Oil Cooler Rad

[Security2U]

Can sumone tell me how the oil cooler rad on the front of my 325sport works should it be warm in anyway its all ways cold to the touch is it doing its job or wat.

[stevotheevo]

i think it works the same as a normal rad, although i never felt it whilst the oil is hot.

you would expect it to warm to the touch, someone with expertise will be along shortly.

[CG_Maintenance]

never really checked

[leeparkes]

theres a thermostat type thing under the air filter,
not sure what temp it operates at though!

[CG_Maintenance]

theres a thermostat type thing under the air filter,
not sure what temp it operates at though!

for the oil cooler

hows that work then
the pipes run from under the iol filter to the cooler behind front valance and back again.
no where the air filter

[rmt]

You have to work the engine hard to get the oil hot enough to open the thermostat and send hot oil to the cooler. Mine has never felt warm whenever I have checked it so I probably don't work the engine that hard.

[leeparkes]

theres a thermostat type thing under the air filter,
not sure what temp it operates at though!

sorry,i meant OIL filter!

[paule30M3]

325sport not sure what temp they run at as its a 6pot but my e30 M3 runs at about 70-75 and 90 when its at motorway speed according to my instruments on my dash but a sport as far as i know has no temp read out for this? believe its an economy vaccum gauge dont recollect a temp stat to open the flow. dont take this for gospel but i think the rubber pipes do travel from right of the engine as your sat in it to the left side in front of the engine and swap to metal entry at the left of the car at the valence. you didnt mention if it was tech1 or tech 2 sport? you could try realoem.com maybe that would help or list a stat but i f there is it must be in the oil filter mount?

[leeparkes]

if you look under the oil filter housing you will see a star shaped plug,remove the circlip and pull the plug out along with a spring and the thermostat!
if your car doesnt really over heat i wouldnt worry about it!
id check mine to see if it gets warm but the head is off at the mo!

[hongkongfuey]

do you need one on a 325 as the 320 doesn't have one

[SteSE]

Bit overkill for normal driving conditions imho

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts.do ... g=11&fg=30

[leeparkes]

do you need one on a 325 as the 320 doesn't have one

i think unless its a track car its not really needed!

[CG_Maintenance]

do you need one on a 325 as the 320 doesn't have one

i think unless its a track car its not really needed!

bmw obviously think different.

[hongkongfuey]

i mostly do short journeys, and reading the oil thread oil needs to be hotter to work, if it's got a cooler would that not keep the oil from reaching it's optimum working temp???

[Brianmoooore]

bmw obviously think different.

BMW thought differently twenty years ago, when the best oils available were about the same quality as a supermarket's budget oil now!

[e30bmlover]

i dont have an oil cooler on my b25.. and imo you dont need it, my temp sits between half and a quarter... i could sit in traffic all day and it still wont touch the half way mark.

[hongkongfuey]

so with a good oil, would i not need one??? i'm doing an engine swap soon , could i use 320 oil filter housing and remove the oil cooler

[CG_Maintenance]

i dont have an oil cooler on my b25.. and imo you dont need it, my temp sits between half and a quarter... i could sit in traffic all day and it still wont touch the half way mark.

water temp has nothing to do with oil temp

plus your water will always get to temp before the oil

Fair point there brian but i think i would rather keep what was designed to be there personaly.

[Security2U]

Can i ask who here has there coolant mixed with water.?. iv never mixed coolant with water in any of my bmws that iv had i all ways used Prestone® Extended Life Antifreeze/Coolant iv a new rad fitted also the temp gauge never gets hear the half way mark even in traffic i can come home pop open the bonnet and take of the coolant cap with out it blowen up in my face all there is-is abit of steam.

[mrLEE30]

basically oil degrades due to heat cycles, so the hotter it gets then cools down means the quicker the oil degrades, so as Brian says oil twenty years ago did not have the additives etc they have today so to prolong oil life it was necessary to control the temp of the oil, it is not for cooling only to regulate the upper oil temp.

modern oils will work happily to temps that are very high then dont mind going cold, i.e. they can accept more heat cycles before degrading.

The oil cooler on a M20 using modern oil is not really required, but it cannot hurt.

mrlee

[Felix79]

bmw obviously think different.

BMW thought differently twenty years ago, when the best oils available were about the same quality as a supermarket's budget oil now!

On a kind dumb serious note would oil have been that badly refinded back in the early 80's?

[hongkongfuey]

basically oil degrades due to heat cycles, so the hotter it gets then cools down means the quicker the oil degrades, so as Brian says oil twenty years ago did not have the additives etc they have today so to prolong oil life it was necessary to control the temp of the oil, it is not for cooling only to regulate the upper oil temp.

modern oils will work happily to temps that are very high then dont mind going cold, i.e. they can accept more heat cycles before degrading.

The oil cooler on a M20 using modern oil is not really required, but it cannot hurt.

mrlee

i generally only do short journeys in my 325, the longest blast i ever do is when i'm on a zone meet, if i need to go far i'll use the 316 or a works van.

if i remove it i can allways put back on later,

i dont have an oil cooler on my b25.. and imo you dont need it, my temp sits between half and a quarter... i could sit in traffic all day and it still wont touch the half way mark.

did you use the 320 oil filter housing??? and what oil do you use???

[e301988325i]

I've fitted a capillary oil temp gauge on my M20 325i. My oil cooler has only ever been hot after laps of the nordschleife. The thermostat only opens at 100C oil temp. Even with a full bore thrash up porlock hill (1:4) the oil temp doesn't get over 90C. I would suggest that you would need 5mins+ at constant full throttle to get the oil cooler working.