Oil Warning

[Mr Tidy]

With a manual dipstick, as much as it takes to reach the max, no maths required!

Exactly - that's one thing I miss from my E46.

But thankfully my E86 and E91 both have a graduated display!

[Busterboo]

If the level on any car ever drops from the max then you top it up. Simples

By how much?
You did Maths at school. Tell us.

With a manual dipstick, as much as it takes to reach the max, no maths required!

You have a dipstick on your 35iS?!

Wow.

[ronk]

I had forgotten to look previously - but the level icon on my iDrive screen has no graduations whatsoever- it seems that it shows full to “ you need a a litre right now “at blink of an eye.

Rubbish in my opinion - I would rather not be running around with my oil level a litre under its max - I’m more than capable of adding 1/4 litre it the system indicated it.

Use the indicator stalk Ronk, not the idrive, if I remember correctly the stalk has the oil in increments.

I’ve just got around to doing that and I can’t get that display.
Looks like I will have to learn to live with what I’ve got!

[ronk]

The dealer has today confirmed that the oil level on iDrive does drop from 100% to “ADD 1l “ with no incremental warning.

They also confirmed that they won’t issue a bottle of oil for the time a sudden warning pops up. Although I now know it’s using 1l in 7k so the service date and miles will be going in notes on the phone.

One interesting point tho, there is a Dipstick - it’s a BMW Workshop tool and is not available to the public - I don’t know why? It’s supposed to be simple and quick to use. I wouldn’t mind betting it’s nothing more than a simple calibrated dipstick! There’ll be a hole somewhere and a suitable a plug.

On the plus side because I have a five year service plan, they did say they would check my oil levels with their workshop dipstick and top up as necessary ie before a long holiday trip.

[Smartbear]

Just put a litre of oil in the back to save any low oil anxiety issues Ron
Rob

[ronk]

There’s a litre of LL04 in a little zip bag
I don’t know why they don’t sell the workshop tool to the public tho.

[djstan]

One interesting point tho, there is a Dipstick - it’s a BMW Workshop tool and is not available to the public - I don’t know why?

I'd be interested to know more about this!

[ronk]

One interesting point tho, there is a Dipstick - it’s a BMW Workshop tool and is not available to the public - I don’t know why?

I'd be interested to know more about this!

If i get more info ( I’m sure I will) I will post!
The agent told me it’s a simple tool - being cynical, I would say it’s just a dipstick and there’ll be a simple and accessible plug.

[Busterboo]

Secret dipstick or not, it's all an unnecessary fuss.

The 'oil warning - put in a litre' system's designed to make life easy and it does. Owners fiddling with dipsticks and putting in insignificant amounts of oil - or too much - is nonsense.

[ronk]

Secret dipstick or not, it's all an unnecessary fuss.

The 'oil warning - put in a litre' system's designed to make life easy and it does. Owners fiddling with dipsticks and putting in insignificant amounts of oil - or too much - is nonsense.

A litre is 15% of the sump capacity so I would say that it is a significant volume to loose.

[Busterboo]

Secret dipstick or not, it's all an unnecessary fuss.

The 'oil warning - put in a litre' system's designed to make life easy and it does. Owners fiddling with dipsticks and putting in insignificant amounts of oil - or too much - is nonsense.

A litre is 15% of the sump capacity so I would say that it is a significant volume to lose.

You're right, of course. But a litre's not an impractical amount to use and then, when advised by the car's information system, replace.