oil level increased, leaking injectors?

[Alain e92]

I have noticed that my oil level jumped up one bar on the measurement scale on my e92 M3. The oil leven was consistant for aprox. 1000 miles. Now i suspect that one of the injectors might be leaking.

I then manually measured the oil a few times but it kept the same level.
I also removed the oilcap and checked if the oil smells like it is mixed with fuel and it kind of does, but at this point what is normal and what is to much?

I am worried that a leaking injector will clean the cylinder and cause catastrophic damage due to missing lubrication.

Has anyone seen their oil level going up after being consistant for a longer period of time?

Car is from 2007 and has 50k miles on it.

[t_win]

Oil will smell like gasoline to some degree, but to try and quantify that would be difficult via smell.

It could also be coolant, is the oil coming out a milky brown or dark?

Maybe get an oil analysis to see what's actually in the oil causing the level to rise?

[Alain e92]

I have not drained the oil yet. but i don‘t think it is coolant since there is no coolant missing.

I might just get 8 new injectors and change the oil again before i risk an engine failure. But not sure yet.

[a5m]

Crazy you posted this as my car did the same thing last week. I even created a thread about it. Oil level read normal for months, and all of sudden, car said it was high and overfilled.

I noticed yesterday it's no longer reading high, but still higher than it was previously. I'm a bit relieved, but your theory on leaking injectors has me worried. My car did what felt like misfire during a cold start, that went away as soon as the cold start cycle ended. Gas mileage has basically remained unchanged though.

[MineralWhiteF80]

Originally Posted by Alain e92

I have not drained the oil yet. but i don‘t think it is coolant since there is no coolant missing.

I might just get 8 new injectors and change the oil again before i risk an engine failure. But not sure yet.

Throwing 500 dollars worth of parts based on a wild guess is not the way to troubleshoot this issue. However, changing the injectors out or having them cleaned because you have 100,000+ miles isnt a terrible idea

One of the most common overlooked reasons an engine "makes oil" is by driving it short distances a lot. Condensation builds up in the crankcase and the engine never actually gets hot enough to burn off all the water that collects in the oil. This water condensate can also affect the oil level sensor's ability to measure correctly.

Also, the oil level sensors in these cars aren't the most accurate, and an oil level sensor that is starting to fail could cause this same issue. Here is a great read if you want to be an oil level sensor connoisseur: https://www.meeknet.co.uk/e64/oil-sensors.pdf

A stuck injector that is dumping enough fuel into a cylinder to start filling the oil pan will always trigger misfire codes, go into limp mode, run rough and have raw fuel smells from the exhaust. What happens is people start to troubleshoot the misfire/limp mode code(s), and while they are trying to identify what the cause is (plug, coil, etc.), the stuck injector (depending on severity) either starts washing the cylinder wall with enough fuel to score the cylinder and reduce compression OR it can quickly hydrolock the cylinder, causing major rotating assembly damage. Either way, you typically have much bigger symptoms than slightly elevated oil level.

[Soden82]

I agree, I would explore the oil level sensor first. Do an oil change, check the oil consistency, and change that sensor.

[Alain e92]

I am going to take out all the sparkplugs and inspect the cylinders and pistons with a camera to see if one cylinder is more black or washed than the others.

Maybe i will also drop all the oil and see how much was exactly in there and if it smells like fuel.

[sxychubles]

Any resolution on this, mine just did this too.

[DrFerry]

Originally Posted by sxychubles

Any resolution on this, mine just did this too.

Most likely it's a failing oil level sensor.

[sxychubles]

Yeah that's where I'm gonna start as it was already on my list of things to do.

No milky consistency on oil cap, however there is a hint of gasoline smell. I've never smelled a oil cap before so I'm not sure how much is normal.