mini_me

Personally i wouldn't accept an engine running at sub operating temps! You will have some extra wear on the engine and poss. also some less MPG.
Any dealer/mechanic that doesn't know the operating temp. of the brand the represent or even worse, don't care if the car's cooling system functions, should look for another job!

Confront your dealer with the fact that they should know what the operating temp on your car is, they are a BMW dealer! If they don't have this knowledge, you might as well go to a general
car mechanic.

The very least they should be able to check is the therm. opening temp. This generally is very near the engine operating temp. The SA from my dealer also didn't know about the built in secret menu which displays the temps. so app. this isn't common knowledge.

mini_me

OK I just calculated my 2nd brim-to-brim since changing the EGR therm;

1st one was 7,3L/100KM
2nd one is 7,5L/100KM

So all in all I'm quite pleased. Don't think avg. fuel consumption will get much better.

Stephen F

I have also changed the EGR thermostat only and our 2004 E61 530D now reaches 84c very quickly (was reaching 80 after 40 miles before!) Economy has shot up but not done many miles yet to work out figures

I spoke to my dealer a few days ago (specialist cars in Stevenage) and explained the whole cool running thing as per this thread and showed them my broken EGR thermostat.
The tech was very interested and they are now changing the main thermostat under warranty next week to get the car up to 90c.

The tech said 90c was the operating temp but nothing will show up on any fault readings re cool running if the car was plugged in, said he had not changed any main or EGR thermostats on E60/61's but now expects to do a few in relation to unsolvable poor mpg.

He said when the car is in the workshop it will always reach 90c easily as it is not moving.

By the way they quoted ?297 for changing the main thermostat if not done under warranty and that is before any 4+ discounts.

Cheers

Stephen

Phantom Mark

How do you think I would stand with my 3 year old car and 82k miles ?? I never bought from the main dealer ?? regarding a warranty repair I mean ?

smarty156

Well, here's an odd one.
I did a 100 mile trip this morning, nearly all motorway miles and at a sensible 75mph most of the time or a bit slower in traffic occasionally.
About 10 mins into my journey the temp had gone up to 83 as normal since the EGR change.
About another 20 mins after that, the car started doing the DPF regeneration process (boomy exhaust from 1 to 2,000 rpm is a tell tale sign). During this process the temp went up to about 90c. Strangely, once it stopped doing the regeneration, for the rest of the journey (about an hour) the temp stayed at 88/89c. Also, after I'd arrived, having done 100 miles the on board computer said I still had enough fuel to do another 532 miles! It's never shown over 600 miles on a full tank before so maybe the higher temp along with the steady driving has really pushed up my mpg. Average worked out to 41mpg at an average speed of 72mph.

So, maybe now the EGR stat is fixed the DPF regeneration has triggered the main stat to start working again!

I'll check it again on the way home but for now I'm well happy!

Phantom Mark

Using tank top to top method I manged 42mpg @ 80mph average over 340 miles on a return trip to Gatwick fwiw.....

I dont know what temps my car is running atm, still trying to decypher the trick to see it lol

Stephen F

Probably no chance, I have the BMW insured warranty on mine so pretty much everything is covered
I would just get the thermostat and have a BMW specialist do the job for you or even DIY.


I would never run a BMW without a warranty as the labour and part costs are so high even a simple repair will end up a fortune and I have certainly made use of mine to fix all the known faults on the E61 of which my car has suffered nearly every one so far

The list below is since July last year and adds up to thousands

Panaromic Roof (would not close) - replaced
Starter Motor (slow cranking) - replaced
Altenator (Weird electrical faults then total system failure) - replaced
Folding Mirrors (they were squealing) - both replaced
Window Motor (power window anti trap failure on display) - replaced
Glow plug (fault stored on ECU) - replaced
Remote Locking control module (strange locking and unlocking due to water ingress under rear roof spoiler) - replaced

When it goes in for the thermostat next week thay are also putting a new instrument binacle in as sometimes on starting the dials take a few seconds to come on, tech said a mini relay in the cluster is failing but its a complete unit - probably a lot of money as well.


I have probabaly just been unlucky and have a friday afternoon special but at least I get my car valeted about once a month!!
I am a bit peeved that the MPG issue has been unsolvable by several dealers and turned out just to be dodgy thermostats but I suppose once it is sorted I can just enjoy the car rather than staring at the MPG display getting angry!!

Stephen

mini_me

Let us know the outcome/MPG pls.

Phantom Mark

I might start making an enquiry into getting some BMW warranty then, my car has 83k on it now tho and afaik the warranty its only up to 100k from BMW ?

johneves

You can calibrate the OBC readout. look for the post "Fuel consumption calibration"