128i Track Tempts

[bcoffin23]

What oil and track temps are you guys who regularly track your 128i seeing? I’m an relatively experienced driver on the track (50-60 days) and am taking a bones stock 128i to the track in a few weeks.

Ambient tempts will be in the low 70s

[Alow]

My oil temps were high. 275 and would have gone higher if I hadn't backed off. I need to add an oil cooler. Coolant was fine. Didn't move too much from regular driving.

[bcoffin23]

Originally Posted by Alow

My oil temps were high. 275 and would have gone higher if I hadn't backed off. I need to add an oil cooler. Coolant was fine. Didn't move too much from regular driving.

That was with a 128?

[crowtrobot]

Originally Posted by bcoffin23

What oil and track temps are you guys who regularly track your 128i seeing? I’m an relatively experienced driver on the track (50-60 days) and am taking a bones stock 128i to the track in a few weeks.

Ambient tempts will be in the low 70s

Dunno what my temps were, as I wasn't monitoring them, but at WGI running in advanced, I'd often have my power cut even on relatively cool days towards the end of a 20min session. It's a little freaky because the car doesn't give you any warning or indicator, no codes or CEL, just the throttle stops feeding power.

I installed a little N20/N52 water-oil cooler and had no problems since.

[chris_flies]

In mild weather like that, I'd see an oil temp of 260F if I was really pushing it. 240-250 if I was just driving conservatively (as far as driving on the track goes). I've never bothered with coolant temps. Never had limp mode or half limp mode before, so it doesn't worry me (something about ignorance is bliss). The electric water pump drops the temperature pretty drastically once the DME goes into its "Sport" mapping. I've never seen oil temp crest 270, even when it was 100 degrees out and I was driving aggressively.

[bcoffin23]

Originally Posted by crowtrobot

Dunno what my temps were, as I wasn't monitoring them, but at WGI running in advanced, I'd often have my power cut even on relatively cool days towards the end of a 20min session. It's a little freaky because the car doesn't give you any warning or indicator, no codes or CEL, just the throttle stops feeding power.

I installed a little N20/N52 water-oil cooler and had no problems since.

Is that the exchanger off the 528?

[bcoffin23]

Originally Posted by chris_flies

In mild weather like that, I'd see an oil temp of 260F if I was really pushing it. 240-250 if I was just driving conservatively (as far as driving on the track goes). I've never bothered with coolant temps. Never had limp mode or half limp mode before, so it doesn't worry me (something about ignorance is bliss). The electric water pump drops the temperature pretty drastically once the DME goes into its "Sport" mapping. I've never seen oil temp crest 270, even when it was 100 degrees out and I was driving aggressively.

How are you monitoring those tempts?

[chris_flies]

Originally Posted by bcoffin23

How are you monitoring those tempts?

I have an M3 instrument cluster, and had a 135i instrument cluster before that. It's a cheap mod that's very worthwhile if you intend to track the car...

[bcoffin23]

Originally Posted by chris_flies

I have an M3 instrument cluster, and had a 135i instrument cluster before that. It's a cheap mod that's very worthwhile if you intend to track the car...

Good to know. What weight oil are you running and what’s your coolant mix look like?

[chris_flies]

Originally Posted by bcoffin23

Good to know. What weight oil are you running and what's your coolant mix look like?

Standard 50/50 water and antifreeze with an appropriate amount of water wetter. Usually 0w-40 Castro's Euro blend, but I have 15w-50 Mobil 1 right now. Also have the HO N52 water-oil heat exchanger.

[Alow]

Originally Posted by bcoffin23

That was with a 128?

Yessir

[bionicbelly]

Hi Bobby! Glad to see you got a 128! Great cars. (I'm on bimmerforums, we'd talked about some Z3 stuff)
I have seen some of your videos. You will have to add an oil cooler. There is no getting around it. You will without a doubt get the oil hot enough that you will go into limp mode. Cooler days will get you an extra lap or two than hot days, but it will happen. Every session.
The set up I used to solve mine was a 135/335 oil filter housing and then a small/medium cooler from Ebay.
https://www.1addicts.com/forums/show....php?t=1519384

[bcoffin23]

Originally Posted by bionicbelly

Hi Bobby! Glad to see you got a 128! Great cars. (I'm on bimmerforums, we'd talked about some Z3 stuff)
I have seen some of your videos. You will have to add an oil cooler. There is no getting around it. You will without a doubt get the oil hot enough that you will go into limp mode. Cooler days will get you an extra lap or two than hot days, but it will happen. Every session.
The set up I used to solve mine was a 135/335 oil filter housing and then a small/medium cooler from Ebay.
https://www.1addicts.com/forums/show....php?t=1519384

Perfect! Thank you sir. Excited to get her on the track. Hoping to be a competitive car in TT5 then TT4....one day ST4 when the wallet grows.

[bionicbelly]

Originally Posted by bcoffin23

Perfect! Thank you sir. Excited to get her on the track. Hoping to be a competitive car in TT5 then TT4....one day ST4 when the wallet grows.

That is where I was going with mine, but with running the Z3 in WRL, I had zero time left for TT. Made me sad, but I ended up selling the 1 to a guy on the forums here, and he has been tracking it regularly. It will very likely be a great platform for TT5/TT4. I never quite got there, but was very close. Needed another year of development I think, and it would have been aces.

[spidertri]

I was at the track yesterday, ambient temps between 35F and 50F over the course of the day and I was seeing oil temps get up to 270F and a few times up to 280F. I will be installing an oil cooler before the next event.

Just to confirm, the N51/52 gets oil temp reading from the oil level sensor in the pan?

[bbnks2]

Originally Posted by spidertri

I was at the track yesterday, ambient temps between 35F and 50F over the course of the day and I was seeing oil temps get up to 270F and a few times up to 280F. I will be installing an oil cooler before the next event.

Just to confirm, the N51/52 gets oil temp reading from the oil level sensor in the pan?

On an N55, there is an oil temperature sensor tapped right into the main oil galley (#16): https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...47#13627580635

I do not see the same part on the N51/N52/N54 engine diagrams, but, that is what you would want to look for. Otherwise, the only other place it could be is in the pan. The sensor on the oil filer housing is a pressure sensor not a thermometer for taking temperatures.

When I tracked an auto N51 I was seeing 280f+ oil and 240f+ water temps. Not good at all. A 26 row cooler helped, but, not enough with the auto. The car really needed a larger radiator too and a dedicated trans cooler so that radiator capacity isn't wasted on trans cooling. I ended up in a 135i before really tearing into the 128i. Fun well balanced car but I wanted more.

[Suprgnat]

Originally Posted by bbnks2

On an N55, there is an oil temperature sensor tapped right into the main oil galley (#16): https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...47#13627580635

I do not see the same part on the N51/N52/N54 engine diagrams, but, that is what you would want to look for. Otherwise, the only other place it could be is in the pan. The sensor on the oil filer housing is a pressure sensor not a thermometer for taking temperatures.

The oil temp in a 128i is detected via the oil level sensor: "The engine oil level is measured by an oil condition sensor (OZS) and indicated in the
central information display (CID). The engine oil temperature and the oil condition are also registered or calculated by the oil condition sensor."