[Anwar1995]

Hello everyone, I have a 2014 535i with active grill shutters. The motor driving the shutters is bad and I am in the process of ordering a new one (plus so many other parts). Before going to the shop for the inspection, I noticed that the shutters were not fully open; slightly tilted down but the shop tilted the shutters so that they are fully open and allow as much air as possible.

Now, the oil temps are way lower than before. Before they did actually reach almost the halfway mark but now it took me highway driving plus waiting outside a shop at noon for 30 mins and bumper to bumper traffic while outside temps being 42 degrees celcius to reach barely reach the 2 on the 240F label on the cluster.

My question is: is this good? Bad? Should I address the active shutters asap so the car handle its own temps?

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by Anwar1995

Hello everyone, I have a 2014 535i with active grill shutters. The motor driving the shutters is bad and I am in the process of ordering a new one (plus so many other parts). Before going to the shop for the inspection, I noticed that the shutters were not fully open; slightly tilted down but the shop tilted the shutters so that they are fully open and allow as much air as possible.

Now, the oil temps are way lower than before. Before they did actually reach almost the halfway mark but now it took me highway driving plus waiting outside a shop at noon for 30 mins and bumper to bumper traffic while outside temps being 42 degrees celcius to reach barely reach the 2 on the 240F label on the cluster.

My question is: is this good? Bad? Should I address the active shutters asap so the car handle its own temps?

I'm wondering if the fault with the shutters has triggered defaulting to a lower running temperature. Is ECT lower as well?

BTW, many of us with the N55, will be running an oil temperature around the 225F figure in normal driving.

[Anwar1995]

HighlandPete I have no idea to be honest but one thing I am sure of is that even though temps are lower than the halfway mark, I noticed that the engine fan is running every now and then.

[Hoa]

Somewhere above 1/4 and less than 1/2 of the gauge is normal. I drove at 100mph for 2 hours last week and it was under 1/2 of the gauge the entire duration.

[Surly73]

Part of determining what's normal will depend on how your car is equipped.

N55s can come with 1/ no oil temperature control 2/ an oil/coolant heat exchanger (part of the "S823A hot climate" package and a few other packages or 3/ an oil/air heat exchanger/cooler down in the bumper with thermostatic control at the OFHG (seen with BMW option S840A High Speed Sync among others)


With #1 your oil temp will be nearly uncontrolled, subject only to coolant and ambient air cooling of the block and pan.

With #2 your oil temp is tied to coolant temp, for better and worse. Usually this leads to faster warm ups in cool weather but it also means your oil will never be cooler than the coolant, and the high efficiency engine coolant target is 108C during cruising (unless you modify this with tuning software).

With #3 you have the "best" oil temperature control in challenging conditions and the potential for your oil to be cooler than the coolant, but longer warm ups in cool weather. If this thermostat fails closed then your oil temps will be the same as a vehicle with no oil cooling at all. If it fails open your oil is unlikely to come up to temperature.

A shutter failure closed would cause higher temperatures. A shutter failure open should not cause "low" temperature (since the coolant oil systems have their own thermostats depending on the equipment) unless you are extreme weather conditions. My F10 doesn't have shutters and I live in Canada - it's been pretty cold and operating temperatures have always been able to reach sufficient temperatures during full operation.

[Anwar1995]

Surly73 I think I have the oil cooler as I saw one small radiator on the passnger side vent on the front bumper.

One new thing I have learnt from the dealership today which surprised me is that my car does NOT have the active radiator shutters which surprised me as I have a fault code in the car that suggests otherwise (CD9203: LIN, message; radiator shutter: missing). When I brought that up to the parts salesman he said that it shows that my car manufacturing date is on 2013 and at that year active radiator shutters were not made yet.

Can you help out in solving the mystery here?

[Surly73]

If your OFH looks like the top one, you have option #2.
If your OFH looks like the bottom one (including the lines), you have option #3.

Don't think I can help with shutter questions.

[Anwar1995]

Surly73 sorry for the late reply, my F10 was undergoing a major mechanical overhauling in a workshop and its yet to be done :'(

Anyway, I checked the car and looked at the OFH and it looks like I have option #2. The good thing is that in the middle of fixing the car I took it for a test run and at that point I replaced the coolant as well as put new oil in it and I noticed that the temps are a bit better that before. The temp gauge now barely reaches the 2 on the 250F mark and its between the quarter and halfway even though I drove it on 12pm afternoon where temps are around 44C and at highway speeds.

I am not sure if this is related to the active shutters being missing and the car tries to lower temps by opening the thermostate more often or what but all I know that its something good considering the scorching hot temps that we see here in my home lol.