Quote:
Originally Posted by dogbone
A stock DCT E9x M3 engine and it's support systems (like trans, etc.) are prone to overheating if several things are present:
-a driver who knows how to push the car hard on a track
-go fast mods like aero, suspension, brakes, etc. are on the car
-high grip tires are on the car
You definitely satisfy the first two conditions. I don't know what kind of tires you run.
High ambient air temps make it worse. Oil and water temps go higher faster when the air is hot.
I hate to be a negative ninny, but I just gotta tell ya that simply replacing a few coolers will not be a miracle solution. It can help a bit, but aftermarket coolers are not a miracle unfortunately. Believe me, I wish they were. The most useful of the bunch seems to be the do88 DCT cooler. (My write up about the do88 DCT cooler: https://www.m3post.com/forums/showth...158445&page=18 ) But look at it, it's almost double the size of the stock unit. The other coolers cannot increase capacity like that. There just isn't enough room in an otherwise stock engine bay. And people who have tried adding second coolers have not had much better luck. The best they seem to report back with is that the car still overheats but cools down quicker.
One of the less known fixes that I do believe is a positive piece to the puzzle that helps is an oil diverter. I wrote my initial conclusions about the oil diverter here: https://www.m3post.com/forums/showth...158445&page=50 (you need to scroll down the page quite a bit). The oil diverter, according to the AIM data and my butt dyno, does seem to help keep oil temps down. The part is cheap but paying 4 hours of labor to install is not.
I also have a misting system that sprays water on several coolers. It's activated by supercharger boost but could also be designed to respond to gas pedal position. I believe that helps a bit.
Chasing down heat issues has been a frustrating part of this platform. There are lots of claims out there from products that I don't see backed by any clear hard data.
I will give credit to the some of the aftermarket coolers for being all metal designs that are probably more durable than the metal/plastic hybrids that BMW uses. From that standpoint, I think there's value in the aftermarket coolers.
(I'm actually still on an OEM coolant radiator. Replaced my previous OEM radiator with another OEM radiator because the old one was leaking.)
(I don't know if you're familiar with my build thread, but I've been down the overheating road my fair share with my E90.) |
I wonder how much of your overheating troubles are due to being supercharged? I'm not sure what cooling mods, if any, you've done to your E92 - but have you ever ran the E92 and E90 at the same track(s) in similar conditions? How was the cooling between the two cars if you have?
Like I mentioned in my earlier post, the CSF cooling kit has worked well for me. The highest oil temps I've seen were ~230F over the course of a 30 minute session, with no cool down laps on a 'hot' day. But, importantly to note, the climate we have up here is not nearly as hot as someone like you would experience at California area tracks . A HOT day here is 30C or 86F ambient, with the average day being around 70F. That makes a big difference so my experiences should be taken with a grain of salt. That being said, for the tracks I visit and the climate I run the car in it works great and runs cool.