Monitoring coolant temperature

[southisland]

Hi all...my question is for E90 i realized there is no way for me to monitor my coolant temp?I'm driving the 325 sports and wonder if it could be monitored in the idrive system.If not in the morning while driving how to know when the car hit normal operating temp? :hmmmm:

 

[Traveler]

Good question. I am curious too. I don't recall seeing it in the manual, but then I skimmed through parts of the manual.

 

[danc]

Ya agree that I am used to have a coolant gauge and it kinda blows without one on the E90s. One way to guess is do a oil check and if the system is able to read I guess the oil is kinda warmed up?????

 

[southisland]

As for engine oil checking...i definitely prefer to do it manually,whereby you can check both the level and colouring(quality) of oil.
Now how to see blackness of oil without a simple dipstick?I just can't trust the idrive 100%. :dontknow:

 

[peanut]

interesting ... that's also one of the very first few things I noticed and checked when I pickup my car. Having enduring risk of engine overheating due to radiator and fan clutch/belt problems for my E36 and E39, I really want to see this oil temperature gauge. Read through the entire manual and only found that some models may have this gauge but not on the model we have here.

The only comfort is that our on-board computer will have a check control error if the engine temperature is too high! At least I am hoping!

 

[Schwepps]

Old world devices like dipsticks and coolant temp guages and tire pressure guages are all going the way of the glaciers and Arctic ice cap. Starting with the luxury marques, but making their way down the pecking order soon I'm sure. Its increasingly becoming electronically governed.

Actually, electronic measurement is way more accurate and real-time, provided it works of course - we all know what happened to Lewis Hamilton in lap 8 of the Brazilian GP. If it fails, as all things must at some point, electronics is easy to fix perfectly - just chuck it out and plug in a new unit. Plug and PAY!

 

[danc]

As for engine oil checking...i definitely prefer to do it manually,whereby you can check both the level and colouring(quality) of oil.
Now how to see blackness of oil without a simple dipstick?I just can't trust the idrive 100%. :dontknow:

I remember reading some where that the on-board oil monitor also monitors the "quality" of the engine oil. Something to do with passing electrical current and measuring viscosity etc. Anyone can confirm this??

 

[dannis]

I shld be able to provide the answer very "soon"... I have check with BMW twice and they say they will call back and let me know.... and I have waited the call for 8 months.