64stingray

Drove my E63S home last night in dry weather. No issues. Drove it for 2 hours today in steady rain. When I parked, lots of steam poured out of the right front. Definitely steam. Did not smell like coolant. The front facia above the right front radiator/intercooler area was warm. Does anyone know if the oil cooler is on that side? Or is it a hot side of intercooler? I hope it is just accumulated rain water flashing off of hot pipes. Any thoughts?

VIdeo here:

E63Wagonesque

64stingray

You think it's rain water flashing off?

E63Wagonesque

HBerman

[QUOTE=64stingray;7618203]Drove my E63S home last night in dry weather. No issues. Drove it for 2 hours today in steady rain. When I parked, lots of steam poured out of the right front. Definitely steam. Did not smell like coolant. The front facia above the right front radiator/intercooler area was warm. Does anyone know if the oil cooler is on that side? Or is it a hot side of intercooler? I hope it is just accumulated rain water flashing off of hot pipes. Any thoughts?

VIdeo here: https://youtu.be/yOzqvsd6-u0[/QUOTE]
Sounds like misaligned rubber molding under the hood letting water through where it should not go. I just came into the house from a heavy downpour into the garage and saw NO steam when I finished parking. Doesn't sound good to have water dripping on parts that should be dry.

sjb

HBerman

I'll keep watching for this. My E63S is a 2018

bobblehead

nothing to be concerned of.

HBerman

The reason that that area is warm is that is where the coolant expansion tank is located. The steam could be a sign of a pressure leak in the area. Again, I have never seen any steam in that area and there are not any pipes or metal that should be getting hot for steam generation from rain water.

64stingray

Drove it today. Not very hard because its not broken in yet but hard enough to get the turbos heated up. Roads were wet in Western Maryland but not rain. No steam at all. The inside of the passenger side front wheel well has a vent on the front side to let air flow through the intercooler. I am sure that spray from the tire can accumulate water in there. I wonder if there is a drain hole that may have been plugged with a leaf or something? I plan to call the service department tomorrow and ask.

vicm81

HBerman

Drove an hour in a hard rain tonight. When I pulled into the garage and closed the door, I circled to the right front of the car. No steam! Not any evidence of this either all day. I wonder why you are experiencing this and I am not.

64stingray

It is supposed to rain all day Saturday and I am driving from Western Maryland to Wash DC for a Capitals game. I'll post what I observe. I wonder if I had/have a drain hole blocked?

HBerman

I just got off of the phone with the service manager of my dealership on another matter. I mentioned your observation of steam and he said he has never heard of that or seen it on any 2018 E63S. It's certain that water is hitting some hot metal, but perhaps that is happening due to misalignment of under hood moulding or water backing up and not draining. I'm curious about this so please report back.

Ericshun

I had the same thing the other day when it was raining

TRUVUDU

Drove mine in rain and seen the same. Steam from passenger side intercooler opening.

64stingray

So I had to run into work this evening -- approximately 20 mile round trip -- 15 minutes each way in the rain. Just parked it in the garage and steam is coming out from the same area. Identical to original videos I posted. I did ask my dealership's service manager and he said they have seen this on the twin-turbo cars. I am going to make sure I stop by one day when it is raining to make the see it so if some damage does occur, its noted as a latent defect.

bobblehead

sjb

perhaps i am misinterpreting, so please forgive me if that's the case, but what exactly are you after? you've had half a dozen folks in this thread tell you that it's nothing to worry about, which you've also had confirmed by your service manager. yet you're still talking about damage and latent defects... at this point it really seems like you actually want something to be wrong. just drive the car and enjoy it.

64stingray

sjb -- my opinion is you are misinterpreting. HBerman and I were swapping observations. While many are seeing this, not all are seeing this. From an engineering perspective, that makes me question "what's different" with the cars that are boiling rain water off of hot parts.

HBerman

What is the temperature reading of the transmission intercooler? My temp is running around 135-140 in ambient temperature of 55 degrees. If you are getting steam, then they must be above 212 Are the fluid levels for the transmission correct?

64stingray

I can't say for certain but I don't think I have seen the trans temp go above 200F. I will look. I've been scanning the service menu (left instrument panel screen) and have not observed anything unusual. There is another storm coming up the coast so I will have another opportunity to troubleshoot.

64stingray

Max trans temp I have seen is 178F in Sport Plus coasting down hill on a freeway. Average is 165F. In the rain last night and today, I did not see the steam. My engineering brain is taking a break for holidays.

HBerman

Enjoy the holidays. It's good that you've determined that your intercooler temps are in a normal range.

timm206

Thats normal, i believe it does it only on one side because one of the auxillary coolers is hooked up to the main coolant line which cools the block therefor running hotter than the aux cooler on the left. In that case left aux cooler should be hooked to the Intercooler coolant line “low pressure circuit”, which runs cooler. In the w212 ecu would target ic coolant temps of around 100 F, not sure whats the target temp on w213 but shouldnt be too far off i assume.