[Saintor]

N52K, no i-drive here.

Somebody around destroyed his 2010 Mazda3 engine because the temp critical light came too late and he needed 20s to pull over. He hit something and the failure occurred many minutes later and swore that he didn't extend the drive with the light on.

The E90 coolant temperature is live in CANBUS... it should be easy to retrieve and to display, right? NOT. Of course not in the regular menu... I can get it through the hidden BC menu after 50 clicks or so with the unlock... insane.

I won't open the cluster to install an OEM instead of the mpg-o-meter, but I wonder what options can be wisely considered. Any aftermarket offerings?

[mbj898]

I really doubt you will ever have a temp issue on a n52. That being said if it does come up i'm sure BMW has put it up with ample time for you to get off the road, and or least get the heat on to try to lower the temperature, while your pulling over.

[RENN Spec]

Of course, if you want to go with gauges, we have defi gauges that can monitor your temp.

[Saintor]

Originally Posted by mbj898

I really doubt you will ever have a temp issue on a n52. That being said if it does come up i'm sure BMW has put it up with ample time for you to get off the road, and or least get the heat on to try to lower the temperature, while your pulling over.

Says who?

I am sure that the Mazda3 owner I referred to, trusted Mazda on that one as you do.

Anybody knows what are the different temperature thresholds in relation with various warning?

BTW, our E9X have an electric pump (and probably a very popular maintenance item after 6 yrs) and when it stops working according to what we read here, it is a matter of a few seconds. Maybe the engine won't let the engine run in critical temperature I don't know.

Going on the crazy (and cheap) side, maybe this would work.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...8428&viewitem=

Being bluetooth, it can connect to my old faithful Palm Treo 650 or another device. I could even do this from my living room if the car is in my parking. I told you it was crazy.

[tom @ eas]

Performance Steering Wheel will put both Oil/Coolant temp on display for you.

[The HACK]

Originally Posted by mbj898

I really doubt you will ever have a temp issue on a n52. That being said if it does come up i'm sure BMW has put it up with ample time for you to get off the road, and or least get the heat on to try to lower the temperature, while your pulling over.

What makes you say that? EVERY BMW built since the 80s has issues with coolant temp. EVERY ONE. it is the biggest weak point of almost all BMWs. You're only aware of it because on the N54 it's worse than any other BMW.

That's why BMW stopped putting in a real coolant temperature gauge and instead just gives their consumers an "idiot" light that tells them their engine is about to go from "fine" to "Chernobyl."

[roadkillrob]

Originally Posted by tom @ eas

Performance Steering Wheel will put both Oil/Coolant temp on display for you.

+1 I always drive with mine on the coolant oil temp display!

[Aurora Bearialis]

that wheel is awesome!

[Saintor]

The BMW wheel w/temp display leaves me think that *there is* probably already one circuitry (may a socket) left ... with no temperature gauge connected to.

I checked in the DIY, the closest thing should be
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...ht=temperature

I am not yet done with this; I'll do a request for DIY in the appropiate section and see.

[The HACK]

Originally Posted by Saintor

The BMW wheel w/temp display leaves me think that *there is* probably already one circuitry (may a socket) left ... with no temperature gauge connected to.

I checked in the DIY, the closest thing should be
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...ht=temperature

I am not yet done with this; I'll do a request for DIY in the appropiate section and see.

All the wheel does is tap into the coolant temp/oil temp signal already present in the bus. Those information can be called up upon from the secret menu in the gauge cluster.

If you have one of them "GTech Pro" EGS dealio with OBD-II, you can get a gauge pod that attaches to the EGS to display the already present temperature signals.

[Saintor]

Did you read my 1st post?

[tom @ eas]

Originally Posted by Saintor

The BMW wheel w/temp display leaves me think that *there is* probably already one circuitry (may a socket) left ... with no temperature gauge connected to.

I checked in the DIY, the closest thing should be
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showth...ht=temperature

I am not yet done with this; I'll do a request for DIY in the appropiate section and see.

No, it's reading information already present in OBDII.

[Tee-Dub]

Originally Posted by Aurora Bearialis

that wheel is awesome!

And real expensive too.

Every BMW I've owned has had at least one cooling system overhaul in its lifetime. I can't imagine this car will be any different. I can't believe BMW kept the cheesy MPG readout but deleted the temp gauge. Way to go BMW engineers!

[Digtlartst]

I rented a Chevy van from Enterprise this weekend to take my kid back to school. What a novelty to see that it had gauges for coolant temp and oil pressure, and even an ammeter. Must have cost GM at least... gosh... $20 to build those in? My E90 has -- a gas gauge. Oh yeah, it also has a fancy TPM system that finally came on 3 miles after my tire had gone completely flat from a big nail thump-thump-thumping in the tread (a better TPM indicator), as I was already headed to a tire dealer.

[HighVoltage]

Originally Posted by Takashi

. The only gauge one always use is the speedometer gauge.

How do you keep from running out of gas?

[HighVoltage]

Originally Posted by tom @ eas

No, it's reading information already present in OBDII.

Actually the performance wheel is getting the data before it even gets to the OBDII, off PT-CAN.

[Digtlartst]

Originally Posted by HighVoltage

How do you keep from running out of gas?

BMW will soon drop the gas gauge and rely on the OBC to guesstimate how many miles of gas left -- and an idiot light telling you 5 miles until empty. Just like they don't want us to know the oil level by nixing the dipstick, who needs to know the gas level, right?

[txusa03]

Originally Posted by HighVoltage

How do you keep from running out of gas?

[HighVoltage]

Originally Posted by Takashi

There is the gas empty light and the distance to empty indicator in the LCD.

The gas gauge encourages people to fill up when it is not needed. A gas empty light is a red flag to tell people to fill up.

The "distance to empty indicator" has been proven to be inaccurate.

Do you have a MT or AT? If someone has never known sat in an E9x and driven the MT how would they correctly correlate the proper shift point to RPMs without a tach? At this stage there's no reference point, so they cant use the engine sound. How would a deaf person be able use the MT? Would you remove the AT from their options list?

There are needs for gauges other than the speedometer. An oil temp, water temp, tachometer, fuel, etc all have justified uses. Although you may not value them, that does not mean they have no use.

[subec3b]

Originally Posted by HighVoltage

The "distance to empty indicator" has been proven to be inaccurate.

Do you have a MT or AT? If someone has never known sat in an E9x and driven the MT how would they correctly correlate the proper shift point to RPMs without a tach? At this stage there's no reference point, so they cant use the engine sound. How would a deaf person be able use the MT? Would you remove the AT from their options list?

There are needs for gauges other than the speedometer. An oil temp, water temp, tachometer, fuel, etc all have justified uses. Although you may not value them, that does not mean they have no use.

How many BMW drivers are deaf and drives a MT? May be all of you are deaf or else I won't have to honk a good 2 - 3 seconds this morning to get someone's attention that they are changing into my lane without shoulderchecking.

Gauges have their own use, but you don't necessary need to have all of them. Do you think you will become a better driver if you have all the gauges you ever need? I doubt it.

[HighVoltage]

Originally Posted by subec3b

How many BMW drivers are deaf and drives a MT?

What does the statistic have to do with this?

Originally Posted by subec3b

May be all of you are deaf or else I won't have to honk a good 2 - 3 seconds this morning to get someone's attention that they are changing into my lane without shoulderchecking.

Who are "all of you"? I think your honking problem has more to do with NJ than deaf BMW drivers...

Gauges have their own use, but you don't necessary need to have all of them. Do you think you will become a better driver if you have all the gauges you ever need? I doubt it.

Having these means of measure doesn't necessarily equate to a better driver and that was never stated or implied. The additional gauges are a tool to help inform a driver of the current state of the vehicle. My experience tells me that I am able to use the data from the gauges to look for the early signs of engine failure at various levels...

[BMWFM]

Originally Posted by mbj898

I really doubt you will ever have a temp issue on a n52. That being said if it does come up i'm sure BMW has put it up with ample time for you to get off the road, and or least get the heat on to try to lower the temperature, while your pulling over.

You bet! Just got that last week. Was running on the track on a hot day, high revs, DS/Manual, etc. Had a power loss and the idrive just threw us a nasty screen out of the blue saying the engine was too hot. We needed to slow down, contact a BMW center, etc. etc. I really wish we had a temp gauge.

I had to pit in, drive the car at slow speed, etc. + 1 on the trick to turn on the heat in the cabin to evacuate it from the hood. Next sessions were fine but I stayed below 6k RPM.

FM