We've had 5 BMW's and never an ounce of trouble. Never any major repairs, just service. Not that it's cheap.

Those are some pretty astounding temperatures. They did build the first F1 turbo engine IIRC. Something like 1100hp(or something extraordinary). I feel like they know what they're doing. I am skeptical of this "planned obsolescence" conspiracy theory. That's an american agenda. Part of BMW's raport is reliability.

 

Actually, Renault built the first F1 turbo engines. In qualifying trim they made 1650 hp from a 1500cc engine.

 

That's the same coolant temp that the LS1 "high" fans are supposed to turn on at.

And most LS1 guys says it's safe to hit ~300* oil temps on the track.

I'm not sure about the exhaust temps, though. That's pretty hot... maybe for emissions?

 

The basic principal is that torque/horsepower comes from heat energy.

Cooling is counterproductive to building power.

The only reason to cool parts is to protect their thermal limits.

Barry

PS- the 1500cc BMW F1 engine used a stock cast iron block and pegged the factory 1500hp dyno. . Transmission shafts would start to twist at qualifying power and would have to be changed before the race.

 

Yes, and Renault also built some nice DCi engine who have the famous "auto burn" mode
(poor engine design, oil going into combustion chamber, auto ignition ... unstoppable engine untill it stop by itself, sometimes the car burns with the engine ...)

BMW still does great cars, great motors, great work, but don't be fooled, they need to last ... economicaly, so they aren't doing their vehicles to last 30 years like that has been done in the past (even if it's possible the current engine could last as long when it's well serviced, as a Renault does too)

(In France there is so many jokes about Renault reliability ...)

 

http://www.zzw30.com/HondaRA168EEngine.pdf

 

Thanks for the interesting F1 article.

Barry

 

great info , on here . and It brought up a question . what temp does the rotary work best at ?

I have a power FC so I can regulate when my fans turn on . during none traffic driving my temps stay at 85C , but in traffic my fans dont turn on till 99C . and turn off at 91C .. so does the rotary work best in the 90's ? or 80's?

 

i would have the fans come on a little sooner, maybe 95c is good, and keep the 8 degree split between the on and off points.

 

The Power FC has a narrow range of hysteresis that can't be adjusted. If the fan setting is 86C, it comes on at 87 and turns off at 85. This enables the #2 and #4 relay on the FD. You could modify the control for the other two relays if you like.

As for optimum temperature, well higher temperatures reduce internal friction for better fuel economy but are generally detrimental for high load performance and reliability.

 

My electric water pump failed on my 335 with only around 50k miles, I wonder if those high temps caused the failure.