F56 Intake Temps

My info is intake air temps of 160F+ can cause problems.

I have driven at least one car in 116F ambient temperature with an intake air temperature of 135F (and a coolant temperature of 226F) with no ill effects. Have driven other cars in even hotter ambient temperature: 119F is my "record". But I didn't data log them during this time.

No telemetry from my MINIs but with my Porsche Turbo intake air temperature underway was 10F over ambient. The air to air charger coolers were quite effective at removing the heat caused by the compressing the air.

With my Dodge Challenger Scat Pack with Performance Pages which I had set up to display intake air temperature the Scat Pack -- naturally aspirated -- intake air temperature from a cold start and with minimal stop light time the intake air temperature would run about 5F over ambient. With "lots" of stop and go, or with some heat soak it could be 20F, 30F or more higher. But once moving at some speed with less time stopped and less time idling the intake air temperature would come right back down again.

A bit higher intake air temperature ain't necessarily bad in town, especially from a start. Hotter air means better fuel atomization, better combustion, better throttle response, better fuel economy, less engine deposits. And once under way while the intake air temperature falls the air through the intake is flowing faster and this helps atomize the fuel. So... win win.

deusablutum said:

I also had the thought to remove the fog lights and run ducting from the fog light holes to the air filer. I don't know how much that would help though. Clearances are also really tight so I'm not sure if I can run ducting through there. Thoughts?

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One has to be very very careful if changing the engine air intake entry location. While a big old empty fog light hole looks like an answer to one's prayers it can risk the engine getting a slug of water into its intake. One should not count on the paper filter to block this water from getting into the engine proper.

Some cars do have engine air intake hose connected to a hole (kind of like a spare or extra head light hole) next to the actual headlight. (My Hellcat had such an air intake setup.) I never bothered to study this setup in any detail but I'm sure the factory took into account the risk of water getting into the hole. One doesn't have to drive through head light deep water either. Even a slow speed but with some standing water oncoming vehicles can douse one's car with a considerable amount of water.

It doesn't take much water in a cylinder to result in hydraulically locking the engine. Combustion chamber sizes are small. My Hellcat engine displaced 6.2l and its combustion chamber volume was 74cc or 2.5 ounces..

deusablutum said:

I'm already running WMI however it only comes on at 8+ pounds of boost & WOT. It doesn't help for the rest of the time.

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Really think you are seeing a problem where there isn't one. Let's go back to your 1st post: "...out with ambient temps around 80 F and was getting IAT readings as high as 111 F while moving and up to 125 F at a stop."

Even 119F ambient for my Porsche Turbo was not a problem. And I hit some ungodly high speed in that car on that hot day. (Happened to be driving through while a pretty hot area of AZ a relative empty one.)

And 125F at a stop....Like I said even at 135F intake air temperature and not only at a stop but even under way the engine in my Boxster was fine.

You want to keep the engine cooling system in tip top condition.

Don't run the engine air filter too many miles. The engine in your car is still small relatively speaking but thanks to turbo charging it is gulping air (and fuel) at a rate of a bigger engine.

Change the oil/filter more often.

This goes for plugs, too. They have a much harder job of it in a turbo charged engine. Porsche called for 60K mile plug changes for my Boxster, 48K miles for my Porsche 996 Turbo. And I drove these cars for nearly 500K miles (combined mileage) and changed/had changed the plugs a number of times and not once after a plug change did either engine run better. That was actually good because it told me that while the plugs were due based on miles to be changed they were not yet to the point they were affecting how the engine ran.

Since your engine is mod'd you probably should change plugs even more often than what the factory calls for.

Don't forget the accessory drive belt. While it may not be working any harder it lives in a hotter the normal engine compartment.

With my cars like the Hellcat -- supercharged 6.2l V8 putting out 707hp -- I monitored coolant temperature, oil temperature, oil pressure, and battery voltage. I didn't expect any problems but I felt intake air temperature was not a big concern to me. It was what it was. But I wanted to know if the coolant temperature was for some reason getting too high. I was less concerned about oil temperature and pressure, but oil temperature let me know when the engine was fully up to operating temperature which I considered >200F although under some conditions -- steady freeway driving oil temperature would drop below 200F.

With oil temperature and pressure I established what was "hot" idle oil pressure by checking it at 212F and at idle in D. Shift to P and RPMs increased by approx. 50 RPMs and oil pressure increased by 3 or 4 psi. But I checked it while in D often when stopped at a light.

Last but not least buy a high quality gasoline and from a busy station to get the freshest gasoline. My Porsche cars liked Shell V-Power 91. The difference was not slap up the side of the head different but they liked Shell V-Power. Porsche techs told me they ran Shell V-Power only occasionally filling up with Chevron Supreme and the benefit it had (due to the presence of Techron) regarding removing engine deposits.

Last but not least with my turbo charged engines of cars in the past but this includes both my JCW and my BMW M2 I like to drive easy before putting the car away for the day. This gives the turbo(s) a chance to cool down some. Yeah, maybe not that critical if the turbo is water cooled but old habits die hard. For my 2003 Porsche 996 Turbo Porsche called for a 2 minute idle time after running the engine hard to give the turbos -- oil (and exhaust!) cooled -- time to cool down. Exhaust at idle is quite a bit cooler than exhaust from the engine at near red line and under 0.7 (or 0.8 or even 0.9) bar boost. So idling cools the turbos down and when shut off the heat doesn't "cook" the oil in the turbo bearings.