Engine hot but temp gauge is perfect

[GOLDNSPOTS]

My ZHP has 96k. Temp gauge is straight up at 12:00 o'clock. It seems though the engine is getting too hot. It smells hot and I can feel heat coming from the engine bay that can't be normal.

I will do a cooling system update for all components in two months. Stewart water pump, radiator, pulleys, belts, tensioners, hoses, BMW coolant, thermostat, bolts fan switch, but not the fan. If after all this, then maybe the fan too.

Will be using ECS and Bavauto mainly.

For those of you that have experienced this, what is your advice?

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[Stewbie]

Don't trust the temp gauge. The computer keeps it at 12 o'clock over a wide range of temperatures. I have an ultragauge which reads the raw temp data thru the obd2 port and shows you the real temperature.

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[Stewbie]

Don't trust the temp gauge. The computer keeps it at 12 o'clock over a wide range of temperatures. I have an ultragauge which reads the raw temp data thru the obd2 port and shows you the real temperature.

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Ignore double post. Still getting used to Tapatalk.


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[WOLFN8TR]

Don't trust the temp gauge. The computer keeps it at 12 o'clock over a wide range of temperatures. I have an ultragauge which reads the raw temp data thru the obd2 port and shows you the real temperature.

X2...

UltraGauge Info in my sig.

[SoCalZman]

You have a few options. Easiest thing is to do a YouTube search for how to access the hidden guage menu. There you will be able to see how hot your car is running in Celsius. It should be around 94-96.

Second option, and something you should plan on doing, is going into the coding section and reading my thread about how to reprogram your temp gauge so it's actually useful.


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[gmurphy]

If you are at 94-98 C you are fine. Plastic gets hot.


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[Oli77]

What does your on board computer tell you?

[danewilson77]

http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?6575-OBC-19.7.00-Watcha-go-doityourself

[LivesNearCostco]

My engine compartment always smells "hot" after it's run and the beauty covers are too hot for me to keep my hand on them for more than a few seconds. But never smells like something is burning, except before I fixed the valve cover gasket--back then there was a burning oil smell as oil dripped onto the exhaust manifold. I believe I have a very slow coolant leak from one of the plastic coolant pipes and that contributes to the "hot" smell.

You could get a thermometer and try to measure the temp of both radiator hoses and compare it to what the OBC display says. With thermostat closed, one should warm up a lot more than the other, and after the thermostat opens the cooler one will catch up but should stay cooler than the hot one. The temp of the lower radiator hose may not match OBC display exactly, as I think the coolant temp sensor for the OBC is different from the fan switch temp sensor in the lower radiator hose.

[GOLDNSPOTS]

My infrared thermometer shows the coolant hose coming into the radiator at 186, and leaving gong back to the engine at 154.

The thermostat housing is 175.

The oil filter canister is 200.


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[GOLDNSPOTS]

I did a coolant flush with BMW coolant and distiller water.


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[danewilson77]

http://www.zhpmafia.com/forums/showthread.php?6575-OBC-19.7.00-Watcha-go-doityourself


My infrared thermometer shows the coolant hose coming into the radiator at 186, and leaving gong back to the engine at 154.

The thermostat housing is 175.

The oil filter canister is 200.


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OK. And what did OBC say?

[BCS_ZHP]

My infrared thermometer shows the coolant hose coming into the radiator at 186, and leaving gong back to the engine at 154.

The thermostat housing is 175.

The oil filter canister is 200.


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Those temps sound normal. Your oil temps will run hotter than your water temps, your exiting the engine water temp is 10 degrees above the temp required to open the thermostat, coolant flows through the radiator and you're dissipating over 30 degrees of water temp before cycling back thru the engine. Shaking off the cobwebs from a thermodynamics class several years ago (ok, several decades ago) but that all sounds as if it's functioning as designed.

[stephenkirsh]

Nothing the OP has described sounds abnormal yet.