A little oil help (fairly urgent)

[Jamestnewson]

I am currently in Hannover, after driving from London this morning and have noticed that the car has used almost all of its oil. It's down to the last segment of the oil indication on the dash after being at one segment from the top just over a week ago.

I have had the car serviced recently and the oil was changed, but it is normal for the car to use this much oil?

Also, I may have to get some oil to top it up if the +1.0l signal shows. If I can't get hold of the garage to find out which oil they use in the servicing in the morning then I may have to top it up with a substitute. I assume that it would need to be of the same viscosity and type.

Any advice or guidance is much appreciated as I would hate to end up stranded on the way to berlin tomorrow.

Thanks.

 

[Darren Slone]

That seems heavy oil useage to me, however if you give the garage a call they'll be able to tell you which type and viscosity of oil they used, keep topping up on your journey, good luck

 

[mr wilks]

Firstly you need to make sure you are checking it correctly ? As in engine warm / turn off / leave for 5 mins / now check
Topping up with any similar oil shouldn,t be an issue .
Ideally 5w 30 / 0w 30 / & don,t go more than a litre as overfill is quite easy if not accustomed to the no dipstick set up

 

[Bing]

Firstly you need to make sure you are checking it correctly ? As in engine warm / turn off / leave for 5 mins / now check
Topping up with any similar oil shouldn,t be an issue .
Ideally 5w 30 / 0w 30 / & don,t go more than a litre as overfill is quite easy if not accustomed to the no dipstick set up

I thought that the engine oil level should be checked at operating temperature with the engine running, no need to switch it off and on ?

But mr w is right, grade is most important (though the recommended is Castrol),wait till it says +1 then ... +1 litre in and no more. And have another spare litre in the boot - I always have 1 in mine. Don't worry too much though - there is still loads of oil in the engine even though it is asking for more

 

[mr wilks]

Firstly you need to make sure you are checking it correctly ? As in engine warm / turn off / leave for 5 mins / now check
Topping up with any similar oil shouldn,t be an issue .
Ideally 5w 30 / 0w 30 / & don,t go more than a litre as overfill is quite easy if not accustomed to the no dipstick set up

I thought that the engine oil level should be checked at operating temperature with the engine running, no need to switch it off and on ?

But mr w is right, grade is most important (though the recommended is Castrol),wait till it says +1 then ... +1 litre in and no more. And have another spare litre in the boot - I always have 1 in mine. Don't worry too much though - there is still loads of oil in the engine even though it is asking for more

Pretty sure my Z handbook said to turn engine off & check 5 minutes later ? Can,t check as it aint here no more

 

[Bing]

I always check mine in the garage before I switch it off, but I shall check tomorrow

 

[Jamestnewson]

Thanks for the replies. I will check again in the morning and give the garage a ring. Should be easy to get some as after all I am in the home of the bmw.

As an aside I do seem to get a lot of comments and stares at the car from quite a few Germans over here.

 

[srhutch]

Bing is right mr wilks, the N52 engine needs to be checked whilst running, either whilst idle or driving along when the engine has reached operating temp. It has no dipstick so no other way.

Looks like OP has N52 going by what he has written.

 

[Jamestnewson]

You're right srhutch, no dipstick, just the display on the dash so has to be at operating temp.

 

[2alpsade]

My B3SBT has the N54-derivative as the base engine, so a similar issue wrt oil measuring and the running engine check is necessary, although at least a benefit of idrive is that you can see a bar graph of oil level!

Mine lunched a litre quite quickly 2 weeks ago and I got a warning it was low so just threw in a litre. Since then, no usage. It happens, and it's normal for a modern engine to use a drop of oil especially if it's xW30 with x being 0 or 5. You can top up with any Castrol Edge product, ideally xW30, but a yW40 wouldn't hurt at all, with y being 5 or 10. Mixing oil viscosity of the same brand is no issue and you will only be juggling the mix with nominally 20% of the total volume, so the combined viscosity would be roughly zW32, where z is 0.2 or 2. ie negligible and unaffecting cold start performance.

If it were a complete emergency and the correct oil is unavailable, I'd even throw in a litre of TWS (10W60) as again in a small concentration it will do less harm than a low oil level.

HTH

 

[ronk]

I would rather have a dipstick!
Electronics do malfunction - I've never heard of a dipstick failure.

It would be best to have the system checked - Over-fill is not good.
If you do decide to add oil, half a litre then do another check to make sure the system is functioning.

 

[2alpsade]

I would rather have a dipstick!
Electronics do malfunction - I've never heard of a dipstick failure.

Agree with this totally: I hate the electronic dipstick.
I disagree with the 'never heard of a dipstick failure' though. Some owners just cannot read one (incorrect operational conditions, position of car etc: ie THEY are the dipstick) and some cars are known to have dipstick failures. Any that have plastic ends and go round a bend in the tube...seen it, had it happen to me read the forums, bought new dipsticks for cars I've had them fail on. Plastic tips still in sumps in new owners hands

 

[ronk]

I would rather have a dipstick!
Electronics do malfunction - I've never heard of a dipstick failure.

Agree with this totally: I hate the electronic dipstick.
I disagree with the 'never heard of a dipstick failure' though. Some owners just cannot read one (incorrect operational conditions, position of car etc: ie THEY are the dipstick) and some cars are known to have dipstick failures. Any that have plastic ends and go round a bend in the tube...seen it, had it happen to me read the forums, bought new dipsticks for cars I've had them fail on. Plastic tips still in sumps in new owners hands

I never knew that. It would seem everything is made to a price these days!

 

[2alpsade]

Any that have plastic ends and go round a bend in the tube...seen it, had it happen to me read the forums, bought new dipsticks for cars I've had them fail on. Plastic tips still in sumps in new owners hands

I never knew that. It would seem everything is made to a price these days!

Yup. Back-story example:- We recently 'inherited' a PoS Peugeot from a deceased uncle. It was a bit of a state so I tasked myself with 'making it saleable' and in doing so I checked the oil level and the end fell off the dipstick after I wiped it and re--inserted it...complete inch-or-so tip in engine I went to my local Peugeot dealer (god it's sad that I even know where it is, never mind spent money there) and bought one of the many they sold that week It's very common. Metal dipstick? Yes please!

 

[Jamestnewson]

I've managed to get some longlife 5w30 over here for if it does get to point where I need to put a litre in. Thanks for the replies, you have put my mind at rest for the journey back on Monday.

 

[Georgio]

Just a thought, but all these tales of a litre being used up after a service, could that be the garage sticking a new filter on, filling up with what they think is the correct amount of new oil but not accounting for the filter filling up after the engine is run?

 

[edd_jedi]

Firstly, don't worry the car didn't use nearly all the oil, all it has used is from the (hypothetical) top to bottom of the level indicator, which is only 1l and the car will run perfectly well/safely even at the bottom. Secondly, if you recently had an oil service also do not worry. Immediately after an oil change mine dropped from 5 bars to two bars over about 100 miles, but since then it has not dropped at all and I've done approx 500 miles. So IMO it's just levelling off after the service.