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E89 intermittent oil below minimum level notification

T

Tornado

Member
Hi All,
My 2009 E89 3.5i has twice given a notification of Oil Level Below min level, shortly (1 min) after starting the car. I read the manual the first time and it said that it needs time to warm up to read accurately. I waited and tested the level again on the Vehicle Status screen and it said maximum.

Two months later, this morning, it warned me again, and this time the notification remained so I took it straight in to BMW and they said "your oil is full". I got back in the car and it said now said "Full" on the screen. (It wouldn't let me test it this morning.)

So I asked them why and they said it could be the sensor. Well yeah, probably.
They want $320 to plug it into an ODBD reader for an hour. I hate to think what they will want to actually install the sensor...
So I will take it back to them tomorrow.

Any thoughts? I live in Melbourne Australia.
 
Test the sensor by parking it on a steep hill nose downwards, and leaving it for half an hour. Start up and run the test, all the oil will have moved to the front of the engine and you will get a low oil warning when you start it.
 
Where you park the car overnight, is it flat or is the car slightly nose down?

A sloping driveway will trigger this - even with full oil & a working sensor.

It's also time you bought a code reader - a decent one from Amazon (circa 200 aus) avoid the cheap ones, you need to spend this much & check for BMW specific codes.
 
I would also suggest you find a decent indie rather than using BMW for these type of jobs.

As the cars get older less people at BMW work on them or understand them (especially the roof), so you may get a better service from an indie and save a few bucks as well.
 
Thanks everyone, that's actually really helpful.

I do park nose down on a steep hill every day, so perhaps that *is* what's triggering it. Strangely, though I park there every day, it has only produced this warning twice in 4 months. The other thing that worried me was this time the computer refused to meas?ure the oil level.

Is there any other way to measure the level?

The code reader I own is a TopDon TopScan and was only AU$90. Linkhttps://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1455722...f-sa-lS5qtbysqU4o_LdGhqmmp2QXN4xoCRWoQAvD_BwE Perhaps it's not good enough because it says nothing about oil and also doesn't tell me about a yellow headlight warning on the dash.

Cheers everyone,
Thanks so much
 
A good idea is to leave the monitor on whilst driving…you’ll see it changes a bit over say 30-60 minutes driving , especially at various speeds..

That will give you a more representative picture… :thumbsup:
 
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