Went on a spirited drive this morning through a few miles of mountain twisties with sustained revs between 4k-6k.

Checked oil level as I left home and it indicated. After the drive and I returned to rather slow speeds back through town at 25mph and the oil light came on and the indicator had dropped two bars into the yellow zone and said to add 1qt.

I stopped the engine for a minute while I ran an errand. Started back up and still showing low, hmmmm, checked and no leaks.

Drove a couple miles at normal revs around 40mph and the oil level goes back to full.

Can't imagine the computer would adjust oil requirements for driving styles as there is only so much capacity.

I see on here where a lot of people indicate they need to add oil on a regular basis. Wonder if there is something in the software throwing an error / calculating wrong on certain driving conditions.

thoughts?

 

My thought is that I wish there was a damn dipstick so that we could manually check.

 

it is "better" to run on low oil than too much. i ran into this issue and decided that measuring the oil was the best solution. the $60 wasted on dumping the relatively new oil is a small cost considering what you are trying to diagnose. please do not reuse the oil you drain. drain the oil and see how much is in there. my 530i takes 6.9 qt (double check your model) so if it's around that you should be checking out the oil level sensor. if it comes up short, look around for any possible leaks.

 

I think the oil level variation was due to oil sloshing around during your spirited driving.

Whether you're measuring with a dip stick or sensor a qualified mechanic would tell you that to more accurately measure your oil, do it after the car has been on level ground for 10-15 minutes. So it's no wonder that after you'd driven more conservatively your iDrive indicated an OK oil level.