Oil Level

[TheBry]

This is normal. Happened to me as well just after my 1200 mile service. In fact, I was even getting oil level warning messages.

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthr...ghlight=thebry

My SA explained to me that they're still "getting to know" this engine and that since there's no physical dipstick, they're afraid of overfilling the oil reservoir. The oil filter alone can absorb nearly a quart of oil. I liked the fact that they erred on the side of caution. Not saying the situation is acceptable, but am saying that it's a known issue and nothing you should be worried about. Just top it up.

My SA gave me a cool BMW-branded zippered pouch that contains a quart of oil, a paper funnel and some other goodies. It's got velcro strips on the back so I can affix it to the interior of my trunk. You should ask for one so you're not caught off-guard after your next service (15,000 miles).

[marwan]

i heard from the M5 forum(i had a 2006 E60 M5) that you should only top up the oil once it reaches minimum, so I'd wait if i were you as long as i'm not getting any warning signs. When it hits low, you'll be getting a warning for sure, don't worry man!

[knifegun]

Originally Posted by marwan

i heard from the M5 forum(i had a 2006 E60 M5) that you should only top up the oil once it reaches minimum, so I'd wait if i were you as long as i'm not getting any warning signs. When it hits low, you'll be getting a warning for sure, don't worry man!

Thanks. I went to the dealer and the SA said it was fine. He said that the best place to look at the oil level is in the iDrive status screen that is more accurate than the oil level showing in the dash.

[Captain Scott]

Originally Posted by knifegun

Thanks. I went to the dealer and the SA said it was fine. He said that the best place to look at the oil level is in the iDrive status screen that is more accurate than the oil level showing in the dash.

Ah CHAAAA,thank you, see nothing to worry about.

[vtm3]

At my 1200 mile service they told me I would have a few miles on my car because they needed to fill the oil, drive it for around 10 miles, check it, top it off, drive and check again and top off. I thought they just wanted to take a spin, but it looks like they knew what they were talking about.

[BimmerRob08]

Mine dropped just below the top line just before the 1200 mile mark. After service it was at the upper-level. Yesterday at now about 3600 miles it dropped between the upper-level and first mark. so still in the OK zone but it seems as I'd have to put in about 1/8th of a liter of oil to bring it back up. I have not called BMW yet but if it drops to the half mark then that's half a liter to add. I'd put in about 1/8 liter now, let it warm up fully and get a good reading after driving a bit and see if it comes back up. If not, then I'll add another 1/8 as by then it should be at the top again without danger of overfilling it. But if anyones oil level drops to the mid-band, put in about 1/4 to 1/2 liter as the book says at the fill line (lower-band) to add 1 liter. What's everyone else think?

[Dascamel]

Ok, the sensor can be wrong. I was driving up the grapevine yesterday, the car starts asking for a quart of oil. It shows the bar near the bottom, while just before the incline it was near the 1/2 way mark.
In itself no big deal, drive around last night I get NO oil reading after about an hour of trying. Turned the car off and on, parked in a level surface, etc. At some point after that, the reading comes back and it shows 3/4 full on a level surface. I'm so glad I didn't add oil during that process, if so my car would be at the shop gettting drained....

Moral of the story, the SA, techs, dealers are doing the right thing at the moment not fully topping it off. So unless your sure, I'd even give it a day before adding a quart. Yes, electronic sensor is great, don't need to get out of car and all the other crap. But for real service a dipstick would still be nice.

[MysticBlue]

Originally Posted by Dascamel

Ok, the sensor can be wrong. I was driving up the grapevine yesterday, the car starts asking for a quart of oil. It shows the bar near the bottom, while just before the incline it was near the 1/2 way mark.
In itself no big deal, drive around last night I get NO oil reading after about an hour of trying. Turned the car off and on, parked in a level surface, etc. At some point after that, the reading comes back and it shows 3/4 full on a level surface. I'm so glad I didn't add oil during that process, if so my car would be at the shop gettting drained....

Moral of the story, the SA, techs, dealers are doing the right thing at the moment not fully topping it off. So unless your sure, I'd even give it a day before adding a quart. Yes, electronic sensor is great, don't need to get out of car and all the other crap. But for real service a dipstick would still be nice.

I disagree that they are doing the right thing. Every M3 engine is exactly the same. They should know how much oil it takes. They should know to within 1/4 quart exactly how much oil it takes. It's not like some engines are a little bigger than other engines. This ain't rocket science.

[Dascamel]

Yeah but if you go in after driving around for 1000 miles they will need to trust sensor 100%. If the tech added oil based on my sensor reading on Sat, I'd be around 3/4 of quart over. An error margin of around a quart is fairly large.

Also when you drain the car for an oil change, do you get 100% of the oil out? I doubt it, leaves a little room to guess how much needs to go back in. Anyway, basic point is, the car will tell you when it needs a quart. Just make sure the reading is repeated on level ground a couple times.

[rcornelius]

Originally Posted by M2381

After my 1200 mile service mine was full..I def think you need to tell them that they did not give u enough oil

When I picked my car up after the 1200 mile service, exact same thing. Drove directly back to the dealer and they said they put 9qts in. Just to piss them off I purchased my now 10th quart and put damn near a qt in and the level moved up to just below the top level. I made the dealer give me back my 19 Euro about 23 dollars for the last quart. Now with some 3800 miles on it, one day its full, one day its real low and the next perfect. As a BMW fan, I got to say to BMW "THE OIL CHECK SYSTEM AND SENSOR SUCKS" This has pissed me off so much that I have another appointment on Monday to drop off the car and keep it until it is REALLY fixed. Tired of all of the BS that the dealer that I've dealt with for over 15 years is giving. I refuse to come back and pick up the car until they fix it and can assure me that its ready to drive. I'm still going to write BMW in Munich and bitch about this. Since I live here in Germany hopefully they will respond. Everyone with this problem should continue to bitch to BMW about it. Besides, why are we even having to add oil?? I can understand during break in, this is normal, but with 3000 miles etc... the car should not be using oil!!! This is BS when we get inaccurate readings like so. Pay 60 k for a damn quality car then thats what we should get quality, not a quality car with a shitty oil check system. I'm starting to wonder if my damn car was built on one of the German Holidays when they had drank several liters of beer and came to work in Regensburg drunk....

[rcornelius]

Originally Posted by knifegun

Thanks. I went to the dealer and the SA said it was fine. He said that the best place to look at the oil level is in the iDrive status screen that is more accurate than the oil level showing in the dash.

Maybe these SA's are still lost. The I drive uses the same sensor.???????

[GT3 Tim]

I think it uses the same sensor, but the graduations on the "meter" seem a bit more precise.

Just had my 1,200 mile service. Don't think they even test drove it as it had 1 mile more on it than when I dropped it off (prolly accounts for parking lot driving to bay, wash, etc.). Oil via I-Drive indicates oil at the top mark.

[MomoM3]

Mine is below 1/4 to capacity at 4,300 miles. How much oil should I add?

[knifegun]

Thanks all for your responses. I think I am going to leave mine at the half way point. It is between max and min. So I am assuming the actual required amount is the min mark. Anything above that is buffer. Having 1/2 quart buffer is good for me. If it gets lower, I will just drop by the dealer.

[Captain Scott]

Originally Posted by rcornelius

When I picked my car up after the 1200 mile service, exact same thing. Drove directly back to the dealer and they said they put 9qts in. Just to piss them off I purchased my now 10th quart and put damn near a qt in and the level moved up to just below the top level. I made the dealer give me back my 19 Euro about 23 dollars for the last quart. Now with some 3800 miles on it, one day its full, one day its real low and the next perfect. As a BMW fan, I got to say to BMW "THE OIL CHECK SYSTEM AND SENSOR SUCKS" This has pissed me off so much that I have another appointment on Monday to drop off the car and keep it until it is REALLY fixed. Tired of all of the BS that the dealer that I've dealt with for over 15 years is giving. I refuse to come back and pick up the car until they fix it and can assure me that its ready to drive. I'm still going to write BMW in Munich and bitch about this. Since I live here in Germany hopefully they will respond. Everyone with this problem should continue to bitch to BMW about it. Besides, why are we even having to add oil?? I can understand during break in, this is normal, but with 3000 miles etc... the car should not be using oil!!! This is BS when we get inaccurate readings like so. Pay 60 k for a damn quality car then thats what we should get quality, not a quality car with a shitty oil check system. I'm starting to wonder if my damn car was built on one of the German Holidays when they had drank several liters of beer and came to work in Regensburg drunk....

Can you do something for me?, write Porsche AG at the same time and tell them their sensors suck as well they must buy them from the same vendor. Tell them that's precisely the reason I traded my 997 twin turbo for the M3.

Scott

[!Xoible]

that is about or less than 1/2 a quart. the car can consume that in 2 hours of driving with M drive on.... i fill more oil than gas these days

[rcornelius]

Originally Posted by rcornelius

When I picked my car up after the 1200 mile service, exact same thing. Drove directly back to the dealer and they said they put 9qts in. Just to piss them off I purchased my now 10th quart and put damn near a qt in and the level moved up to just below the top level. I made the dealer give me back my 19 Euro about 23 dollars for the last quart. Now with some 3800 miles on it, one day its full, one day its real low and the next perfect. As a BMW fan, I got to say to BMW "THE OIL CHECK SYSTEM AND SENSOR SUCKS" This has pissed me off so much that I have another appointment on Monday to drop off the car and keep it until it is REALLY fixed. Tired of all of the BS that the dealer that I've dealt with for over 15 years is giving. I refuse to come back and pick up the car until they fix it and can assure me that its ready to drive. I'm still going to write BMW in Munich and bitch about this. Since I live here in Germany hopefully they will respond. Everyone with this problem should continue to bitch to BMW about it. Besides, why are we even having to add oil?? I can understand during break in, this is normal, but with 3000 miles etc... the car should not be using oil!!! This is BS when we get inaccurate readings like so. Pay 60 k for a damn quality car then thats what we should get quality, not a quality car with a shitty oil check system. I'm starting to wonder if my damn car was built on one of the German Holidays when they had drank several liters of beer and came to work in Regensburg drunk....

Since my last post I did get a response from Munich. Dropped my car off at the dealership that I've been dealing with for a long time. They called me by noon and said my car was fixed. It was the sensor. According to the service advisor, BMW got their sensors from two different sources, he was not able to tell me how to tell the difference or who the two manufactures were. My oil level is now back up to just below the top bar. I did ask the question is the I-Drive reading from the same sensor, and the answer was yes, as well the SA told me that if you get two completely different readings that this is a indicator that the sensor is bad.

[SmokeyJoe]

I think I read the M3 uses 8.8 quarts of oil. When I took my car in for an oil change I had 10qtrs in the trunk. When I picked up the car there were 2 full qrts left. My reading on the speedometer cluster is like the first post right at 1/2. I have thought about adding a little, but I think I will just wait and carry the oil with me.

[ZoinksM3]

Originally Posted by knifegun

Thanks. I went to the dealer and the SA said it was fine. He said that the best place to look at the oil level is in the iDrive status screen that is more accurate than the oil level showing in the dash.

Uh, shouldn't it be the same? One sensor and all.

Edit: Read rcornelius' post. Interesting

[marwan]

i wonder why BMW removed numeric oil sensor from the M5! it's basically the same sensor, but there is a number that read " 1.0L" when full.....then as it drops it goes to "0.9L" .....and so on till it hits "0.0L"

on the M3 it's the same, minus the number which were useful.

btw, my oil senor has a mind of it's own, every time i drive it keeps re-calculating the oil level (clock icon), then it settles.....i drive around, turn off the car when i get to the mall(for example), then as soon as i turn it off it re-calculate again, and when it usually does that the oil bar is empty.

what's the deal?

the iDrive oil level indicator is full since i just got my car back from break-in service. which is more accurate? shouldn't both read the same?

[MomoM3]

Originally Posted by MosesDKE

Mine is below 1/4 to capacity at 4,300 miles. How much oil should I add?

I added half a bottle of what BMW gave me and it still says 1/4 to capacity...

[TomTarzian]

Originally Posted by valeram

Just add a quarter of a liter and check. This will verify if you have a bad sensor, which I don't think you have.

My recollection is the manual says you must add at least half a quart for the change to show on the indicator.

God bless,
Tom