Engine Temp High : Drive Moderately Warning out of nowhere...

[Siciliano611]

So I drove 20 minutes to a doctors appt yesterday and obviously its hot in atlanta but I parked in a parking deck. I come back out to the car 90 minutes later and turn it on and immediately get the "Engine Temperature Highrive Moderately" warning and my oil temp gauge shows right at the 1/4th way mark nowhere near even the middle.....Very strange, it went away after driving for about 2-3 minutes but I've had this car for 6 months now and driven much longer and even hotter temps without ever encountering this. It's a 2015 M6GC with 36k miles on it. Should I be concerned or was this likely just a faulty error message? Also, what is about the standard running oil temp driving this car in the summer for a while? Thx

[mgmarsh39]

Mine did a weird thing on an extremely hot TX afternoon. Car had been sitting in the sun for 2-3hrs, got in it and the blind spot, and pedestrian warning lights came on saying malfunction. About 10minutes of driving, everything went back to normal...

I'd monitor it closely, because just sitting outside isn't going to heat up your engine to WOT immediately. Could be a thermostat issue.

[Slimm2.0]

I got this message also yesterday, it went back to normal however im also considering changing my oil this weekend anyway.

[mberbic]

I got a Clutch temp warning the other day when pulling out and then it went back to normal after half a mile

[SE7EN335]

i had a similar issue. parked in 40 degrees celsius (105 deg fahreheit) blinding heat for over 2 hours. came back to the car and pulled the electronic brake but it said parking brake failure on the dash. scared the shit out of me. waited about 5 seconds and released it again and the parking brake disengaged and the failure light went off. i think its to do with strong ambient heat messing up the bmw sensors LOL

[xxTHIR13ENxx]

Hey guys,
Bringing this thread back to life..

Had this same warning twice now, first time was about 2 weeks go, after some heavy driving (was rushing wife to the hospital - she's fine).

Warning light came on immediately after we got back in the car and so I "babied" it home, though it was driving normal. Temp. gauge never went above 1/2.

Fast-forward to today and the warning came on after my commute home. No warning during the commute, just now when we went to get dinner.

Weather has been pretty nice, mid. 80's, so nothing as hot as last year's summer.

The only thing I'm considering is the service is due soon, and I'm also due for spark plug change. Could this be causing the engine to run hotter than usual, thus causing the warning? But temp. gauge still register everything as normal, so I'm a bit confused and slightly concerned.

Any other feedback on what to check besides just giving the car some time and then turning it on again?

Thanks.
- Leo.

[HeyKC]

My thoughts would be to check your coolant levels. Maybe time for a coolant flush. We have an oil temp gauge but no water/coolant temp.

[xxTHIR13ENxx]

Originally Posted by HeyKC

My thoughts would be to check your coolant levels. Maybe time for a coolant flush. We have an oil temp gauge but no water/coolant temp.

A few months back I had a low coolant warning, which I promptly topped off and that was that (second time this comes on in 2 years of ownership). Figured it was "normal" as 1. super hot and humongous engine, and 2. Florida is hot weather year-round.

I'm now thinking it may have something to do with Sport Plus driving (even if not really pushing it). I'm going to have some maintenance items done soon and will test out my theory on various days and different driving styles.

- Leo.

[MikeM6]

Originally Posted by xxTHIR13ENxx

A few months back I had a low coolant warning, which I promptly topped off and that was that (second time this comes on in 2 years of ownership). Figured it was "normal" as 1. super hot and humongous engine, and 2. Florida is hot weather year-round.

I'm now thinking it may have something to do with Sport Plus driving (even if not really pushing it). I'm going to have some maintenance items done soon and will test out my theory on various days and different driving styles.

- Leo.

Let us know what you find out. It may have been related to your driving or coolant level, but I think there's also a scenario where it's just a system malfunction. I've seen this twice. Both times the weather was mild and the car wasn't even up to normal operating temp after a short drive to the store. Get back in the car after it's been sitting for 30+ minutes and get the warning. Engine temp was definitely not high. Dealer checked it out at my next service visit and found no issues. Good luck.

[RagtagXMASTER]

this should be a coolant problem, i believe the car runs naturally hot, close to the boiling point anyways, the coolant is used to elevate the boiling temperature as well as lower the freezing temperature. proper mixture of the coolant is suppose to be 70/30 coolant to water. if you are not leaking it from somewhere it may be being boiled off. I would check the turbo coolant lines as those are the hottest lines in the vehicle and highest probability of leakage.

When i received my first engine temp to high message i checked both my coolant levels. I first checked the inter cooler coolant, which was low. also the car will not give you a warning if your inter cooler coolant is low, there is no sensor in it, however the pump has a dry run protection system. I then went to check my engine coolant level, and it was very low, maybe 1L low or more. I filled it to about half way up the neck of the fill tube and it fixed my problem.

I now also just recently inspected my system after about a years worth of driving, i noticed no loss at all. I planned on changing my charge pipes so had to remove my coolant lines to the turbos. once i started to pull the hoses i saw that one was already broken, so i must have just caught it before things got bad. I am upgrading these hoses to silicone hoses to reduce the wear on these hoses and also putting on a better heat jacket from DEI.

Good luck resolving your issue and i hope this helps at least

[xxTHIR13ENxx]

Originally Posted by RagtagXMASTER

this should be a coolant problem.

I then went to check my engine coolant level, and it was very low, maybe 1L low or more. I filled it to about half way up the neck of the fill tube and it fixed my problem.

Good luck resolving your issue and i hope this helps at least

Appreciate the feedback, but this happened after I topped off the coolant level. Checked both, and engine level was very low. Topped it off exactly to the max. level mark, then a few days later the first incident happened.

I haven't been driving much while working remotely. Will continue to monitor things and chime back as I find out.

Oh, and no leakage in any lines...
Thanks, guys.

- Leo.

[RagtagXMASTER]

Hm I must have misunderstood from the previous posts, sorry about that. If you are losing coolant and you don't see any leaks the only other scenario would be the car is eating it ie blown head gasket, but that is pretty rare on these i believe. most likely you may have a bad hose/line somewhere that is letting the coolant system depressurize and letting the evaporated coolant escape. i think the coolant system should be able to hold around 20 psi or so. I would re check the turbo coolant lines. i never saw mine leak, but once i touched them i saw that one end was already separated off, easy for it to bleed evaporative coolant out.

best of luck finding the issue.