[Greg220]

I used BMW oil before (i.e. Castrol) and today I changed to Mobil 1 Euro Formula (LL01) that I bought in August of last year. I went for a 7 mile drive and the engine was very hot when I got back. I opened the hood to attach a battery maintainer and left the garage door open so it cooled down. 4 hours later I went for a short 2.5 mile drive via local roads, opened the hood and the engine was very hot again as if I drove at least 15 miles on a freeway. I'm not sure but I don't think my engine was getting so hot before after such short trips (or maybe it did but I just didn't notice?). The temperature outside today is only 66 F. Is it possible there is a problem with my new oil, or am I just being paranoid? Unfortunately, E90 doesn't have engine temperature gauge.

[floydarogers]

Originally Posted by Greg220

I used BMW oil before (i.e. Castrol) and today I changed to Mobil 1 Euro Formula (LL01) that I bought in August of last year. I went for a 7 mile drive and the engine was very hot when I got back. I opened the hood to attach a battery maintainer and left the garage door open so it cooled down. 4 hours later I went for a short 2.5 mile drive via local roads, opened the hood and the engine was very hot again as if I drove at least 15 miles on a freeway. I'm not sure but I don't think my engine was getting so hot before after such short trips (or maybe it did but I just didn't notice?). The temperature outside today is only 66 F. Is it possible there is a problem with my new oil, or am I just being paranoid? Unfortunately, E90 doesn't have engine temperature gauge.

Probably paranoid. 2.5 miles is plenty far enough for the engine to warm up.

[Three_thirty_I]

These engines have temperature management to get the engine up to operating temperature as fast as possible, and for economy sake, they do tend to run fairly hot. I would monitor the coolant temps via the hidden cluster menu 7 and see if it is within the correct range.

[dleccord]

Originally Posted by Three_thirty_I

These engines have temperature management to get the engine up to operating temperature as fast as possible, and for economy sake, they do tend to run fairly hot. I would monitor the coolant temps via the hidden cluster menu 7 and see if it is within the correct range.

hi. just purchased my first bmw yesterday (335i). how do i access the hidden menu? thanks

[Three_thirty_I]

Originally Posted by dleccord

hi. just purchased my first bmw yesterday (335i). how do i access the hidden menu? thanks

I will explain briefly, because it is probably best to check the various vids on youtube, but here goes:

1.) First thing, you need to add the last 5 digits of your car's VIN number, so let's say they are ##12345, then 15 is the unlock code.

2.) With the ignition on (engine can be running or not), press and hold the trip meter reset button until you see a menu pop up on the cluster. While holding the button, you will see it cycle through various service info, but keep holding until it gets to the menu, then release the button.

3.) Once it shows the menu, it will be on menu 1, press the button until it gets to menu 19, wait for a moment for it to enter this menu, then press the button until your car's unlock code is showing. It will then return to menu 1.

4.) You can now navigate through the various menus to check various things.

5.) To see the coolant temperature, press the button until you get to menu 7.

6.) To exit the hidden menu you can either press and hold the trip meter reset button for about 10 seconds which will return the normal cluster display, or everything will be back to normal after you shut the car down and remove the key fob.

Decided to find a vid on youtube, so check this out.

I have read of people having problems after hitting that menu that says "software reset", so maybe avoid that, and of course use these hidden menus at your own risk.

Hope this helps!!

[Greg220]

Does anybody know what is the normal temperature range of the coolant (menu 7) on a 2006 330i? After a half an hour drive on a freeway mine shows 105 C.

[Three_thirty_I]

Originally Posted by Greg220

Does anybody know what is the normal temperature range of the coolant (menu 7) on a 2006 330i? After a half an hour drive on a freeway mine shows 105 C.

General consensus is that that is perfectly normal - it is running in normal Eco mode, it may go down to slightly cooler temps if driven a bit harder. Mine is for some reason stuck in the high output mapped temp mode which is around the 80 C mark, very annoying.