[///MPhatic]

So I was discussing this earlier with a friend, and he said that he had read over and over that 160° was the magic oil-temp number to be able to run *any* car hard. My own research has shown it to be a variable thing, having to do with the specific oil used, max rpm's, and engine tolerances. I know there are several cars out there that cut the revs until a certain temp is reached, but they aren't all the same.

So at what oil temp do you give it the beans?

[GoneIn4Secs]

I wait until the needle is 1/4 up

[Fred Conoway]

Originally Posted by GoneIn4Secs

I wait until the needle is 1/4 up

I concur

[F87source]

I do things a litte bit differently, I let my car warm up to about 42C before I drive it, then I drive it in comfort mode to 100*C or more for atleast 5 mins. This burns off any fuel and moisture contamination in the oil and "cleans" it of impurities as best as possible. Then I will switch it to sport + where oil stabilizes at 94C in about a min or so, after this I am free to push as hard as I please. If I were to park and restart the car - so not from a cold start, I will wait till oil temps hit 90C at minimum before I will push the car hard.


I don't like pushing it when the oil is at 70C, because oil needs temperature to meet its kv100 rating and temperature for its additives to work at full efficacy. I just don't like risking it, so I rather wait until the car hits temps that it knows it likes and stabilizes at, and this happens to be 94C - given the ambient temperatures are above 15C.

[Al Bundy's Dodge]

Originally Posted by GoneIn4Secs

I wait until the needle is 1/4 up

Agreed.

Once there, grip it and rip it

[///393]

> 180° (82° c) is the threshold I typically target. I don’t stress about getting into it if it’s just shy of that.

For what it’s worth, the pre-lci gauge cluster flips to OK once temps are above around 160°

[David.m]

Another for the 1/4 mark which I think is 90-92C and from a cold start staying in Comfort gets there noticeably quicker than if you go straight to Sport/+.

[///MPhatic]

Interesting that BMW elected to have the gauge start at 160°, especially since it displays 160 even when it's below that.

Also interesting is the 340° limit. I don't think I've seen anything over 225°, but I don't race the car. I'm now wondering what the top oil temps are that racers have seen.

Why they didn't give us a 140° to 300° colored display that would show exactly when the oil was up to temp is beyond me.

[///MPhatic]

Originally Posted by wilson kop

For what it’s worth, the pre-lci gauge cluster flips to OK once temps are above around 160°

You mean this thing? I thought that was just for engine temp.

[///393]

Originally Posted by ///MPhatic

You mean this thing? I thought that was just for engine temp.

Yep. That thing. My understanding is it’s representative of coolant AND oil temp which is why people don’t love it. Some dopes even point to that as the reason the OG M2 wasn’t a “real M” which is always funny. Wingless mirror caps and no oil temp gauge. BMW has never done anything more offensive

I started using BimmerLink to monitor oil temp, coolant temp, boost pressure, and intake air temp and noticed it flips to OK as oil and coolant are around 160 and locks in dead center around 185 oil temp despite temps increasing from there. Once it’s centered I take that as my cue to let it eat.

[///MPhatic]

Originally Posted by wilson kop

Yep. That thing. My understanding is it’s representative of coolant AND oil temp which is why people don’t love it.

Great info.

Originally Posted by wilson kop

Some dopes even point to that as the reason the OG M2 wasn’t a “real M” which is always funny. Wingless mirror caps and no oil temp gauge. Clutch them pearls ladies.

I nearly spit my coffee on that one

Originally Posted by wilson kop

I started using BimmerLink to monitor oil temp, coolant temp, boost pressure, and intake air temp and noticed it flips to OK as oil and coolant are around 160 and locks in dead center around 185 oil temp despite temps increasing from there.

Interesting. Do you have a display set up somewhere, or is it on your phone?

[///393]

Originally Posted by ///MPhatic

Interesting. Do you have a display set up somewhere, or is it on your phone?

Veepeak BLE+ wireless OBD adapter from Amazon for about $40 enables the BimmerLink app ($35) to be used on my iPhone. iPhone goes in the cup holder when I get in and provides a great view of the “dashboard” of gauges you can customize in BimmerLink.

Love that you can tailor the color ranges to easily understand when temps are outside of ideal (gauge flips from green to yellow) or too high (gauge turns red).

On track it’s moved from the cup holder to a more secure/visible mount on the windshield.



Better than a vent gauge for a number of reasons imo. Disregard the ranges in that photo as that was prior to dialing in the configuration. CarPlay runs simultaneously and isn’t impacted.

[mssVT98]

The BimmerLink thing is interesting - I have the app downloaded but haven't actually used it yet. I'm pretty comfortable with my routine using the pre-LCI combined temp gauge:

- Light throttle, under 3k RPM while "cold"
- Light throttle, under 4k RPM at "ok"
- Let it rip once it hits the midpoint

I was really hoping we'd get an update that would let us replace the stupid efficient dynamics gauge with an actual oil temp gauge. It's part of the digital display so you know they could do it, but obviously that was wishful thinking.

[W///]

I wait until quarter mark with the S55. I figure that's where the temp goes when you leave the car in Sport+ while idling or low load.

I'm pretty religious about letting the oil temps come up on all my cars. Never let it warm up idling though.

[///M TOWN]

Slightly beyond the 1/4 mark if I don't have Bimmerlink showing my oil temps

I really don't like to think that hard… But I do like to be safe

[David.m]

Originally Posted by wilson kop

Better than a vent gauge for a number of reasons imo. Disregard the ranges in that photo as that was prior to dialing in the configuration. CarPlay runs simultaneously and isn’t impacted.

How are you connecting bimmerlink? I only recently started using Carplay and it won't let me simultaneously connect to the obd wifi vgate I've used for years for bimmerlink.

[///393]

Originally Posted by David.m

How are you connecting bimmerlink? I only recently started using Carplay and it won't let me simultaneously connect to the obd wifi vgate I've used for years for bimmerlink.

CarPlay uses WiFi, so you’ll need to switch to a Bluetooth OBD adapter like the Veepeak BLE+ I mentioned in order to use BimmerLink and CarPlay simultaneously.

[Zeese]

How are you connecting bimmerlink? I only recently started using Carplay and it won't let me simultaneously connect to the obd wifi vgate I've used for years for bimmerlink.

The post above yours seems more likely. Only one WiFi connection at a time. And a bluetooth adapter for BimmerLink solves the problem of using both Apps at the same time (CarPlay+BimmerLink).

Something for me to try anyway.

[David.m]

Originally Posted by wilson kop

CarPlay uses WiFi, so you’ll need to switch to a Bluetooth OBD adapter like the Veepeak BLE+ I mentioned in order to use BimmerLink and CarPlay simultaneously.

Many thanks for the advice, got the bluetooth OBD adapter and it works perfectly while simultaneously using Carplay (actually the Bimmerlink connection seems better/more consistent than what I had with the Vgate wifi adapter).
so good having Waze on the iDrive screen, temps etc on iphone & the dash digital readout showing my speed next to the speed limit. Will likely save me a few $

[///393]

Originally Posted by David.m

Many thanks for the advice, got the bluetooth OBD adapter and it works perfectly while simultaneously using Carplay (actually the Bimmerlink connection seems better/more consistent than what I had with the Vgate wifi adapter).
so good having Waze on the iDrive screen, temps etc on iphone & the dash digital readout showing my speed next to the speed limit. Will likely save me a few $

Glad to hear it’s working out for you. I actually ran into my first issue with it on a longer drive. It randomly disconnected and would not reconnect. When I stopped for gas and power cycled the car it came right back.

Only thing that stood out was I had flipped iDrive over to the tire pressure monitor to look at pressures. Not saying that’s root cause. Who knows.

The good news was that with these cooler ambient temps (high 60s) the CSF intercooler is really performing well and oil temps were solid despite flogging the piss out of it on a tight technical back road. Not representative of a 25min track session but a good sign that I’ll fare better at this November JTI event.

[RockCrusher]

Originally Posted by ///MPhatic

So I was discussing this earlier with a friend, and he said that he had read over and over that 160° was the magic oil-temp number to be able to run *any* car hard. My own research has shown it to be a variable thing, having to do with the specific oil used, max rpm's, and engine tolerances. I know there are several cars out there that cut the revs until a certain temp is reached, but they aren't all the same.

So at what oil temp do you give it the beans?

With my 230i I wait until the oil temperature is in the 200F range. It normally runs a bit over that.

This was my SOP with previous cars with a digital oil (and coolant) temperature gauge.

When I had cars with both a digital coolant and oil temperature display I found (and as I had been previously told) oil temperature lags coolant temperature from a cold start. After the engine is up to temperature oil temperature is slower to fall than coolant temperature.

160F is a bit low for my comfort level but with a fully broken in engine and reasonably fresh/clean oil probably ok. But at 160F it doesn't take that much more time before the oil is warmer and warmer is better.

Oh, have to add that it is possible while the oil passing by the oil temperature sensor is 160F all of the oil may not be that hot.

I have seen large machine tools with a hydraulic oil system in operation and from cold the returning oil is while warm what develops is a whirlpool over the pump intake and this tends to funnel the hot oil which runs over the colder oil without mixing/blending in and right into the pump so it gets used over and over again. It takes time and some activity of the machine tool to get all the oil circulated and its temperature pretty uniform. The machinist (in some cases me) would run the various tables/movable parts of the machine tool to and fro their full travel which would then pull more oil into the pump and over time get all the oil involved.

Car engines are similar. The oil in the pan doesn't get stirred up by the crank. crank. The pan/oil sump is designed to prevent much sloshing of oil to help ensure the oil pickup is submerged in sufficient oil to prevent any ingesting of air. So with this in mind I like to give the engine oil plenty of time so all of the oil is hot not just a portion of it.

[fanofbmwe46]

Around the 180 mark for me