S38 Engine Abuse ! - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

erikm54life · 29th June 2007, 22:02

Am I wrong or is this guy abusing an S38 ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrTEbP4aHAE

Check out were the temp. is.......and he revs it beyond 3k stone cold !

Thoughts ? ?

kurt44 · 29th June 2007, 22:44

No, I don't think you can really call that abuse. Perhaps a sustained period above 4000 rpm from cold wouldn't do the engine any favours! I think the owner's manual advises to refrain from engine speeds above 4000 rpm until the oil temp. is at least at 50 degrees C.

Kurt

erikm54life · 29th June 2007, 23:05

Thanks for the enlightenment Kurt !....would have thought otherwise.

Phlem5 · 30th June 2007, 01:34

Like Kurt says, nothing to worry about there imo. Thanks for the link Eric as this one is on the same page - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=an5cr...related&search=
I haven't driven an M5 since April and that is a great reminder of what I'm missing.

The Bigfella · 30th June 2007, 04:41

Looked like the dreaded green coolant in there too.

stevie sam · 30th June 2007, 16:45

Thought itwas 3000 rpm b4 oil temp reaches 80....and I didnt see him rev it above 3000 anyway

farrell · 1st July 2007, 23:18

Yep
I bet all those company executives who seemed to own most of these cars from new in Europe all obeserved the running in & warm up regime noted within the owners handbook...NOT !

We can adopt best intentions as the current owners of these vehicles but nothing we do will undo the abuse that the first ,second & onward owners did to the cars...not least of which will have been some veeeeeerrrrrrryyyy long service intervals up to & beyond the service indicator.
The service indicator was a bloody curse on the S38 engines imho.

Cheers
Farrell

Teamsreth · 1st July 2007, 23:37

@ Farrell

What do you mean by the service indicator remark? Mine ws reset by a stealer at an oil service, and is on 5 green lights. The next is an inspection 2. I am planning on doing the oil every 3000 miles, but should I consider moving the next service forward?

I thought it was 4000 rpm until 170 F. But I dont go above 3000 untilalmost at that temp, and not over 3500 until then.

farrell · 2nd July 2007, 00:20

I personally agree with 3-6k mile oil service regimes.

I think it has more of an effect when you know the absolute condition of an
engine when new or when rebuilt.
To stay true to my previous comments, consider this.
If you are having the oil changed every 3k miles, why bother with service indicator lights ?
The original owners profile seem mostly company car owner based.
Point is this.
You can change your oil however you like, it won't make amends for the usage
the engine has recieved prior to you having the vehicle.
Thats just a lottery.
Dependant on the driving style the vehicle recieves, ie lots of short journeys where water & oil don't get to optimum temp or Autobahn driving, you could have service indicator lights all out @ 6k miles or 10k miles on the S38 engine.
Thats no good for absolute long term durability on what is basically a racing engine with some potentially baggy piston / ring to to bore clearances !

The DME service diagnostic logging usage criteria on this vintage of vehicle was very crude.
The latest telemetry & usage loggers know everything...number of times driver aids were switched off, how many times excess rpm were exceeded from cold, you name it.
Certainly enough info to support the current engines superior technology & thin long life oils designed to meet long service requirements.

Service indicators were an across the range addition to the E34.
I don't personally think that it was helpful to have them on the S38 engined cars where service every 6k miles max would have been more sensible.
7k-10k miles service indicator driven oil changes was dumb & corporate range driven.

Just my own thoughts really

Farrell

The Bigfella · 2nd July 2007, 10:25

See - I knew it was a good idea to blow up my engine - now I know its entire history from the rebuild!