I changed the oil 6000 miles ago. The idrive says to do an oil change in 9000 miles. Today was the second time this past week I get the idrive showing the oil can when I turn the engine off. I checked the oil level and it says to add a quart.

Before I changed the oil, I drove about 10,000 miles on the last oil and no idrive messages.

My driving is about 60-70 % city and 8 miles round trip.

Would the type of oil cause this? I'm guessing the dealer used their standard synthetic. The last time I changed the oil I used Castrol European (forgot what weight) , which was lighter than stock.

The car runs smooth and no smoke coming out of the exhaust at least enough to worry me. I get decent mpg. I was planning on changing the oil in February. Should I be worried?

BTW car is 2006 525i N52.

 

No worries at all. I've had the same thing. They probably didn't fill it quite enough. I called BMW and they said come in and they'd top it off or just go buy a quart.

 

I was just worried since this is the first time it happened to me. I'm wondering if it's the different lighter weight oil just burned faster.

 

dude the car burns oil especially if u have a 4.8l.

 

Mine is a 3.0l. Like I said. It never did that before.

 

If you have not previously had any oil consumption problems it's possible that they didn't add the correct amount of oil when it was serviced or something is leaking (filter o-rings or oil pan plug ??) With all the plastic covering the car's bottom it may not readily be apparent. My '07 530xi consumes no oil between services and I have about 57k miles on it. Oil service is done by my BMW dealer per iDrive or once per year whichever comes first. I can't comment about oil consumption in BMW's newer V-8s but before my 530 I had two 740's and had no oil consumption issues what so ever and my last one ran over 100K before I traded it. I used either BMW or Mobil 1 in those cars and changed it according to the count down lights (pre-iDrive).

It is possible the oil level sensor is failing .... be sure your dealer doesn't over-fill thinking the level is low but in reality, it isn't!

 

I have sometimes also that warning and if I check the oil stick there is still oil in the engine.. It bugs sometimes or it's just so sensitive.
Oil most important thing in your car so you shouldnt trust computer in that way. I manually check it regularly..

 

They never quite put in the right mount of oil and you burned some off. The N52 does burn oil but not at the freakish rate that the N54 seems to do it.

 

I did my own oil change the last time so I know I didn't skimp. Also, I have an assigned parking spot at work and at home and in both places my spot is clear of any oil droplets. I just checked under the car as well and it looks pretty dry. However I didn't check inside the under panel but I'm sure it's dry there as well.

Right now I just put in 1/2 quart of Mobil 1 0-40 European formula. If the oil level is broken, I figure 1/2 a quart shouldn't hurt the car. This time though, when I checked the oil level, it was at MAX! BTW, no dipstick in my car. :thumbsdown:

I'll keep monitoring it and still stay on schedule to change my oil in February. Hopefully I won't get the oil level low indicator again on the iDrive. I'll see how much oil I get when I drain it again in February.

I'm still guessing that the Castrol 0-30 I used probably burned faster than the previous oil. Also, this year I started using Chevron exclusively instead of Unocal 76. I do like the smoothness when running the Castrol and Chevron combination.

 

hmmm well, if you've used the correct amount of oil when you changed it (6.9 quarts http://5luge30obdim52.blogspot.com/2...ity-chart.html ) and nothing is leaking and there is no evidence of heavy oil consumption (check the inside of your exhaust tips for oily residue) I'm suspecting that the oil level sensor is going goofy on you. You could check that when you drain the oil at the next change and see how many quarts come out - though some will remain in the engine nooks and crannies.