My friend, that is NOT NORMAL.

 

Almost certainly overfilled. Mine is just overfilled (a rock put a hole in my cooler so they had to refill the system aftering replacing it) and I get a little bit of seepage but not anything like that. The caps are vented so it is possible for them to leak a bit.

 

To All: If "significantly" overfilled, then I would un-overfill. "The" manual warns about damage that can occur because of overfilling.

 

To All: If overfilled, then I would un-overfill. "The" manual warns about damage that can occur because of overfilling.
[/quote]
Mine is "just" overfilled. Besides BMW did it and they own it. Their problem. What the picture shows is grossly overfilled (or appears to be).

The warning about damage is probably that if it is so grossly overfilled that when the fluid expands in the reservoir upon warming the vent might not purge the fluid fast enough to prevent some pressure build up causing a problem for the lines going into the reservoir. Or maybe it will just make a mess. The steering/active roll stabilization system itself won't be damaged, it runs at a very high pressure already and this is just an ambient pressure fluid reservoir with very little apparent change in total system volume during operation, the system runs fine with the fluid level nearly at the bottom of the reservoir. In fact the fluid level sensor is attached via the bottom where the return line from the cooler comes in. Any lower and you risk air getting into the system and that's bad. This is for a car with Active Steering and Active Roll Stabilization anyway (Dynamic Drive). It's not quite like overfilling with engine oil where bottom end parts might be partially inundated and the engine might run hotter (a big problem with the S54 in the M3 and M Roadster/Coupe).

 

Mine is "just" overfilled. Besides BMW did it and they own it. Their problem. What the picture shows is grossly overfilled (or appears to be).
[/quote] Right, I changed my above statement to:

"To All: If "significantly" overfilled, then I would un-overfill. "The" manual warns about damage that can occur because of overfilling."