Tech Forum : Temp....

Boost_me

Posted Tuesday, Jan 2nd 10:58am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 28

Victoria, Australia
1981 BMW 323i

I was wondering where everyone's temp gauges where sitting....Mine is between half and 3/4....Is it running hot?? Everyone's telling me that around Half-way is normal....Am I freaking or do I have a reason to freak?? So where does YOUR temp gauge sit??? I'm thinking of buying an aftermarket temp gauge to see where it sit's....I dunno people please help.....

pjs323i

Posted Tuesday, Jan 2nd 11:12am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 51

Canberra, Australia
'81 323i

wowowowo hold up turbo

Mine sits there too and i'll just get the cooling system flushed and see what happens.

It seems this car has a few little issues: first things first, get it to a mechanic to look over it and tell you whats up with it. It will save all the worrying.

Boost_me

Posted Tuesday, Jan 2nd 11:38am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 29

Victoria, Australia
1981 BMW 323i

So your saying that halfway is the 'normal' operating temp??? I need to get a 'new trustworthy mechanic that wont charge out his ass to work on my car'!!!!!!!!!!

ArnZ

Posted Tuesday, Jan 2nd 2:55pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 47

Qld, Australia
BMW 323i

mine sits about halfway wen i giv it a lil spirited driving, but when just cruising its just a tad over 1/4. having an aftermarket temp guage would definately be a good idea, that way u can get an accurate reading of your water temps.

with the m20 engine u need to bleed your coolant system.

heres the link on how to do this. the link even says that anything between 1/4 mark and 3/4 mark is normal.

http://www.bmwe21.net/cooling.htm

BruceH

Posted Tuesday, Jan 2nd 3:59pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 1079

Atlanta, GA USA
81 323 Baur, 85 745

My 323 can run as high as (almost) 3/4 in heavy traffic. I have flushed, put a new rad, flushed the engine while out and gone to an electric fan. Now I just live with it.

pjs323i

Posted Wednesday, Jan 3rd 1:50am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 51

Canberra, Australia
'81 323i

Exactly right Arnz, i'll take a look at that site and give it a go

Boost_me

Posted Wednesday, Jan 3rd 7:27am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 31

Victoria, Australia
1981 BMW 323i

That's a pretty good site....Thanks dude.

jdench

Posted Wednesday, Jan 3rd 1:14pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 131

Sussex, UK
1979 E21 323i, 1998 E36 323i touring

Make sure you undo the drain bolt on the block before you flush it through, you get all sorts of crap come out of it, I put a new radiator, fan, water pump and thermostat in mine and it still would creep up when in traffic, flushing the block through sorted it out in the end!

Boost_me

Posted Wednesday, Jan 3rd 2:30pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 35

Victoria, Australia
1981 BMW 323i

Yeah it's all good, My temp gauge sit's between 1/2-3/4......While sitting in one spot it sit's around 3/4 and while driving it goes back to just under 1/2, so I'm not too worried about it. But I'm still going to buy a Temp gauge for it!!!

ArnZ

Posted Wednesday, Jan 3rd 6:40pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 51

Qld, Australia
BMW 323i

not a problem mate, us australians need all the help we can get cuz there aint many australian e21 drivers. i just wish there were more of us

Boost_me

Posted Wednesday, Jan 3rd 11:08pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 36

Victoria, Australia
1981 BMW 323i

Yeah I know what you mean, all I can say for us Aussie's is 'THANK GOD FOR THE FORUM'S'!!!!!

pjs323i

Posted Thursday, Jan 4th 1:54am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 51

Canberra, Australia
'81 323i

my car is exactly the same, boost.

and yes, thank god for the forums!

PS if you go to Natrad they'll flush out your cooling system for $100!! I'm just going to get them to do it... That way if the stuff it up and my head gets cracked they can pay for it

Boost_me

Posted Thursday, Jan 4th 8:08am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 37

Victoria, Australia
1981 BMW 323i

Hahaha good thinking, blame it someone else!!!!!!!...Yeah mines all good now still sitting at the same point but from what I have read these engines do run at this temp as a 'normal' opperating temprature.

g323

Posted Thursday, Jan 4th 6:47pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 72

California
323i 1982

I always hating my temp guage fluctuating between 1/4 and 3/4, i put a 10inch electric pusher fan in concted to an adjustable thermostat, left the fanclutch in, and just adjusted it just right.

now i fluctuate between a little above the 1/4 and the 1/2 marker. I also have in the 72 degree thermostat.

please note, that my car still fluctuated after changing everything in the cooling system there is, fanclutch/fan/radiator/waterpump/thermostat/cooling flush.

it was the pusher fan that made it nice

, its a much more comfortable feel never seeing it get hot

Boost_me

Posted Friday, Jan 5th 2:29am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 41

Victoria, Australia
1981 BMW 323i

I can understand that, I was thinking about putting an electrical fan myself....So when she gets a 'lil too hot I can push a button or flick a switch and it would kick in and cool her down!!!

Marquis_Rex

Posted Friday, Jan 5th 8:51am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 502

UK
BMW 323i 2.7-as featured in Total BMW Nov 2002,Porsche 911/993TT

Rarely above a half in mine, more commonly between a quater and a half. Had a new radiator about 5 years ago, an E39 M5 11 blade fan and new viscous and I regularly have the cooling system drained and flushed.

I'm also running ALOT of ignition advance in mine (up to about 45 degrees at some part load sites)- which can tend to keep temperatures down.

Boost_me

Posted Friday, Jan 5th 11:25am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 43

Victoria, Australia
1981 BMW 323i

Not to sound like a total unknowledgeable dick, I know alot about engines but I don't know what Advanced timing actually does??? Does it give your car more fuel and faster spark or what??? What's the affect's between Advanced and Retarded timing???

Marquis_Rex

Posted Friday, Jan 5th 12:05pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 503

UK
BMW 323i 2.7-as featured in Total BMW Nov 2002,Porsche 911/993TT

Boost_me wrote:

If the ignition timing is retarded, the ignition is occurring later than is optimal so closer to TDC.
When this is the case sometimes charge is still burning while exiting the cylinders via the exhaust. If this is done in excess at full load and high speed, you can end up with glowing exhaust manifolds certainly (possibly with your underseal on fire- it’s happened to me!)and the very worst, with your exhaust valves burnt out! In this scenario, due to the high temperatures the exhaust ports reach, they can put unnecessary load on the cars cooling system….

Optimal timing is when you get the best torque when you’ve swept your ignition. If you run this or over advanced (you’re sparking too early) then your temps should be ok if not perhaps a little low. Over advanced is dangerous at full load and high speed because you can run into knock.

Fueling is something different, as our engines run K Jetronic or CIS injection timing isn’t really something we have to think about, but if the engine is run lean it can run slightly hotter, but rarely something to worry about.

Boost_me

Posted Saturday, Jan 6th 5:22am [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 48

Victoria, Australia
1981 BMW 323i

Cool, Thank-you for that, It explanes alot....I'm just going to run mine at it's normal setting at the moment until I see signs of movment in the timing, e.i Rick or lean. I will probably get it checked over soon though just to make sure she's running good.

Oldmanwillie

Posted Thursday, Jan 11th 12:35pm [Edit] [Quote] [IMS] [View car]

Member
Post nr. 2

South Australia
1982 323i motorsport

My 82 323i sits at abou 1/3 to 1/2 and i found out the hard way that the head doesnt like getting to hot. one cracked head later and ive learned my lesson.