E30 M52
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I remember driving M5x engines and living in constant fear of the cooling system failing and constantly watching the temp gauge. Then I bought an N54 and couldn't believe the audacity of BMW to REMOVE a coolant temp gauge from a car and replace it with oil temp! How dare they! I was constantly paranoid about the cooling system in the N54 until one day I just realized there was nothing to worry about anymore. Overheating was no longer a thing and it's the same in the S65. I say this because I understand your fears and your anxiety. I also understand the freedom of not worrying. 220 doesn't seem that high to me. 230 and up and I start turning the heat on in the car but 220 and below, meh. It's a swapped car. It'll never be perfect. Just drive it.
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Never worry about overheating in an N54, yet the electric waterpumps are a common issue
Had it fail once. It went into limp mode, got it towed and all was good. M5x on the other hand... exploding fans, leaking radiator necks, consumable water pump fins and so on. I swear that cooling system is made of glass and that was at stock power levels. The N5x is dead nuts reliable when it comes to the cooling system other than the possibility of a water pump failing one time.
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m/s5x engines seem to swing pretty significantly while driving, especially if you don't have a fan running all the time. It's probably what led them to developing a buffered temp gauge on the e36. There was a thread/video of a guy who eliminated the buffering on the gauge and it was all over the place even with normal driving. This was likely in a car with the stock 92C thermostat:
Have you tried driving it with the fan just always on to see how it does?
For reference: on my e36 with an 80c thermostat, cruising down the freeway the temps are typically around 188F but randomly move around between 186 and 194 (these numbers are read from the ECU/obd2 port via an UltraGauge). Sitting at a stoplight with the fan off it will likely overheat eventually if I were to just let it go with no fan, even with a perfectly operational cooling system. Stop and go traffic it will slowly rise to over 200F before I switch the fan on.
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I got the new starter in, before I put the manifold back on, I tried it out and it still wont start. Battery was new 2 months ago, cables and connections test good. Im thinking the alternator may not be working properly. I have more testing to do before i pull it off the car and take it to get tested. I was planning to replace the old cheap mystery starter I had anyways so I dont care much about that.
I pulled the plugs just to check them out and make sure there wasnt any hydrolocking. Plugs look good/the same and the engine rotates freely by hand
E30 picnic is not looking very promising at all.
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I took my alternator to Vato Zone and it failed twice on the bench tester. The smarter of the two guys trying to test it said it was the voltage regulator. Im going to take a look at the brushes and see what a new regulator would run.
A wonky alternator could in theory cause random temperature spikes. The VDO temperature senders are high resistance at low temperatures and low resistance at high temperatures. Lower voltage = lower resistance
This could explain why the indicated temperature would seem to drop when I turn the cooling fan off. It was strange behavior but if it turned the fan on/off/on/off I could usually get it to drop 5-10 degrees after the fan turned off. If the alternator function cut in/out it would explain a sudden spike to 220 then drop back to 200.
Who knows, maybe my o2 sensor issue is also related to a voltage issue, something to re-visit once a working alternator goes in.
I'm going to take it to another store at lunchtime to get it tested just to be sure. I don't have complete faith in the guys that tested it last night. They kept trying to plug a 3 pin connector into it (spent 2 minutes looking for some sort of connector on the alternator housing) and kept calling the exciter wire post a ground.
dorks.
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Yes low voltage will cause a high temp reading on short sweep gauges. I discovered that the reason the gauge on mine went sky high while my wife was driving it was because I hooked the gauge ground pin to the dimmer circuit instead of steady ground. It was fine when she left because she didn't have the lights on. When she came home it was dark and she turned the lights on so the dimmer raises the voltage on the ground side and the voltage powering the gauge was reduced. You could swing the gauge up and down by moving the illumination dimmer roller.
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Bite-sized update as usual: Engine shimmed about 5/16” on the drivers side and hey! My manifold now clears the booster!
The ICV hose is genuine BMW and its already cracking.
That's how you know it's good. They must be sourcing Uro parts. Where is the pcv hose that goes on that nipple?
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Maybe it's the coolant vapors from the impending head gasket death that are causing premature wear, or your oil is toxic and your rings are shot so you are seeing too much oil through the manifold and it is wearing out the elbow, and don't forget the potential that your power steering pump is leaking and the pulley for it is flinging the fluid up and when you drive the air pushes the fluid back against the elbow.
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Maybe it's the coolant vapors from the impending head gasket death that are causing premature wear, or your oil is toxic and your rings are shot so you are seeing too much oil through the manifold and it is wearing out the elbow, and don't forget the potential that your power steering pump is leaking and the pulley for it is flinging the fluid up and when you drive the air pushes the fluid back against the elbow.
Lets not get crazy here WebMD
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I knew it was Lupus.
FWIW the rubber grommet on my new BMW throttle cable was also cracked.
Im guessing its just new old stock. Every other piece of rubber old and new is holding up fine. I ran a tightly wrapped strip of electrical tape over the ICV hose and added a hose clamp for good measure. -
Lets not get crazy here WebMD
I figured I would go on the "SnapPath"
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