[Wanwansuii]

Hello forum family members!

Yesterday, during a 4-hour road trip on the highway, I noticed the oil temp gauge on my ‘14 F06 N55 slightly fluctuating. Normally, it warms up to 250F after about 10-15 mins of driving on the highway (during the cooler season here in Northern California). However, yesterday, the needle slightly moved below 250F, and then later moved slightly above 250F (maybe near 265F) after some spirited driving in 55/60F ambient weather temps on the highway at around 75-90mph.

The car is currently at 63,000 miles and I haven’t noticed these “high” oil temps before. I checked the car for codes, but nothing is showing up and the car otherwise drives normally.

Is this normal behavior for the oil temp gauge to go slightly above the middle mark? Or is this a sign of impending failure of some cooling system component?

[Surly73]

Originally Posted by Wanwansuii

Hello forum family members!

Yesterday, during a 4-hour road trip on the highway, I noticed the oil temp gauge on my ‘14 F06 N55 slightly fluctuating. Normally, it warms up to 250F after about 10-15 mins of driving on the highway (during the cooler season here in Northern California). However, yesterday, the needle slightly moved below 250F, and then later moved slightly above 250F (maybe near 265F) after some spirited driving in 55/60F ambient weather temps on the highway at around 75-90mph.

The car is currently at 63,000 miles and I haven’t noticed these “high” oil temps before. I checked the car for codes, but nothing is showing up and the car otherwise drives normally.

Is this normal behavior for the oil temp gauge to go slightly above the middle mark? Or is this a sign of impending failure of some cooling system component?

Determining normal behaviour starts with identifying what equipment you have on your car. Do you have 1/ no heat exchanger/cooler 2/ the oil/coolant heat exchanger on the OFH 3/ oil/air cooler located in the right front bumper area ? Different combinations of "hot climate", "M Sport", "high speed synchronization" will yield different options from the factory.

If you have the oil/coolant heat exchanger, you might be seeing fluctuations in coolant temperature due to design or an issue with that system (pump or thermostat).

[Wanwansuii]

I have the M-sport package and the hot climate version option, so yes, there is an oil/coolant heat exchanger and and the cooler in the bumper.

I will monitor the temps in the hidden menu.

Also, I was doing some reading, and read somewhere that coding certain instrument cluster changes/options can sometimes cause the digital gauges (I have the 6WB cluster) to slightly and randomly "fluctuate" inaccurately. I think this may be my problem since the immediate night before, I coded the "M Performance" logo on my cluster with BimmerCode. I also remember when I coded some changes to the digital speed display, my gas gauge randomly fluctuated as well.

No wonder why I don't really care for digital "dummy" gauges, especially for crucial info like oil/coolant temps and fuel.

[Surly73]

If you have the oil/air cooler for sure (two hoses leave the oil filter housing and head down towards the front/right?) then 1/ I think 250F is a little high unless you're really tearing it up 2/ fluctuations should be minimal and related mostly to air flow through the cooler.

You might want to monitor longer for a failed thermostat controlling oil flow to the cooler loop. If it's sticking and glitching then you could start to see fluctuation.

For those with the oil/coolant exchanger, fluctuating temperature could be the DME software changing coolant cooling targets. The harder you drive the car the lower the target cooling temperature. MHD offers some manual control over lowering coolant targets.

[Wanwansuii]

Update:

So last night, I accessed the hidden menu by pressing the Trip button on the dash. While driving on the highway last night at 80-90mph, I monitored the oil and coolant temps for about 2 hours.

For the oil temp, it averaged 104-110c (220-230F) at highway speeds. When I stepped on it a bit (over 100mph in Sport plus mode), the oil temp averaged at the highest 118C (240F). The coolant temps were not far behind.

So, the car is operating within perfectly normal limits, but the digital gauge says otherwise.

[J-Pizzle]

Originally Posted by Wanwansuii

Update:

So last night, I accessed the hidden menu by pressing the Trip button on the dash. While driving on the highway last night at 80-90mph, I monitored the oil and coolant temps for about 2 hours.

For the oil temp, it averaged 104-110c (220-230F) at highway speeds. When I stepped on it a bit (over 100mph in Sport plus mode), the oil temp averaged at the highest 118C (240F). The coolant temps were not far behind.

So, the car is operating within perfectly normal limits, but the digital gauge says otherwise.

Might be a newbie question, but can you describe how to access the hidden menu? Are there other features in the menu to be aware of? Thx.

[Wanwansuii]

Originally Posted by J-Pizzle

Might be a newbie question, but can you describe how to access the hidden menu? Are there other features in the menu to be aware of? Thx.

Hold the Trip reset button on the dashboard cluster for 10 secs. It should then pop up on the speedometer.