High Temps with Alekshop Oil Cooler

[surlynkid]

This weekend, my wife and I were sharing the M3 at a DE. Weather was 87F with about 75% humidity. Our sessions were not back to back, but the car had to do 8 sessions in the day. On one of her sessions, the high temp light came on with the little thermometer picture and the light that looks like bacon cooking. I pulled the AIM data before going back out. Oil showed 262F max and coolant at 224F max. The needle on the dash was much closer to the 300F mark though. It quickly dropped on a cool down lap.

What oil/water temps are required to get the high temp alarms? Long term, I only need to car to support one driver, but if she wants to run it in BM with BMWCCA, I don't know if it will make it thru a 60 minute enduro.

[dbyrd]

Bueller?

[Longboarder]

Maybe ax Alexs?

[MFL]

Originally Posted by Longboarder

Maybe ax Alexs?

I can't think of a better place to bring present this question.

DCT? 6MT?

[sterile stork]

Keep in mind that the upgraded coolers being sold to everyone are in fact only enabling a quicker cool down, not reducing overall operating temperatures. The circuits are temperature controlled, as the temps increase, then the oil is diverted to the cooler; much akin to your coolant radiator. Up-rated coolers of any sort merely enable an accelerated rate at which the fluid will return to a more desirable temperature. Please correct me if I am wrong in my understanding of the circuit layouts.

[regular guy]

Originally Posted by sterile stork

Keep in mind that the upgraded coolers being sold to everyone are in fact only enabling a quicker cool down, not reducing overall operating temperatures. The circuits are temperature controlled, as the temps increase, then the oil is diverted to the cooler; much akin to your coolant radiator. Up-rated coolers of any sort merely enable an accelerated rate at which the fluid will return to a more desirable temperature. Please correct me if I am wrong in my understanding of the circuit layouts.

Here's a bunch of data logs that might help answer it. I think it's more than recovery time. Looks like overall cooler to me.

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1051736

[Beemdog]

Once a thermostat has opened during warm-up (as in normal operating ambient temps), it stays open and does not "cycle". So the oil cooler is always in the loop, transferring heat to the air. It does become less efficient as air temperature rises. However, a larger capacity oil cooler will dump more heat to the air than will a smaller cooler, with the effect that oil temps will rise slower and under constant load those temps will stabilize at a lower temperature due to added capacity to transfer heat out of the oil.

[bigjae1976]

First thing I'd do is pull the radiator and oil cooler and blow them out. You'll probably blow out a ton of crap stuck between the fins.

Probably 50% of your problem.

IMO, the other problem is a lack of air flow. I'd think an oil cooler in series to the OE location would work pretty well...but where do you put it?

I've never had my E90 go into limp mode on track but I had the temp gauge touching max. It would pull down the redline to 7500ish (I think). Then the DCT would take a second to respond to downshifts. I guess the slow DCT saved me from further beating it down.

Not sure how aftermarket tunes affect how the car throws warnings too. I've seen many instances of aftermarket software doing very weird things on track.

[Hujan]

Originally Posted by sterile stork

Keep in mind that the upgraded coolers being sold to everyone are in fact only enabling a quicker cool down, not reducing overall operating temperatures. The circuits are temperature controlled, as the temps increase, then the oil is diverted to the cooler; much akin to your coolant radiator. Up-rated coolers of any sort merely enable an accelerated rate at which the fluid will return to a more desirable temperature. Please correct me if I am wrong in my understanding of the circuit layouts.

Originally Posted by Beemdog

Once a thermostat has opened during warm-up (as in normal operating ambient temps), it stays open and does not "cycle". So the oil cooler is always in the loop, transferring heat to the air. It does become less efficient as air temperature rises. However, a larger capacity oil cooler will dump more heat to the air than will a smaller cooler, with the effect that oil temps will rise slower and under constant load those temps will stabilize at a lower temperature due to added capacity to transfer heat out of the oil.

Beemdog is correct. Once the oil hits 210 F, the thermostat begins diverting oil into the cooler as necessary to maintain the 210 F operating temperature. Obviously, on the track, the temperature is never going to get below 210 and will, in fact, be far above it. Thus, there is room for a more effective cooler to help keep the oil closer to 210 than the OEM one.

[bdaddylo]

After the installation of the Alekshop oil cooler, I'm also seeing higher temps during highway driving than with the OEM cooler. I was expecting to see a drop due to the supposedly increased cooling capacity of a larger cooler. Not very happy with the results.

[s85e90]

Originally Posted by bdaddylo

After the installation of the Alekshop oil cooler, I'm also seeing higher temps during highway driving than with the OEM cooler. I was expecting to see a drop due to the supposedly increased cooling capacity of a larger cooler. Not very happy with the results.

That's not high and looks very normal. Also that's really a dummy gauge that's not very accurate. Bmw did this to prevent having a gauge swinging back and forth. That's just a visual aid and if you want to monitor oil temps you should really get an oil temp gauge.

[bdaddylo]

Originally Posted by s85e90

That's not high and looks very normal. Also that's really a dummy gauge that's not very accurate. Bmw did this to prevent having a gauge swinging back and forth. That's just a visual aid and if you want to monitor oil temps you should really get an oil temp gauge.

It may not be accurate, but it should definitely be consistent. Point is, if it's reading higher than before, the temps are definitely higher and not the same or lower.

[Patrón]

Originally Posted by bdaddylo

After the installation of the Alekshop oil cooler, I'm also seeing higher temps during highway driving than with the OEM cooler. I was expecting to see a drop due to the supposedly increased cooling capacity of a larger cooler. Not very happy with the results.

Originally Posted by bdaddylo

It may not be accurate, but it should definitely be consistent. Point is, if it's reading higher than before, the temps are definitely higher and not the same or lower.

if i drive around in 80+ deg weather and get stuck in traffic my gauge will read between yours and 210 and i'm supercharged. last summer it was hotter and my gauge would typically stick at the 210 mark. the difference is i have my supercharger exchanger in front of my oil cooler. i can't wait for winter temps.

[squartus]

Dam, supercharged on HWY with heat 95-100 my oil is cooler than that. Something must be up with that oil cooler of yours.

[BrewRifle]

Originally Posted by squartus

Dam, supercharged on HWY with heat 95-100 my oil is cooler than that. Something must be up with that oil cooler of yours.

Are you running the stock oil cooler?

I'm running at 210 or a fraction over in 85-90 degree weather with the supercharger on stock cooler.

[squartus]

Originally Posted by bdaddylo

After the installation of the Alekshop oil cooler, I'm also seeing higher temps during highway driving than with the OEM cooler. I was expecting to see a drop due to the supposedly increased cooling capacity of a larger cooler. Not very happy with the results.

Thats who im replying to, but yea stock oil cooler on the SC kit. I stay at 210 on Hwy if im doing Hwy speeds.. hehe despite the heat. Non SC car with bigger oil cooler in cooler temps should not run hotter than me or you.

[s85e90]

People here need to stop measuring exact oil temps from the dash and get a gauge before they analyze the effectiveness.

[BPMSport]

There is nothing inaccurate about the oil temp gauge.

[Leonardo629]

Forget oil temp, how is bdaddylo getting 23.7mpg!?

[s85e90]

Originally Posted by Mike Benvo

There is nothing inaccurate about the oil temp gauge.

It's known that it's design is more for a quick visual aid than anything else. This also goes back to the e46 gauge. Take a look at it. It's a 90 degree sweep with the dot being a 45 deg interval. I'm not saying it's terrible, but if you're SC or even trying to measure the effectiveness of an aftermarket cooler, you need to see individual degrees or line markers and not use the OEM gauge as a reference at all.

It's a known fact the gauge design is like it is so that it doesn't move around too much. If it was designed with being a real measurement tool and not just an Oh! Shit car is getting too hot reference, the needle would have a much wider range of movement and BMW did this to eliminate that and prevent every silly M3 owner from going to the dealer to ask why the gauge is moving around.

[SonnyJack]

Originally Posted by Leonardo629

Forget oil temp, how is bdaddylo getting 23.7mpg!?

This!

[squartus]

Sure you cant tell a rise in temp of 1 degree but you sure can tell if it goes up 20, atleast anyone with visual skills. His are running a good bit hotter than it should. It reads correct temp, just not great for reading very small changes.