Palmo

Hi Folks,

It has been a while since I posted on here and I'm afraid my first post in a while is related to a problem I'm having! Hopefully someone can help?

As my car is almost 3 years old and my 'Maintenance Pack' has expired on mileage (60k miles) I have decided to maintain my car myself outside the dealer network - to be honest I have had some of the most shocking service from various BMW dealers, quite why the 'Full BMW Service History' commands the perceived value it does on second hand vehicles is beyond me.....

Anyway about 2 weeks ago I set about and serviced my own car (525d (194) LCI - 3.0d M Sport) under my fathers guidance (he owns his own independent garage / tuning centre). I changed the Oil & Filter, Air Filter, Pollen filters, Fuel Filter, Adjusted Parking Brake and checked the Gearbox & Diff Oil Levels. All parts used were genuine BMW and the oil was the BMW recommended 0w-30 Castrol SLX Professional Powerflow LL04. The car also had a general check and had it's first MoT.

For the past 2 weeks and about 500 - 600 miles the car has driven perfectly, much better than before as I believe it was in desperate need of a fuel filter, which in line with BMW spec hadn't previously been changed. Anyway today I happened to go into the iDrive Menu and noticed that the oil level was showing the message "Engine Oil Level Too High" and was displayed in an amber colour rather than the usual green. How long it has been like this I don't know, but I can confirm it showed the level to be fine immediately after the service and again a week ago when I checked. Note, I have not received any errors messages in the check Control area warning me of this - it was only by chance that I have gone into the Service iDrive Menu.

I therefore proceeded to manually check the oil level on the 'dip stick' which showed itself to be in perfect line with the 'maximum' mark. I thought about this for a short while and wondered if I was 'just' over the maximum level as far as the sensor was concerned. I have therefore drain a little oil off - enough to reduce the level to exactly halfway between 'minimum' & 'maximum' on the physical dipstick. Upon restarting the car, the initial message "unable to gain measurement" (or similar words) is displayed (which I know is normal) until after 10-20 seconds I again got the message "Engine Oil Level Too High". I know this is not the case due to the dipstick. Therefore this has got me wondering, does this message have to be re-set by BMW? I thought it took an independent measurement each time the car was started? Alternatively, does this sound like a faulty sensor? Wonder why this has only played up after a service? Coincidence?

Comments & Advice greatly appreciated! Many Thanks!

Palmo

For anyone who maybe interested, since posting this earlier, I believe I have got to the bottom of the problem. As I said in my first post, I have drained a little bit off but still had the message. It was my belief that simply starting the car and waiting for a few seconds would furnish the correct oil level display. However, the manual says "to obtain as accurate an oil level reading as possible, the engine should be at its normal operating temperature. This will normally be the case after it has been driven continuously for at least 6 miles", I presume this is to allow the engine oil to fully warm, which will cause it to expand. I have therefore been for a drive of 6+ miles and sure enough the "Engine Oil Level Too High" message has disappeared and the gauge now reads in the green up to Max.

I was then initially a little stumped because when I drained a little off it was reading half way between minimum & maximum on the dipstick - however this reading was when cold! After the 6 mile + drive I parked the car in my garage on a level surface and waited for 5 minutes and proceeded to check the level again on the dipstick - the level was ever so slightly below Max.

Therefore what I did when I filled it with oil during the service was fill up to the maximum line, start the engine to allow oil through the filter. I then proceeded to top up back to the Max line (as it obviously dropped a little) - but all this was when cold! Therefore when the engine gets up to temperature and the oil expands it would be effectively 'overfilled' slightly.

The manual also states that when checking the oil manually via the dipstick to "park the car on a level surface with the engine at operating temperature, in other words after driving uninterrupted for at least 6 miles. Switch off engine. After about 5 minutes pull out the dipstick....." (to allow excess to drain back into the sump). Based on my experiences this evening I can understand why the Oil Level was shown as fine on iDrive when I checked after starting following the oil change, but not why it showed itself to be fine a week later - maybe it was just on the borderline? Anyway, a lesson learnt.....providing I don't have any further trouble and the switch isn't later proved to be faulty afterall. Out of curiosity I priced an Oil Level Sensor (although I have 1 month of warranty left) they are £111.49+vat = £131!

Cheers

Martin

lim

weird; I've never seen that message; usually if I check oil level too early and the engine has not warmed up fully I'll get a grey text saying 'retrieving data' and then a little bit later it'll show the full level.

EBMCS03

Go out and drive it for several miles non-stop to allow for the sensor to update. i would say 10 miles on freeway driving will do it. prob take less...

adambmw

Got the exact same message on the F10 and after a 6 mile drive around it sorted it and showed correct.
The dipstick was between max min but sensor gave overfilled value. So this also applies to F10.

Jake59

Hello Palmo et all,

Read your posts with great interest.
I have purchased my used BMW F11 last December and did my first oil service just a few months ago.
I followed the direcctions exactly and filled with exactly 5,2 liters of the correct type of engine oil BMW LL04.
After staring up and making a warm-up trip, I parked again and checked the dip stick after 5 minutes, which showed me the oil exactly on maximum level.

Also, when driving after warm up the idrive showed the egine oil at Maximum.
I drive a lot and regularly check the engine oil level with the idrive and noticed it going down fairly rapidly.
Now, after 8000km/5000miles, my oil level on the dipstick shows as just below half between max and min, which should indicate I have consumed just over half a liter of engine oil, is still very much ok.

However, the idrive now tells me that the engine oil is at it's minimum level and I should add 1 liter of oil at the earliest possible time every time I go for a ride and after the 6 miles warm up.

Is there a way I can re-calibrate my idrive oil level measurement so that it corresponds with the dip-stick level reading.
It also does not seem correct for me to add 1 liter of oil with the dip-stick reading just under half.

Any suggestions how I can re-calibrate the idrive oil level readout?

Jake