Oil Temp' on the increase... - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

plisken · 27th May 2004, 21:56

I notice my oil temp' almost aproach the middle of the scale today, never really seen it this high before, always sits below, the mark to the left of centre, which I'm lead to believe is normal.

But...

today, under normal driving conditions, albeit through traffic, it started to creep up near the centre, although I must point out that the collant temp' stayed bang on the centre, as it normally does.

A result of the hotter weather (26 today) or is my engine about to blow?

I suppose it would also help get ideas of Skylines and Lancer Evo's out of my head...

Only other difference is that I have been using Optimax (98) for the past couple of days

ilundber · 28th May 2004, 00:15

Built on experience, I have learnt the the oil thermostat opens when the needle is just to the right og the centre position. If memory serves me correctly, it opens wide at 105 degrees centigrades.

M5touring reg · 28th May 2004, 00:44

don't worry, appears normal in -stop and go-traffic- in 26 degrees C outdoor
temperature, once you get a clear road and the oil thermostat kicks in -
as -ilundberg- rightly says at about 105 degrees - oil-temp will drop rapidly
with water temp remaining constant -

plisken · 28th May 2004, 00:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by ilundber

Built on experience, I have learnt the the oil thermostat opens when the needle is just to the right og the centre position. If memory serves me correctly, it opens wide at 105 degrees centigrades.

I'm almost 100% sure that mine has never went above the half way point, was pretty close to it today though, hopefully nothing to worry about, and simply a result of the hot weather.

M5touring reg · 28th May 2004, 00:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by plisken

I'm almost 100% sure that mine has never went above the half way point, was pretty close to it today though, hopefully nothing to worry about, and simply a result of the hot weather.

-
-
working temp shud be 90 degrees, just left of center -
working range is abt 80-120 degrees i.e. half way point is no problem at all,
a constant 80 degrees is too cool, ok for a short while and during warm up -

dronfieldm · 28th May 2004, 10:51

Mine goes to centre if I overtake a few lines of cars and then hold onto the revs/middle gears through a series of bends.............only goes spot on centre though......

After that, and normal driving, just left of centre. In traffic and hot, I am sure it would rise also, but last time I was in a traffic jam on the M6, I either turned the engine off or put blowers on full hot - to aid heat removal.

There seems to be nothing wrong with your oil temp........

Mark

orinoco · 1st June 2004, 23:05

I had the same problem when I had my car serviced at main dealer who now all seem to use fully synthetic oil. I had them change it to semi-synthetic which would be compatible with the era of the engine design and it certainly made a difference to the running temp. Have just had it serviced again and thought that maybe I had been imagining the hot running last year - sadly not and with the same problem again I shall shortly be back to them with a couple of jugs of the semi-synthetic stuff!

I had been meaning to ask if anyone could provide a technical reason for this as the dealer seems to have none. Anybody got an answer?