oil too heavy??

[Burnera]

Got the car with unknown oil in it, temperature gauge rose normally to halfway and stayed there. Fan would turn on once in awhile

Put in royal purple 15w40.
The temp gauge climbs slower, and stops 1/3rd of the way up the gauge, so less than halfway. I haven't noticed the fan turning on either.
Aside from this, everything sounds and looks terrific.

Shall i just shrug and not worry?

[jlevie]

15w50 oil is not too thick. 20w50 is the recommended oil for all by very northern climates.

The temp gage behavior suggests that you have a thermostat that is stuck open.

[NC325iC]

my i temp gauge only climbs to halfway when sitting in traffic with a new tstat (normally sits a hair over 1/4). I think youre fine, but mister levie is smarter than me.

my e temp gauge sits slightly higher than the i but not quite half way, more like 1/3 like said.

should mention no shroud in either

[jlevie]

With a standard 80C thermostat, the engine should pretty quickly reach operating temperature. The needle should stabilize just a bit below the half way point at speed, rising to just a fraction above half when idling for a while.

[325ix]

With a standard 80C thermostat, the engine should pretty quickly reach operating temperature. The needle should stabilize just a bit below the half way point at speed, rising to just a fraction above half when idling for a while.

Mine sits at just above half when it's been running for a while.

[nando]

royal purple makes horrible oils. if you have to use cheap oils, use valvoline VR1.

[Trucidatio]

This seems strange, my car never reaches above the quarter mark. Hell even during autocross school It never made it to the half way point.

What are the negative affects of an open t-stat?

[nando]

poor fuel mileage, low power.

[Sagaris]

^ Also throw into the list increased engine wear and carbon buildup. I dont imagine that it will take a whole lot of life off of an engine but I would tend to believe that if a car never got up to operating temperature it wouldnt last nearly as long as one that had due to the oil temperature, proper operating tolerances from thermal expansion and such.

Over the winter, my thermostat decided to stick open. I could drive 30 miiles on the freeway and the temperature would only reach 1/4 of the gauge, even when it was 40 degrees F. I replaced the thermostat and the car got up to operating temperature within 2-3 miles in 20 degree F weather.

[SpecM]

royal purple makes horrible oils. if you have to use cheap oils, use valvoline VR1.

what do you use?

I've been using Shell 15w40, and just tried Valvoline VR1 20w50 for the first time

[DragonOrta]

According to Ranger, who is an avid autocrosser and has done a mindboggling amount of research about oil, Mobil 1 15w50 is one of the best non-racing oils for the M20.

[nando]

what do you use?

I've been using Shell 15w40, and just tried Valvoline VR1 20w50 for the first time

M1 15w50

[BMWkid91]

Summer time right 15w 50 M1 is the shit
Synthetic all the way

[Stanley Rockefeller]

i used to run M1 15w50, but found it too thick at startup and while the motor was warming up (middle of summer mind you)

Once I started running Delvac (or any full syn 5W40 or 5w50) it really woke the engine up in a hurry! valvetrain sound was consistant, whereas with the 15w50, it was non existant during warm-up.

Sure these engines can handle the thick stuff, but IMO, if I'm not dragging out OCI's I can run a thinner start up oil, and it'll give me consistant protection and better overall performance.

What alot of ppl. fail to realize is that when these cars were new, oil technology was only so good. Since then e30's have remained old, but the oils have become far more advanced than they were when our cars were new (therefore eliminating the need for running thicker oils).

[BMWkid91]

Good point
Right now im anly running 10 30w M1 and it seems to love it more than conv.