M42club.com - Home of the BMW E30/E36 318i/iS
DISCUSSION => Engine + Driveline => Topic started by: e9nine on July 14, 2006, 01:19:37 PM
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As the question states..who here drives their m42 on the track? I don't mean auto-x I mean track as in a race track where you're basically in 3rd and 4th gear with the throttle pegged.
I was experiencing some VERY HIGH oil and water temperatures last time around and I am trying to see if this is specific to my car or m42s in general.
As far as research goes - I have contacted one other person who races an e30m42 in SCCA IT and he has had cooling issue as well.
I have an e30m3 cluster and the oil temperature was waaay high and around 270deg with :eek: the water temp gauge reading between 3/4 and red. I had the heater on to help cool the car down and at times I just took it easy to let the car cool down as well.
VPD has an oil cooler solution but it's $$$ http://www.victoryproductdesign.com/cooler_kit.htm (http://www.victoryproductdesign.com/cooler_kit.htm)
My temp plan now is to get a temp gauge for the cyl head along with an oil pressure gauge as well. I might just take out my thermostat next time around as well.
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I've tracked mine at a driving school with the BMW Club of Quebec. It was a small track and it was pretty cool outside so I never experienced any cooling problems. I was in 2nd between 4k to 6k all the time except in the straights I was in 3rd. We did 3 sessions of 20 minutes or so. Anyway I'm taking it to Sanair on the 22nd...I'll see if I get any issues.
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hmmm, mine seemd to be ok, even in the heat. early summer, 28ish deg C (air temp), seemed fine.
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Yeah small short tracks like Little Taladega are not an issue. Road Atlanta is a totally different case though. I'll look into a coolant system flush along with water wetter next time around and let you guys know how it went
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i'd look at the water pump or t stat. the faster you go, the more air moves through the rad
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You can get one of the filter lines through the pressure sending unit hole and put a "T" in the line for the sending unit. Not sure where on the housing you would need to go for the other one. Hopefully someone has done this or knows the exact routing through the filter housing and where the best place to drill and tap for the other line that preserves presssure form the pump into the motor. Maybe need a tig welded bung on top of the filter housing.
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Water pump and t.stat are about 8 months old. I just bled the system a tad and I'll see how it behaves during tomorrow's auto-x. I'll get the system flushed before the next DE and rig a switch to trigger the high speed on the aux fan.
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You can get one of the filter lines through the pressure sending unit hole and put a "T" in the line for the sending unit. Not sure where on the housing you would need to go for the other one. Hopefully someone has done this or knows the exact routing through the filter housing and where the best place to drill and tap for the other line that preserves presssure form the pump into the motor. Maybe need a tig welded bung on top of the filter housing.
What are you suggesting here? An oil pressure gauge location?
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A place to run the lines to an oil cooler from. An alternative to buying a pricey adapter and cooler. Car-part.com has one M3 oil cooler for $150. There are a lot of others available for $50-$100 and sup hi-tech stuff for $200 up.
Volvo has oil coolers on a lot of models that are really cheap in salvage yards.
We used to run a restrictor in the thermostat housing to slow the flow. Strangely it would overheat without it because the pump cavitated.
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Mine does overheat at auto-x's if i leave it idling between runs but it has always been fine on the track.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed though since I have a track day next weekend and utah in july can get pretty hot. We'll see.
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is it possible to retrofit the 325i cooler?
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Do the m42s not have oil coolers?
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I didn't notice any outrageous temp problems when I was driving my cousin's M44 318Ti at Barber in 100 degree weather a few months ago. Then again, Barber is a "fairly" short track (no real long straights)...
It will be interested to see how my car behaves at Road A. I thought it odd that our cars don't have an oil cooler, but I guess in normal day in and day out driving, it's not neccessary.
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Dang, another thing I'll have to address before I take mine to the tracks :(
It gets HOT at Willow Springs and Buttonwillow this time of the year.
Not really relevant, but my M10-powered car has never had an issue at the tracks (other than a stock Miata with a passenger blows its doors off in straight).
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Mike - Our cars didnt' come with oil coolers :mad:
I am thinking of swapping radiators or getting a new one. I'll do that as the first line of approach. I went to an auto-x today and on the way back home with the a/c on the temp and oil gauges were as follows...
(http://www.r3vlimited.com/gallery/files/7/5/0/3/auto_x_july_016.jpg)
As I speak to more people with m42s...its seems this issue is specific to some of us so it could be anything but it's definitely not a cause for panic :eek: so ladies and germs...if you don't have any cooling issues...drive on :D
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on the way home? something is wrong
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on the way home? something is wrong
no kiddin captain
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Not sure if it can be adapted to run cooler lines to it but UUC has its Oil Center cap. If nothing else, its a great place to run temp and pressure gauge lines.
UUC Oil Center (http://www.uucmotorwerks.com/html_product/oil_center/index.htm)
(http://www.uucmotorwerks.com/html_product/oil_center/pics_oil_center/both2.jpg)
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well, water wetter isnt going to help
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E9,
How old is your rad? Have you cleaned (flushed) it out yet or before? Your coolant temp shouldn't be running that high....
As for an oil cooler, as someone said before, are you able to us the 325is one?
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I used watter wetter after bleeding the rad y'day to no avail.
m20 or s14 oil coolers aren't easily going to work.
I dunno exact age of the rad and the flush isn't too good of an option cost wise.
I will check with my parts guy as well as I think I can get a valeo or nissen rad for around $150 and that's better than getting a flush and buying gizmos to make oil coolers work as it's very evident something isn't kosher. I could also just get a behr radiator as well from around $200 most likely. 3rd option is also to get a bigger rad however it's well known that the e36 rads LOVE to crack the necks on them every so often so I might just stay stock.
Hrmm...
Edit: m30 e34 rads aren't going to work as the coolant tank system is obviously similar to that of m20s not m42s
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I will check with my parts guy as well as I think I can get a valeo or nissen rad for around $150 and that's better than getting a flush and buying gizmos to make oil coolers work.
Sounds like a good idea. I think mine's been replaced before I bought it. Looks pretty clean and my temp guage rarely even hits the half mark.
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Well I have a new rad and new thermostat. Tracked it yesterday, I was always between 5k to 6.5k rpm (not chipped) hit the rev limiter a few times in the straight, and at some corner where shifting was not really an option (at my skill level)...anyway, aside from a small oil consumption, everything was normal, my temp always stayed at or below 1/2. I had no way of checking oil temp though. How complicated is it to fit an M3 cluster? The 7k redline (for the futur chip) and oil temp gauge are very interesting. Btw, my instructor said he prefers tracking the M42 to the M20 :D (he tracks an E30 M3 and a race prep 2002)
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How complicated is it to fit an M3 cluster? The 7k redline (for the futur chip) and oil temp gauge are very interesting.
Not sure what's involved in retrofitting the M3 cluster, however, UUC makes a replacement cap for the oil filter called the Oil Center (http://www.uucmotorwerks.com/html_product/oil_center/index.htm) that has connectors for oil temp and pressure senders. I've also seen oil temp senders that are replacement plugs for the oil pan (although I think that's sort of ghetto).
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Glad to see this problem is isolated to a few of us at least.
I got a new radiator that I have filled and bled properly and it doesn't seem to have cured the problem as much as I thought it would. My other m42 barely gets to the 1/2 mark and this one seems to love sitting at the half mark. This means the car will easily climb past half once again when the flogging ensues.
The e30m3 cluster is almost plug and play save the wire for the oil temp sensor. My oil temp sensor is tapped opposite of the oil pressure sensor and then run to the cluster. The sensor on the drain plug seems a little fragile to me as well
It's a blessing in disguise - this oil temp gauge - as I am very well aware that hot oil and hot water temp is a no-no :( and more credible than the stock water temp gauge alone.
I'll take the car for another shake down and probably try a colder thermostat next weekend time permitting. I have a graf water pump and I am almost tempted to get the next brand out there to see if that may help any? The aux fan works on high and low speeds as well. I am thinking a puller fan in place of the fan clutch might be the next simplest approach. I'd run it separate of the aux fan though and manually activate it with it's own power via a fused line.
Needless to say I have been checking my oil and radiator for traces of a frothy mix in anticipation of the worst reality of any vehicle owner -- t3h cracked head mod -- :rolleyes:
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The e30m3 cluster is almost plug and play save the wire for the oil temp sensor.
Now correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the M3 cluster lack a 'check engine' light? If so then its going to be a problem for anyone in California as its required for passing smog.
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Hah funny you mention that - It has the "Check Engine" light next to the fog light indicator - mine stares at me at idle; I think it's my 02 sensor.
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Hah funny you mention that - It has the "Check Engine" light next to the fog light indicator - mine stares at me at idle; I think it's my 02 sensor.
That's weird because our chapter president had a hell of a time getting her husband's M3 smogged. Maybe it doesn't work on an M3...not really sure.