NV prolonged valve tick after torture

[Wh33lhop]

So I've noticed that whenever I drive my NV hard for more than 5-10 minutes or so I'll get valve tick for a few minutes when I am cooling it off. Coolant temp never elevates past halfway but obviously I do not know the oil temp... is it possible that the oil is just thinning out to the point where there is not enough pressure in the head to operate the hydraulic lifters? Has anyone else had this issue, and should I be worried?

[Adrian_Visser]

I run Mobil 1 15w50 and I get a mean tick hot starting at the auto-x too. I dunno what to say I think I might try putting a quart of atf in the oil just before my next oil change.

[Sagaris]

Are you running an oil cooler? I installed an oil temperature gauge on one of my previous cars that did not have an oil cooler and was surprised at how easily I could get the oil into the fatal temperature range.

[e30_325es]

What's fatal temp range?

[Wh33lhop]

I am not running an oil cooler; I do not know of an easy way to run one with a DOHC motor.

IIRC you want to back off around 200F oil temp if you care about your motor. I burn oil pretty quickly so I don't run M1 or anything, just some generic 5w30 semi-syn. Nobody else gets tick on their M/s5x after a good hard run?

[Ian Bowers]

The M50NV in the E36 I drove at Gymkhana last month ticked like crazy after beating on it. Went away as soon as it cooled, the organizer (Geoff) said "it's a Bimmer thing. We had some dude in an M-Coupe come out here on drift days and it sounded like shit after every run, but he was never worried, said it was normal."

[M-technik-3]

Won't say that 200-210 degrees F is fatal. Most if not all manufacturer's set there default at 210 so to get rid of crankcase condensation.

I see 190 most of the time in the M3 but it has a moisture separator. Hits 220 at track on warm days at DE's.

[Adrian_Visser]

I'm thinking I probably need to let my car cool down more after each run. I have a bad habit of finishing and turning the car off right away to go check my time. Coolant temp never goes high but who knows what my oil temp is doing.

[Sagaris]

What's fatal temp range?

As far as I have seen 240 F is when you need to tone it back as wheelhop said : if you care about engine, and 275 F is when you can expect things to fail very quickly. I got some really nasty bearing clack at 270 F once when I was beating up my VW 8 valve motor.Many of the 370z guys have oil temperature issues which have caused problems with the metallurgical characteristics of the softer metals in the engine bearings and have required the bearings to be replaced. This was in the 270-290 range from those I have spoken to with these issues.

In my VW 8valve motor with no oil cooler, I was able to hit 235 F -245 F just by running full throttle up an mild incline during the summer.

Somebody with more knowledge about failure temperatures, please chime in, I am just going off of what I have learned and read over the years.

[M-technik-3]

No water/oil cooler in the VW? Most old skool VW gen I&II had the Water to oil coolers in GTi's and Scirocco's

[Sagaris]

Yes, a lot of them had the sandwich style oil coolers that fits between the oil filter housing and the filter itself. I did not have one, so I bought one. The install didn't go well and there is a story about that but I dont want to hijack the thread

[328ijunkie]

Overfill by a little. Thatll bandaid the problem.

[samiam3356]

I am not running an oil cooler; I do not know of an easy way to run one with a DOHC motor.

IIRC you want to back off around 200F oil temp if you care about your motor. I burn oil pretty quickly so I don't run M1 or anything, just some generic 5w30 semi-syn. Nobody else gets tick on their M/s5x after a good hard run?

Running the same right now until I change it out next time. I get that same tick on mine as well but its usually when temps are cooler and goes away when it wamrs up and I get the rpms up.

Going with Mobil 1 Sythetic next time.

[rbartongrimley]

Here dude, I found the answer for you:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BMW_M88

[MR 325]

What oil do you run?