Hi all, took my BMW z4 2.5 2003 for oil change the garage only put 4.5 litres in instead of 6.5L didn't realise till I got home which was around 4 mile drive. As I provided X2 4 litre bottles of oil they told me they thought they was 5 litre jugs. Just wondering if this Likely to of harmed the engine? Cheers
Garage didn't put enough oil in
- Thread starter Joeyyy123
- Start date
not that likely... assuming you have the remaining oil, i'd put in the extra 2 litres and be on your way.
id be a little concerned the garage didn't actually check the level on the dipstick before giving the car back to you, or do garages not normally do that?
id be a little concerned the garage didn't actually check the level on the dipstick before giving the car back to you, or do garages not normally do that?
Attleborough, Norfolk
Where did you go Joe? I'll put you in touch with a decent garage that can be trusted for future work if you want mate
If the red - Check oil indicator was off, then it was ok with the engine, it can manage 4.5 liters of oil, add some and you are ok. 
When the red indicator is on, then the engine tells you, well s**t hit the fan, give me oil.
The same thing happened to me, with Mazda MX-5 (1.8 engine), they "changed" the oil, with a really small amount, and I noticed in the corners, the yellow check oil indicator would light up. The engine has a capacity of 4.5 liters of oil, I had to add 3 litres of oil LOL.
When the red indicator is on, then the engine tells you, well s**t hit the fan, give me oil.
The same thing happened to me, with Mazda MX-5 (1.8 engine), they "changed" the oil, with a really small amount, and I noticed in the corners, the yellow check oil indicator would light up. The engine has a capacity of 4.5 liters of oil, I had to add 3 litres of oil LOL.
zriha said:If the red - Check oil indicator was off, then it was ok with the engine, it can manage 4.5 liters of oil, add some and you are ok.
When the red indicator is on, then the engine tells you, well s**t hit the fan, give me oil.
The same thing happened to me, with Mazda MX-5 (1.8 engine), they "changed" the oil, with a really small amount, and I noticed in the corners, the yellow check oil indicator would light up. The engine has a capacity of 4.5 liters of oil, I had to add 3 litres of oil LOL.
Ah yes, the red indicator of doom... if that comes on, its already too late
reminds me of an old 330ci track car i had, where the yellow oil light kept coming on... but foolish past self, safe in the knowledge that an earlier M52 engine didnt use a drop of oil despite several hard trackdays, thought that it was a faulty sensor, and largely ignored it.
then one trackday, the red light of doom came on, and the engine grenaded itself shortly after. turns out, an M54 engine can get through a lot more oil, up to a litre a day! lesson learnt... i now check the oil twice every trackday, regardless of how good or bad the engine supposedly is for oil usage :roll:
though to allay the fears of the OP, when that M54 engine let go it had no oil in at all. like, it was completely dry. running with 4.5 litres in for 4 miles instead of 6.5 litres will be absolutely fine
in a similar vein, any oil is better than no oil at all - if you ever need a top up and can't get the exact grade of BMW longlife LL04 specific 5w-30, then put in whatever you can get your hands on, cos any oil is better than no oil!
0.5L per 2 eggs taking evaporation into account over 3 minutes for a nice soft egg.enuff_zed said:As long as you put the right amount of water in the pan. :wink:Chris_D said:Another good reason to get clued-up and start doing it yourself. It’s easier than boiling an egg imo.
8)
I'm assuming from your location that's at sea level?Chris_D said:0.5L per 2 eggs taking evaporation into account over 3 minutes for a nice soft egg.enuff_zed said:As long as you put the right amount of water in the pan. :wink:Chris_D said:Another good reason to get clued-up and start doing it yourself. It’s easier than boiling an egg imo.
8)
It would also depend on the diameter of the pan.
enuff_zed said:I'm assuming from your location that's at sea level?Chris_D said:0.5L per 2 eggs taking evaporation into account over 3 minutes for a nice soft egg.enuff_zed said:
8)
At sea level with an ambient temp of 19degC, a relative humidity of 25% and wind displacement of 1m/s (open window in kitchen),
an aluminium pan of 20cm dia and 12cm deep, so the temperature on the bottom of the pan will be higher than the boiling point of water and windage losses will accelerate evaporation at the top of the pan.
Steam bubbles are generated, and they help to heat the water at the top of the pan (convection also helps, and thermal conduction of the pan material itself). Once you have a rolling boil, the rate of evaporation is determined by how quickly you can supply more heat (almost all of it now goes into the phase transition). If you use the same burner, and mostly heat the pan at that stage the rate of boiling off should be the same.
But let's get a bit more scientific with a reasonable calculation:
Applying the water evaporation formula to our scenario -
gh = (25+19*v)*(A)*(Xs-X)
Where gh is the evaporation rate (kg/h)
v is the velocity of air above the surface (m/s)
A is the water surface area (m^2)
Xs is the maximum humidity ratio of saturated air (at the same temperature as the water surface)
X is the current humidity ratio air
Velocity of Air (m/s) 1
Water Surface Area (m^2) 0.1257
Maximum Humidity Ratio of Saturated Air 1
Current Humidity Ratio of Air 0.25
yields an evaporation rate of:
4.1481 kg/hour.
Given this figure and with the intention of producing a sof-boiled egg from a genuine free-range egg bought from a local grocer and not a supermarket (for genetically modified chicken reasons which increases the time needed to produce desired results). I will apply a 10% increase over the standard soft-boil egg time requirement, adding a further 2% for residual thermal losses. I should also be ok with 0.5L water for the required duration.
Concur?
Trouble is....................you never take anything seriouslyChris_D said:enuff_zed said:I'm assuming from your location that's at sea level?Chris_D said:0.5L per 2 eggs taking evaporation into account over 3 minutes for a nice soft egg.
8)
At sea level with an ambient temp of 19degC, a relative humidity of 25% and wind displacement of 1m/s (open window in kitchen),
an aluminium pan of 20cm dia and 12cm deep, so the temperature on the bottom of the pan will be higher than the boiling point of water and windage losses will accelerate evaporation at the top of the pan.
Steam bubbles are generated, and they help to heat the water at the top of the pan (convection also helps, and thermal conduction of the pan material itself). Once you have a rolling boil, the rate of evaporation is determined by how quickly you can supply more heat (almost all of it now goes into the phase transition). If you use the same burner, and mostly heat the pan at that stage the rate of boiling off should be the same.
But let's get a bit more scientific with a reasonable calculation:
Applying the water evaporation formula to our scenario -
gh = (25+19*v)*(A)*(Xs-X)
Where gh is the evaporation rate (kg/h)
v is the velocity of air above the surface (m/s)
A is the water surface area (m^2)
Xs is the maximum humidity ratio of saturated air (at the same temperature as the water surface)
X is the current humidity ratio air
Velocity of Air (m/s) 1
Water Surface Area (m^2) 0.1257
Maximum Humidity Ratio of Saturated Air 1
Current Humidity Ratio of Air 0.25
yields an evaporation rate of:
4.1481 kg/hour.
Given this figure and with the intention of producing a sof-boiled egg from a genuine free-range egg bought from a local grocer and not a supermarket (for genetically modified chicken reasons which increases the time needed to produce desired results). I will apply a 10% increase over the standard soft-boil egg time requirement, adding a further 2% for residual thermal losses. I should also be ok with 0.5L water for the required duration.
Concur?
Cheers Chris, having a crap day and you cheered me up.
It'll probably be fine, however there is 1 litre between min and max, so it was 1 litre below minimum and on a 2003 the chances of the low oil level sensor working are slim so it wouldn't have lit. I'm surprised though that the lifters weren't clattering away and even more surprised that any garage nowadays doesn't know BMW 6 pots take 6.5 litres, I would avoid in future.
What size eggs?Chris_D said:0.5L per 2 eggs taking evaporation into account over 3 minutes for a nice soft egg.enuff_zed said:As long as you put the right amount of water in the pan. :wink:Chris_D said:Another good reason to get clued-up and start doing it yourself. It’s easier than boiling an egg imo.
8)