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BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum > E90 / E92 / E93 3-series Powertrain and Drivetrain Discussions > NA Engine (non-turbo) / Drivetrain / Exhaust Modifications > N52 oil cooler: yes, it's possible



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      07-22-2011, 01:58 PM   #1
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N52 oil cooler: yes, it's possible

I just talked with someone at AR design and he confirmed that their N54 oil cooler works perfectly with the N52 with no further modification required beyond what is included with the kit. You would have to purchase the package for cars with no oil cooler. It comes with the new thermostat housing that has the distribution hub for the oil cooler. Theoretically, the factory oil cooler kit for the 335 works as well. AR design's can also be used in tandem with the stock cooler for extra cooling.

OK, so why on earth would you need an oil cooler? If you don't do any tracking, it's completely unnecessary. The car does quite well without one even on the track. So if you so track maybe once a year, don't bother. However if you're tracking once or more a month for extended sessions, this is a good idea. I've talked to a few racing teams and they said on hot days it is possible to see 300+ degrees F. I go with Golden Gate Lotus Club and they allow everyone to run intermediate group. So, I can run both advanced and intermediate for lots of track time. This is where the oil cooler comes in handy.
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      07-22-2011, 02:01 PM   #2
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Great info. Thank you for sharing.

This is a great option when enduring boost, especially on a track day. I'll have to look into this.

Any info on trans coolers? That would be fairly helpful as well.
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      07-22-2011, 02:03 PM   #3
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MT or AT? If you're an MT, try a different fluid weight. The metal in the gearbox can tolerate some pretty high temps, but the gear oil cannot. Redline makes some good racing gear oil. Same goes with the diff.

If you're an AT, your tranny is already water-cooled by engine coolant. You can try upgrading to beefier radiator. There's a racing team that posts here and is sponsored by getbmwparts.com that uses a twin core radiator. They do endurance racing so they need something that ridiculous. They also use a high flow water pump I think with the stock thermostat.
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      07-23-2011, 01:40 AM   #4
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E90Pilot,

Have you installed aftermarket oil or water temp gauges?
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      07-23-2011, 01:59 AM   #5
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Nope. I just access the hidden menus and look at coolant temp. I'm planning on getting the Baverian technik tool which can log actual values.
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      07-23-2011, 07:19 AM   #6
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Originally Posted by e90pilot View Post
Nope. I just access the hidden menus and look at coolant temp. I'm planning on getting the Baverian technik tool which can log actual values.
Interesting.

Dare I ask, what are the exact steps to access the coolant temp info in a non iDrive E90?
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      07-23-2011, 11:17 AM   #7
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Quote:
Originally Posted by e90pilot View Post
Nope. I just access the hidden menus and look at coolant temp. I'm planning on getting the Baverian technik tool which can log actual values.
I've tried to access those menus from a guide off Google. Do you know the link to the guide you used?
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      07-23-2011, 12:21 PM   #8
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That's the one I used.
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      07-23-2011, 01:24 PM   #9
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Would go great with the ARMA supercharger
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      07-23-2011, 02:47 PM   #10
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The oil cooler would be a benefit to anyone who sees adverse conditions such as heavy traffic, high atmospheric temperatures, and extended driving at highway speeds. It will prolong the oil life. It never hurts to have cooler oil.

As far as the hidden menus, I wish there was a way to have them display on the radio (non iDrive).

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      07-26-2011, 01:40 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Dr. Nate View Post
The oil cooler would be a benefit to anyone who sees adverse conditions such as heavy traffic, high atmospheric temperatures, and extended driving at highway speeds. It will prolong the oil life. It never hurts to have cooler oil.

As far as the hidden menus, I wish there was a way to have them display on the radio (non iDrive).

-Nate
While it wouldn't hurt, I don't think there is a benefit to an oil cooler off the track for the N52. This engine has no cooling issues at all. Even on the track it's fine in weather below 70F. My friend had a coupe and he's sat in traffic on really hot days and the oil temp hardly goes above 200. The highest he's seen is 230 I think and that was climbing a hill on a very hot day. It's kind of a tank considering it's made out of magnesium.

Ok, so BMW does not have an official kit for the N54 oil cooler kit. I'm trying to get the part numbers for everything needed. If anyone has any insight to this, that would be really helpful.
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      05-08-2014, 03:19 PM   #12
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      06-07-2014, 07:47 PM   #13
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Well since this thread I have a stett stage 2. Works great. No oil temp gauge so I can only guess but it works great with the N54 guys. No reason to think it won't work with the N52. Only issue is where to mount the thermostat. In the N54's engine bay there're some vacuum canisters mounted to something suitable for mounting the thermostat. There's nothing there in the N52. I just have it zip tied to some bracket. If you have the M Aero bumper, it's a SUPER tight fit with the fog light.
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      06-08-2014, 01:05 AM   #14
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There is also a heat exchanger that would cool the oil....or conversely warm it up during cold weather. It's found on N52 X3's and 5's. It's also found on European spec cars.
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      06-08-2014, 03:27 AM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by e90pilot View Post
Well since this thread I have a stett stage 2. Works great. No oil temp gauge so I can only guess but it works great with the N54 guys. No reason to think it won't work with the N52. Only issue is where to mount the thermostat. In the N54's engine bay there're some vacuum canisters mounted to something suitable for mounting the thermostat. There's nothing there in the N52. I just have it zip tied to some bracket. If you have the M Aero bumper, it's a SUPER tight fit with the fog light.
Ecs sells a digital gauge that mounts into one of your ac vents. It would allow you to monitor your oil temp along with a lot of other values. You ever thought about trying something like that?
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      06-09-2014, 02:28 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by smellthebeans View Post
There is also a heat exchanger that would cool the oil....or conversely warm it up during cold weather. It's found on N52 X3's and 5's. It's also found on European spec cars.
I believe cars with sport package get this heat exchanger as well? My N52 has one, so that is my best guess.
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      08-23-2014, 02:56 AM   #17
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Only found on the high output (260hp) N52 (Z4, X3 & X5)
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      09-13-2014, 05:18 PM   #18
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Hi, I'm wondering if this would be a solution to the problem that I'm having with my 2007 E90 328i. I regularly track the car and before I could go for about 20-30min before the throttle would just suddenly cut off on me. My foot would be down to the floor on the gas but the car seems to be in a "limp" mode as it struggles to rev. No warning lights came on the dash but I assume that it would be normal for something to get hot over that duration of lapping.

After I swapped in the an LSD with high gear ratio, it seems like this problem has gotten more frequent as I can only last for about 10min now before the car goes into "limp" mode. I guess it's cause I'm able to drive faster and more aggressive now that the car heats up quicker. This is kind of getting annoying since now I can only get about 6 laps in before I have to get off which doesn't really give me enough seat time per session.

The dealership couldn't scan for any faults so I don't know what's exactly wrong, but I assume that the engine is getting hot and wondering if you guys had this experience before and know if adding the oil cooler would solve this problem.

Thanks!
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      09-14-2014, 08:43 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NAFTW View Post
Hi, I'm wondering if this would be a solution to the problem that I'm having with my 2007 E90 328i. I regularly track the car and before I could go for about 20-30min before the throttle would just suddenly cut off on me. My foot would be down to the floor on the gas but the car seems to be in a "limp" mode as it struggles to rev. No warning lights came on the dash but I assume that it would be normal for something to get hot over that duration of lapping.

After I swapped in the an LSD with high gear ratio, it seems like this problem has gotten more frequent as I can only last for about 10min now before the car goes into "limp" mode. I guess it's cause I'm able to drive faster and more aggressive now that the car heats up quicker. This is kind of getting annoying since now I can only get about 6 laps in before I have to get off which doesn't really give me enough seat time per session.

The dealership couldn't scan for any faults so I don't know what's exactly wrong, but I assume that the engine is getting hot and wondering if you guys had this experience before and know if adding the oil cooler would solve this problem.

Thanks!

When you say it feels like limp mode does it feel like you lose like 10% of it's power or more like 50% of its power.

When my car gets warm at the track, especially going up the hill at the glen out of the toe of the boot, it would feel really sluggish. They simply pull a couple degrees of timing as the intake temps get above 90.

That has been remedied with the AA flash (91 oct tune for safety) and a bottle of octane booster. The car no longer falls off after 20 min on the track on a hot day.
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      09-15-2014, 01:00 AM   #20
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I'd say it's more like 50% or more. It usually happens on the 3rd gear shift to 4th where the car would just jerk as there's barely any throttle accelerating the car and the revs just slowly creep up.
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      09-15-2014, 07:11 AM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by NAFTW View Post
Hi, I'm wondering if this would be a solution to the problem that I'm having with my 2007 E90 328i. I regularly track the car and before I could go for about 20-30min before the throttle would just suddenly cut off on me. My foot would be down to the floor on the gas but the car seems to be in a "limp" mode as it struggles to rev. No warning lights came on the dash but I assume that it would be normal for something to get hot over that duration of lapping.

After I swapped in the an LSD with high gear ratio, it seems like this problem has gotten more frequent as I can only last for about 10min now before the car goes into "limp" mode. I guess it's cause I'm able to drive faster and more aggressive now that the car heats up quicker. This is kind of getting annoying since now I can only get about 6 laps in before I have to get off which doesn't really give me enough seat time per session.

The dealership couldn't scan for any faults so I don't know what's exactly wrong, but I assume that the engine is getting hot and wondering if you guys had this experience before and know if adding the oil cooler would solve this problem.

Thanks!
I've had the same issue with my car, but to a much lesser degree.
My car would do the exact same thing you're describing after about 20 minutes on a VERY hot track. It wouldn't do it every session nor would it even do it at every event. Just random times. I never really figured out what the problem was.

I eventually got an AA tune as well and as far as I can remember, it hasn't done it since I did the tune, but I have very limited track time with my 330 and the tune since I got my comp license and started racing.
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      03-25-2015, 06:54 PM   #22
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Sorry to bump this old thread, but I'd rather not start a new one.

Quote:
Originally Posted by NAFTW View Post
Hi, I'm wondering if this would be a solution to the problem that I'm having with my 2007 E90 328i. I regularly track the car and before I could go for about 20-30min before the throttle would just suddenly cut off on me. My foot would be down to the floor on the gas but the car seems to be in a "limp" mode as it struggles to rev. No warning lights came on the dash but I assume that it would be normal for something to get hot over that duration of lapping.

After I swapped in the an LSD with high gear ratio, it seems like this problem has gotten more frequent as I can only last for about 10min now before the car goes into "limp" mode. I guess it's cause I'm able to drive faster and more aggressive now that the car heats up quicker. This is kind of getting annoying since now I can only get about 6 laps in before I have to get off which doesn't really give me enough seat time per session.

The dealership couldn't scan for any faults so I don't know what's exactly wrong, but I assume that the engine is getting hot and wondering if you guys had this experience before and know if adding the oil cooler would solve this problem.

Thanks!
NAFTW - did you ever find a solution for this? Did you get some type of oil cooler? If so, do you mind sharing how it worked out and where one could look for a solid part? Thank you!

Quote:
Originally Posted by TSM330i View Post
I've had the same issue with my car, but to a much lesser degree.
My car would do the exact same thing you're describing after about 20 minutes on a VERY hot track. It wouldn't do it every session nor would it even do it at every event. Just random times. I never really figured out what the problem was.

I eventually got an AA tune as well and as far as I can remember, it hasn't done it since I did the tune, but I have very limited track time with my 330 and the tune since I got my comp license and started racing.
TSM330i Similar question. I have had this problem, too and I just uploaded my AA tune. However, it has been cold out (over the winter/fall) and I have not been able to really 'abuse' the car as much

Has the issue returned or did the AA tune somehow adjust XYZ and fixed it for good?

Thank you!
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