[JKB2ONE]

Hey guys I think I may have a problem. When I drive spirited in sport plus on mountain roads I noticed a smell and when I popped my hood I noticed what you see in the following pictures. I have noticed the cats turning red on two occasions.

I would like to state that BMW changed the Turbo due to whistle (defect) and diverter valve at 1200 miles and the car now has 3000 miles.

Is it normal for the cats to get this Hotttt?

Outside temp = 60 degrees at time of drive.

[canukgtp]

I'd get that checked...I don't believe things are supposed to glow...seems like something is blocked

[Polo08816]

Originally Posted by JKB2ONE

Hey guys I think I may have a problem. When I drive spirited in sport plus on mountain roads I noticed a smell and when I popped my hood I noticed what you see in the following pictures. I have noticed the cats turning red on two occasions.

I would like to state that BMW changed the Turbo due to whistle (defect) and diverter valve at 1200 miles and the car now has 3000 miles.

Is it normal for the cats to get this Hotttt?

Outside temp = 60 degrees at time of drive.

Mixing your gas with coolant would help cool the exhaust gases.

[RAK92]

Excuse my ignorance, but what are "cats"?

Those things are indeed hot - damn, I wonder if that could cause a fire under the hood!

[platty]

cats = catalytic converter

100% not normal.

[krumpet]

Agreed, I popped the hood after some heavy driving last night and definitely would have noticed a glow. Does not look normal to me.

[KGB_123_99]

The only thing that I've ever seen glow on these cars is the turbo, and that's after some serious track driving...at night. The cats do get very hot but I've never seen them glow like that.

[Blubaron79]

I think you should touch them next time to see how hot they are. ;-)

[COKen]

A friend of mine, with a non-BMW, had this same issue. It was caused by excess fuel getting to the cats. Since the cats are designed to keep emissions down, the excess fuel was being burned in the cats. In his case part of the insides of the cats melted and restricted the cats air flow.

[redbullfan]

If excess fuel is going to the cats, get a catless downpipe and you'll be shoot flames!!!

[mike@x-ph.com]

Another reason to go catless

Get that checked OP

[G30 B58]

Completely NOT normal.

[JKB2ONE]

So this morning I took in my car to get the oil toped off since it was showing low oil "add 1 quart". while I was there I showed two service advisors these photos of my catalytic converter red hot and they said it was normal. one said "Iv seen 2series models do this as well".

Im still not sure why it needs to get that hot?

Also could my engine be needing a quart of oil at 3k miles because of this possible issue?

[jgoens]

Originally Posted by mike@x-ph.com

Another reason to go catless

Get that checked OP

+1...just take that bitch off and pop a tune as well. Problem solved and win.

[rolltidef32]

Originally Posted by JKB2ONE

So this morning I took in my car to get the oil toped off since it was showing low oil "add 1 quart". while I was there I showed two service advisors these photos of my catalytic converter red hot and they said it was normal. one said "Iv seen 2series models do this as well".

Im still not sure why it needs to get that hot?

Also could my engine be needing a quart of oil at 3k miles because of this possible issue?

There are several variables that are missing that would indicate whether this was normal under the conditions experienced, or evidence of an issue like flow stoppage.

You mention having a spirited drive; cool. But how long (miles)?

We talking switchbacks with rapid acceleration, braking, repeat?

What was the outside temp? Hot day, cool, chilly?

What were your number of runs? Length of sustained heavy driving.

Mountain drives can simulate track conditions. Tail of the Dragon really wears on a car and the driver for example.

Also, your car is new and under its original oil change, so hard driving should be minimal; you're still in break in period.

If this happened under normal load or highway driving conditions under 5 hours, I'd be more concerned.

May still be an issue, but we could use more data from you. Hope it's nothing.

[JKB2ONE]

Originally Posted by rolltidef32

There are several variables that are missing that would indicate whether this was normal under the conditions experienced, or evidence of an issue like flow stoppage.

You mention having a spirited drive; cool. But how long (miles)?

We talking switchbacks with rapid acceleration, braking, repeat?

What was the outside temp? Hot day, cool, chilly?

What were your number of runs? Length of sustained heavy driving.

length: 14 miles.

duration: 25min....cooldown driving at least 5 times for about 3min each

outside temp: 60 degrees F... cool night

length of heavy driving: 10-12min

on straights rapid acceleration and breaking. I did give the car cooling time with normal driving about 5 times in the 14 miles.

I don't think 10-12 min of aggressive driving on a BMW should cause catalytic converter to turn cherry red like this.

Perhaps this car isn't designed to sustain aggressive driving.

[Michael Schott]

Originally Posted by JKB2ONE

length: 14 miles.

duration: 25min....cooldown driving at least 5 times for about 3min each

outside temp: 60 degrees F... cool night

length of heavy driving: 10-12min

on straights rapid acceleration and breaking. I did give the car cooling time with normal driving about 5 times in the 14 miles.

I don't think 10-12 min of aggressive driving on a BMW should cause catalytic converter to turn cherry red like this.

Perhaps this car isn't designed to sustain aggressive driving.

Is your car throwing codes or giving warnings about the emission system? If not then don't worry.

[rolltidef32]

Originally Posted by JKB2ONE

length: 14 miles.

duration: 25min....cooldown driving at least 5 times for about 3min each

outside temp: 60 degrees F... cool night

length of heavy driving: 10-12min

on straights rapid acceleration and breaking. I did give the car cooling time with normal driving about 5 times in the 14 miles.

I don't think 10-12 min of aggressive driving on a BMW should cause catalytic converter to turn cherry red like this.

Perhaps this car isn't designed to sustain aggressive driving.

With those details, think I agree that a drive like that shouldn't upset the car too much.

Not sure if warning bells would go off with this until something failed since it wouldn't run the car hot usually.

If you take it back to the service department, they'd need to recreate the condition which would mean one hell of a road test; not sure you'd want that.

The fact that you smelled a burning is a little concerning, but my car, which is at about 10K miles, also had a few early smells from under the hood. Happens often during break in, but should settle out after 5K and a first oil change. I'm due for my second change. Car is 1 year old last month.

Just keep an eye on it, but it doesn't mean drive it softly. Your car is a bad girl and she likes to be rode hard and put away wet! Keep pushing her to speed up break in.

As long as you don't have any mods (forgot to ask in last post), it's nothing to worry about because you are under warranty, so have some fun.

[thakid22]

Originally Posted by JKB2ONE

length: 14 miles.

duration: 25min....cooldown driving at least 5 times for about 3min each

outside temp: 60 degrees F... cool night

length of heavy driving: 10-12min

on straights rapid acceleration and breaking. I did give the car cooling time with normal driving about 5 times in the 14 miles.

I don't think 10-12 min of aggressive driving on a BMW should cause catalytic converter to turn cherry red like this.

Perhaps this car isn't designed to sustain aggressive driving.

How is your gas mileage?
Cats can only glow in the presence of fuel. The more fuel that reaches the cats, the hotter they will get and the more red the glow.
Typically, fuel is burned in the combustion chamber. What is left over (unburned) during combustion, goes thru the headers, to the cat, and out the exhaust.
Bad coils, plugs, and/or ignition timing can reduce the efficiency of the combustion process.
This leaves excess unburned fuel causing red hot cats.

Whenever the dealer tells you "it's normal", you need to verify that it is indeed normal.
I have never seen a properly running engine light its cats up cherry red like that. If that lasts too long the cats will have a reduced service life. Furthermore, depending on what ius causing the unburned fuel, there could be other problems brewing too.

Now this may very well be normal but I would not accept that until I had seen a similarly specd car behave the same way. Maybe run a loaner car through the same route to see if happens to it too. Have any friends with N55 engines? It's time to compare and contrast. Maybe some N55 owners here on the forum can check how theirs look after some brisk runs at night??

[thakid22]

Update?

[RM7]

Do you have a tune? On other turbo cars with an aggressive tune, you'll melt the cats if you don't tune the "entire" car.