Ran my first autocross and she ran just in the bottom of the red in oil temp. would cool down while waiting for next run, but then back just to the red. 80 second laps and in 2nd gear. 65 degree afternoon. Never runs warm any other time. Has 3.0 liter with Elephant Racing Wide Mouth Carrera Cooler upgrade. Should I worry? Any ideas? Schedule for a track day shortly at COTA and don't want any issues there.

thanks

tom

 

Assuming the gauge and sender are accurate that is super hot for the conditions. Do you have a IR temp gun? Shoot the oil lines coming out of the thermostat and make sure its opening. Also make sure your oil lines under the car leading to the oil cooler arent crushed. Also do you have an electric fan on the cooler?

 

Do you have a Carrera type oil cooler in the right front fender? If so, I have a suggestion.

 

[QUOTE=ron mcatee;12871510]Do you have a Carrera type oil cooler in the right front fender? If so, I have a suggestion.[/QUOTE

YES I DO AND THE FAN IS WORKING.

 

If you have the factory thermostat in the top of the cooler, it may be rated at 244 degrees F. I modified mine years ago per the info below, I never exceed 210 even after autocrossing. If you put too low a thermostat in the cooler, your fan will run continuously and may fail prematurely. This worked for me.

1988 Carrera oil cooler 244 F Temperature switch
replacement with a lower temp one

The factory thermo-switch mounted on the Carrera oil cooler on my 88 Carrera was rated at 244 F. I obtained the info on putting a lower temp unit in from a Rennlister. It was about using a BMW radiator auxiliary fan switch that worked very well for him. I bought one from Pelican and put it in the car. The factory wiring harness has a single wire with a round spade type connector going to the single pole thermo-switch. I cut the factory wiring with a single pole end and soldered on a flat spade connector. The BMW auxiliary fan switch is for E-30 series cars from 1984- August 1987, specifically 325e/es//i/es/iC cars. It is a two prong, Red Top, 99 degree Celsius switch (equates to 210.8 F) made by FAE, P/N 61-31-1-364-273-M323 and costs $13.75 from Pelican. Your local BMW dealer may have one, but cost may be higher. Autozone has them listed as P/N SW572 and cost $16.99. It is a special order item at both places. www.Pelicanparts.com usually has them in stock.

You have to remove the flex lines attached to the oil cooler and the hard lines. Be careful when loosening the mounting bolts on the oil cooler. There is a lot of oil in there and any movement will cause it to spill on you. Once you have enough oil out of the cooler to remove it, carefully lower the cooler to the ground and dump the rest of the oil out of the cooler into a drain pan. Then remove the factory switch from the cooler. Cut and install a flat spade female connector because the BMW part has two male connectors on it . Install the BMW switch with a new gasket and tighten. It doesn’t matter which male connector you plug the wire onto. You then need to make a ground wire that will connect to the other male spade on the switch. I used brown wire just like the factory so there is no doubt as to what it is for. I made my ground wire about 8” long and put a female connector on one end and a connector with an eyelet on the other end. How long you make the ground wire is up to you. Make sure the eyelet is big enough to have a 10mm head bolt go through it, because on top of the oil cooler beside the new switch there is a 10mm head bolt you can use to mount the ground wire. Once all the electrical is done, replace the foam rubber seal (P/N 930-207-353-00) that mounts to the protective stone guard. Remount the cooler, reinstall the flex lines, and start the car and let it come up to operating temperature. Once the hard lines get hot, check for any leaks at the flex and hard lines. If you need to change the flex lines, now’s the time to do it. If no leaks are detected, let the engine run and monitor the heat gauge in the car. Make note of the temperature when the oil cooler fan motor comes on. Depending on gauge calibrations, it should come on at about 210-215 F. I wanted my hook-up to be automatic so that’s why I did mine this way. Hope this helps

 

....or leave the thermostat in place and disable it and hard wire the fan w/relay to a switch on/under your dash.
I can on/off anytime I feel like it is nec.

 

Yep, on with the key, not some BMW switch I don't trust.

 

Getting that hot after an autocross run? I never get anywhere near that hot in my '82 on track in the summer, and I only have the trombone style oil cooler up front.

What about sitting in traffic on a hot day? That's where the fan will matter most.

I'd second Techno Duck and make sure the lines aren't crushed, at high rpm driving if you restrict oil flow through those lines it'll backup and just dump back into the sump without going through the cooler.

This is what you're looking for:
It's common to see that because careless people at a garage will throw a floor jack under the car assuming it's designed for it and smash the lines. Mine are squeezed some, but not badly enough where it's impacting flow.

 

tanks for the replies. ill take a look at all of this. just ordered a fluke ir gun. i dont usually have issues in traffic even here in houston.

 

Yeah if you don't have problems in traffic in Houston I bet your fans and thermostats are fine but there's something limiting cooling at high rpm, so my guess would be squished oil lines since oil flow is rpm dependent.

On the opposite end, my '82 is fine on track at 85 degrees ambient, but baked in Dallas since it only has a trombone style auxiliary cooler.