4msprag

One good story for the record!

Early this week, my heart sank when I heard the chime and saw the low oil pressure message on my 545i.

I had just ran about 50 miles at 75 MPH and was in the drive through line for a coffee and it told me in that very German manner that further driving is NOT POSSIBLE.

I immediately parked it, and did some Google surfing on the handheld to see what other owners have experienced. There are lots of posts talking about leaky vanos seals, worn bearings worn oil pumps and other very costly and scary items.

By the time I studied the problem and checked the oil etc. it had sat for about 20 minutes.

I fired it up and the message was still there, but the engine was quiet and smooth - not sounding like an engine with zero oil pressure. I decided to drive it with warning message still on. That was more than a little terrifying.

Once I started driving it, the RPM was up off of idle and the message could be silenced.

I drove it home and again it was fine until the end of the trip when the oil was hot and when it idled the pressure is naturally low the car would yell at me that I was doing the impossible.

The next day on the way home I bought a new pressure sensor, figuring that it was about 1/40th the price of that $735 oil pump and worth trying first.

Just wanted to share with you that the most scary problem you could imagine was solved with a $17 sensor that I could install myself in about 20 minutes. Totally uncharacteristic for a modern BMW!!

Dave

545iMike

Another heads up related to oil pressure in case the light comes back on..

H F

545 Mike... that's great info bro , thx for sharing. I had no clue those existed

545iMike

NP. He says in the video that there's a service bulletin for them. Not sure on the date of the bulletin, but maybe more common on the earlier 7's than 5's.

tonyb635

Mike, do you know if other BMW engines have this same type device? Just curious. I don't have a problem but just for future info.

545iMike

I guess they do. 530 - #7 in the picture.