

So far only driven three different locations on multiple occasions; Dominion (Va) 4x, Summit Point (WVa) 2x, & VIR 1x. Definitely in love with VIR and that's my favorite so far. Going to try and get to NJMSP & Road Atlanta at some point. I'm definitely hooked.

SonnyJack wrote

I'm sitting here in my office laughing my ass off at the moment! Knew Good Counsel moved but had no idea they went co-ed. Wow! Yeah I was a Northwood Indian, then they closed, and now they're Northwood Gladiators. Just not the same.

So far only driven three different locations on multiple occasions; Dominion (Va) 4x, Summit Point (WVa) 2x, & VIR 1x. Definitely in love with VIR and that's my favorite so far. Going to try and get to NJMSP & Road Atlanta at some point. I'm definitely hooked.

haha! Yeah, GC was a medium quality school back in the day when I was there. But once they went coed and moved, apparently the place started kicking some ass.

I did not do ANY motorsports when I was on the East Coast. Looking back, I wish I had of course, but I had no money for that back then. At the MD College Park campus, they used to do Autocross in the commuter parking lots. I would watch as I was walking back to my car. Thought it looked cool, but was too chicken to try it. I could have been kicking some ass out there in the family's Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera!! hahahaha----sigh----so sad....

So many people speak highly of VIR. I have a long term goal of visiting the East Coast tracks with my car make a big road trip out of it. Of course, the logistics are a bit complicated so it will take quite a bit of planning. I think first, I would like to visit COTA. That will give me a flavor of what a long road trip/track trip involves. Or----my friend and I have already spoken to someone who is a full race mechanic that can haul two cars. That would be awesome---have someone else drive the rig and also provide full tech support, and we just fly in. Not cheap though......we'll see. It's fun to dream about!

dogbone wrote

haha! Yeah, GC was a medium quality school back in the day when I was there. But once they went coed and moved, apparently the place started kicking some ass.

I did not do ANY motorsports when I was on the East Coast. Looking back, I wish I had of course, but I had no money for that back then. At the MD College Park campus, they used to do Autocross in the commuter parking lots. I would watch as I was walking back to my car. Thought it looked cool, but was too chicken to try it. I could have been kicking some ass out there in the family's Oldsmobile Cutlass Ciera!! hahahaha----sigh----so sad....

So many people speak highly of VIR. I have a long term goal of visiting the East Coast tracks with my car make a big road trip out of it. Of course, the logistics are a bit complicated so it will take quite a bit of planning. I think first, I would like to visit COTA. That will give me a flavor of what a long road trip/track trip involves. Or----my friend and I have already spoken to someone who is a full race mechanic that can haul two cars. That would be awesome---have someone else drive the rig and also provide full tech support, and we just fly in. Not cheap though......we'll see. It's fun to dream about!

COTA is on my list eventually. Would be quite the roadtrip. If you could pull that off with the race mechanic providing service and transportation, would sure to be an epic adventure. I'd love to hear about it if you can make it happen!

I am not sure if the epic oil diverter is the magic solution to reduce the oil temp.

The oil return port is poorly blocked by the compressed spring.
The data posted by dogbone shows that the diverter valve mod is just prolong the heat soak and give us few more laps.

So, for TT runner, it could be good.
But for anyone who typically run the full HPDE 20min session, this is not going to help.