Oil cooler
 

Has anyone added an oil cooler to the M62 motivated E53?

I’d like to come up with a cost effective retrofit while I have the motor out for a swap soon. I figured someone had come up with a solution for the E39 540, but I can’t seem to find one. So perhaps not.

***I should have added an explanation why. I live in Louisiana and it is god awful hot from June to early October. Now that I've got a 4.8 cluster in my 4.4i, the fact that the oil temp creeps up towards the 200s in stop-and-go summer traffic can't be overlooked.

Looks like most E39 540 (mostly) guys over on that other forum swap their oil filter housings for a “gulf” car housing. These came on M62 (and probably other) cars built for the Middle East, and other hot places I’m sure. It’s got two extra holes and an integral thermostat which, I’m assuming shunts oil from the pump to a cooler and then back into through the filter/housing.

I’ve read that Bentley still uses this exact filter housing and it is (amazingly) much cheaper than the BMW version which can be found at Turner and a few others.

I suspect the challenge would be modifying the housing to take the -10AN fittings, or modifying the hoses to fit the OEM Fittings. The good news is that it’s been done, a lot, on other M62 cars. The question is if it is worth doing to the E53 in hit environments.

It would be nice to know too at what temp does the housing thermostat open up and if a large difference from the normal operating temp of the normally hot M62TUB would pose any problems for the engine. Also, knowing where the oil temp sensor is would be worthwhile knowledge. The oil needs to get hot enough to boil off any water somewhere in the motor.

Turns out that the answer is not much of a challenge at all. The E39 M5 guys have this thing suitcased. Swapping in the gulf oil filter is plug and play, the hoses, AN lines and adapters are all well known and available, and there are good after market cooler options or OEM from other BMW platforms. OEM models are quite expensive unless a good one can be found used.

The problem now comes down finding a filter housing because the BMW housings seem to be all gone, and Bentley has stopped sourcing their, identical, version within the last few months. I finally found one in the UK at a Bentley/Rolls parts dealer. It’s $44 bucks versus $180 or so, depending on the seller.

I’m going with a 10 or 14 row Setrab I think (slim line) so mount it up front in my bumper and clear the aux fan shroud.

How do you go about monitoring oil temps? Can you do this in real time from the dash or do you need a foxwell or something?



I tow a lot during the summer (in fact I only own this gas guzzler to tow a camper) and I have wondered about oil temps since towing up hills in the summer is really punishing on the engine. But typically if you overheat oil, you will find out about it really fast, usually by spinning a bearing or something else very serious. This is my fourth summer of towing now without any problem.

save money and still stay cool
 

I like the substitution of the Bentley/Rolls oil filter housing at $44 in place of the identical BMW part at $180. Why not save money on anything with similar capabilities?

So, I looked up the Setrab oil coolers; they're some pretty slick devices, but why not get cheaper, yet proven, oil coolers from B&M or Hayden?

I've used several as supplementary coolers on a couple of my tow vehicles (pickups with TH350 transmissions on semi-stock 350 engines), on another light-duty tranny (200r-4 behind a 2.8l V-6 on my '86 S-10), and as a stand-alone cooler for my '66 Chevelle drag-car's trans-braked Powerglide.

The three pickups had the supplementary coolers (one Hayden, two B&M) placed just behind the grilles, and the Chevelle had a B&M Supercooler placed behind the right headlight (one light removed, screen installed, and a 10" puller fan behind the cooler.

Point is: I spent maybe $120 for fan/cooler/fittings/lines for the racing set-up, and maybe $50 (it was long ago) for each of the other coolers.

I'll probably never need a trans-cooler for my X5, and my present tow vehicle is a 2500HD set-up for towing already, but if I ever need to add another cooler, I'll save money by using a B&M (again).

Since I'm going to mount it low and exposed on the front bumper, I'm actually looking at a CSF unit now (8066) which is 22"x5". They are expensive, but have two advantages for my application: more bullet proof for exposed and low front mounts and side ports for an easier and cleaner hose run on same application.

Regarding where the temp is available, The Foxwell or other software will tell you real time info, but the car won't that I'm aware of. I think other models have modes that will, but not the E53 I think. I've got a 4.8 cluster now and it has the oil gauge in it. I need to find out where the sensor is though for a better understanding of the system.

I do have a Foxwell NT510, so maybe I will see if I can monitor oil temps in real time when I head out for camping next. I normally keep it in the car to stave off the good Mr. Murphy.