Oil Indicator Question

[wildwestm3]

I keep reading about people's cars using oil. I bought mine last spring and put 8K miles on it over the summer. It only dropped slightly on the oil indicator (still above 3/4). My concern is with the oil indicator. Some say it is "tempermental". Since there is no friggin dipstick (stupid) on this car, how do I know if this is right? It has moved slightly, so one could assume it is working right? Anyone NOT using oil?

[Beemdog]

As you may have read, some M3s use oil and some don't (and a moderate amount of oil consumption is perfectly OK). My oil consumption over two oil change intervals has been virtually undetectable, maybe 1/4 liter max per 5000 miles.

If the oil level is set as the active function on your dash and it goes through its normal measuring period after starting the car (maybe 5-10 minutes of digital "thinking" while the engine warms-up), then produces an oil level display, I wouldn't worry about it not working. In addition you could measure the approximate quantity drained out at the next oil change (if you DIY). Most complaints seem to center around the occasional mis-read of the level. It can at times be off by half a liter or so, so it isn't perfect, but then with ~9 liters of oil in the crankcase, being off by 0.5 liter is not huge deal. For a 4.0 liter V8, this engine carries plenty of oil (most modern V8s get by with significantly less oil capacity).

[12mpgm3]

I actually love having the digital readout but just can't imagine why BMW didn't also provide a physical dipstick as a backup / sanity check. The risk of being singificantly low on oil is a catastrophic, $24K risk for this car and leaving a single sensor in charge of this as the only safety net is ludicrous. I am currently trying to figure out if my sensor is working properly - long story with no resolution (yet) follows...

I have owned my car for about 2.5 years - a 2013 with about 31,000 miles. It has always used a moderate amout of oil and I am used to the rate at which it uses oil (probably about 1 liter per 5K miles). A couple thousand miles after a recent oil change, my car was running at the mark halfway between full and minimum levels. I know some don't like to do this but I prefer to keep the oil in the top half of the safe range so added about a 1/4 of a liter of oil. After this, the car was running at an almost full level for some time and then gradually moved back down to the half way mark between empty and full. Then the fun began. Suddenly, it started reading completely full despite the fact that I added no oil. I know at times, the sensor is not extremely accurate but I had never seen anything like that before so I started monitoring the level very actively. After a few thousand more miles, I started to get worried since I knew that normally in that amount of time, the oil would usually have dropped at least a little but was rock solid at full. I took it in to the BMW dealership and they called and told me there were no faults on the sensor and they were sure it was fine. I expressed my significant concern and mentioned the risks of being wrong on this and told them to drain the oil and measure it since I couldn't be comfortable driving my car as I like to if I wasn't positive the oil level was sufficient. They were very snotty about this and didn't want to do it but I told them to do it, figuring an oil change a little early couldn't hurt. They confirmed that I had been almost full and the full reading made sense. I couldn't understand why my car suddenly wasn't burning oil...

I figured I would trust BMW and monitor since they just changed the oil and I figured the car was full and safe to drive for a long time. I took the car out for a long drive (about 30 mins) and the sensor never came up with a reading (?). The next two times I went out, I got a reading after the normal 6 miles or so and it was full. Then after another long drive, the reading came up as over full stating that I should have a BMW service center look at the car. I took it out once after this thinking maybe this was a fluke but again got the over full level reading.

Now my M3 is sitting in my garage waiting for my next appointement so they can hopefully explain if the sensor needs replacement or if they overfilled my car at the last oil change (when I specifically asked them to leave it between 1/4 and a 1/2 liter low so as not to overfill (a common problem when BMW changes the oil on the M3)...

I don't hate the sensor but I think it is basically unforgiveable to not provide a dipstick as a backup...

[wildwestm3]

Well, fortunately I don't have a bad experience to quote. I was just a little concerned about it. Has anyone looked into what it would take to add a dip stick? I'd feel better if I could just check it once in a while...

[///M Power-Belgium]

Personal I think your Dig. oil indicator(reader) works just fine .
My car was consuming oil , but when I had last year an oil change at my BMW/Dealer they changed from TWS to EDGE .
So ...Now for the moment it seems that my oil reader stays on top level and the cause is the EDGE oil .(engine stops with consuming oil)
Engine runs also smoother , and think that EDGE is a lot better for our engines .
And probably you are running with EDGE too ?

[BPMSport]

I haven't had a single issue with mine in 7 years.

[BzsBimmer]

IIRC there was a mod you could do to add a dipstick but why spend the money?
As long as you do a full drive cycle, you should be fine.

I think most of the problems are due to reading the oil level without a full drive cycle. The OBC tells you to add oil when in actuality you don't need to.

[Exclusivs]

Where do you guys keep the oil at? Whats the IDEAL place for it to be?

[BzsBimmer]

I keep my oil in the engine... ideally that's the best place for it but that's just me. YMMV

Seriously anywhere in between the min and max. I'm good at changing my oil and pouring just the right amount so it's at the upper end of the mark.

[Helmsman]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Personal I think your Dig. oil indicator(reader) works just fine .
My car was consuming oil , but when I had last year an oil change at my BMW/Dealer they changed from TWS to EDGE .
So ...Now for the moment it seems that my oil reader stays on top level and the cause is the EDGE oil .(engine stops with consuming oil)
Engine runs also smoother , and think that EDGE is a lot better for our engines .
And probably you are running with EDGE too ?

Hi Philippe, Edge is what the dealers have today isn't it, or is TWS still an option?

Cheers

[///M Power-Belgium]

Originally Posted by Helmsman

Hi Philippe, Edge is what the dealers have today isn't it, or is TWS still an option?

Cheers

Hi Nik ,
Since last year (2014) Here in Belgium BMW/Dealers use only EDGE for the S65 .
I can feel it's better for our engines ,and noticed exhaust tips are cleaner !

[Helmsman]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Hi Nik ,
Since last year (2014) Here in Belgium BMW/Dealers use only EDGE for the S65 .
I can feel it's better for our engines ,and noticed exhaust tips are cleaner !

Even cleaner tips, so the smaller thirst isn't a placebo then, nice! As I only had two changes on mine so far - during last year - I assume its been all Edge then. Haven't noticed a drip gone but the again only 5-6000 miles in between which probably also is a reason.

Cheers

[wildwestm3]

Originally Posted by ///M Power-Belgium

Personal I think your Dig. oil indicator(reader) works just fine .
My car was consuming oil , but when I had last year an oil change at my BMW/Dealer they changed from TWS to EDGE .
So ...Now for the moment it seems that my oil reader stays on top level and the cause is the EDGE oil .(engine stops with consuming oil)
Engine runs also smoother , and think that EDGE is a lot better for our engines .
And probably you are running with EDGE too ?

Not sure to be honest. I just bought it last spring and drove the crap out of it over the summer (to include a couple track days). I'll change it in a few more miles, so I'll use EDGE...

I keep my oil in the engine... ideally that's the best place for it but that's just me. YMMV

Originally Posted by Mike Benvo

I haven't had a single issue with mine in 7 years.

Good, maybe I got lucky!

[Eurohorses]

Im running an ESS 595 and consume a quart every 3-4k. Also depends how hard you drive. But i drive hard most of the time.

[12mpgm3]

To close out my saga for future searches, I brought my M in to the dealer again and re-explained what happened after the oil change. On my drive in the indicator again read over the high mark and I got an amber warning. Guess what: diagnosis was faulty oil sensor. They replaced and now everything is good. After driving another 1,000+ miles, the indicator level dropped slightly below full as I would have expected.

For those whose cars burn enough oil that the level could drop below the min between oil changes, make sure you watch the level and that it is dropping as expected so as not to be surprised that your oil sensor was not working... This is the only way I knew there was a potential problem and fortunately, I am confident my level never got too low.

[BillK]

Yea, these sensors are not all there. I'm sure plenty who think they're burning oil just have a flaky sensor

I changed my oil, put 9 liters in and it read perfectly full. After a week of driving, it read a quarter under full. My car has never burned a drop of oil so I figured that I drained out more than 9 liters. I went and added a quarter of a liter to get it to full and the sensor level did not change. It stayed at a quarter under max. So I assume I have a quarter more oil over the max even though the gauge reads a quarter under

I might just change out the sensor

[Peertwelve]

Originally Posted by 12mpgm3

To close out my saga for future searches, I brought my M in to the dealer again and re-explained what happened after the oil change. On my drive in the indicator again read over the high mark and I got an amber warning. Guess what: diagnosis was faulty oil sensor. They replaced and now everything is good. After driving another 1,000+ miles, the indicator level dropped slightly below full as I would have expected.

For those whose cars burn enough oil that the level could drop below the min between oil changes, make sure you watch the level and that it is dropping as expected so as not to be surprised that your oil sensor was not working... This is the only way I knew there was a potential problem and fortunately, I am confident my level never got too low.

Thanks for the follow-up. Same issue on my car the day after I picked it up.