Killa Instinct

This post is for those that will find themselves in my shoes one day.

I have a 2006 E60 M5 This was my not so smart experience. Today my oil message board (service requirements>engine oil level) stated my oil level was at the minimum to put 1 qrt of oil. I went to the dealership ( in my other car) and bought 2 qrts (one for back up) which cost me 33.90 before tax!! ouch. Then drove home I proceeded to add 1qrt of oil. And when i checked the message it still stated oil was low. I therefore jumped on this site and found that on the steering wheel there is a lever that has a BC button, and if I push it several times I could display oil level where before it just showed how many more miles before my gas was empty( shows you how little I know about my new set of wheels).
So my display only showed it had .2 L and it was low. So i added another 1/2 a qrt. thinking that the indicator would rise, but it didn't. I then jumped on the forum again and I found if you push and hold the BC button for a few seconds it will begin to do a rapid adjustment reading of oil level. which takes about a minute to read the level click link to see what I should have read and done before I added another 1/2 a qrt

Accurate oil level measurement - BMW M5 Forum and M6 Forums

so i followed the threads instructions and now my message board showed a pic of engine and in yellow the level and a message that oil level was to high!
and my dash oil display stated showed it was above max arrow indicator which said it was 1.5L to high. I immediatley drove it to the dealership on Stevens Creek in Santa Clara CA (which I noticed nothing wrong on the way which was at least a 10 mile ride) and explained everything to the guy at BMW, he left talked to one of the tech mechanic guys and said
1. You can go and drive it around to burn off some oil
2. we can drain the necessary oil which probably will take longer than driving it off and be more expensive
3. or we can do an oil change (which obviously is also a pretty penny considering my vehicle was not yet due for one.

So i chose option 1
I chose to drive it and after reading a thread or two from my phone inside my car I got info to put at least 30-40 highway miles. I therefore put in 60 highway miles
and the level indicator dropped to 1.2L and the message board reflected in "green" that the engine level was O.K such a sigh of relief!! During the 60 mile trek I had no issues
I hope my mistake helps someone out there.
Now i am in search of where here in the San Jose, Ca area I can buy castrol 10w-60 oil for cheaper than $16.95 a qrt or even online? Thanks

info@trinityautosport

sorry to hear about the trouble. yes we wish the car had a dip stick, but yes you will need to reset the indicator to see the change in oil level. its also recommended you drive it around for a bit, even just around the block, as it resets to get an accurate reading. as for another option in oil, we use liqui moly.

theunderlord

I found some online, $13.99 from bimmerworld. You're not going to have much luck finding it in stores.

balbs

I posted this on another thread. Basically condensation moisture in colder weather (such as this time of year) can get in and have a false low oil reading...If you get the low oil warning again (which I guess happens in the morning), wait till the after noon, drive the car around and then use the idrive to measure the oil again. Chances are it will be okay.

On another note, if you can drive around a bit and have the car burn off a 1/2 quart of extra oil, don't you have a bigger problem?

Anyway attached is a service bulletin on the false low oil warning.