HAS ANYONE COME OUT WITH A MANUAL DIPSTICK YET?

baloo said:
AlanJ said:
A little chuckle - years ago my Dads car had a crank handle to start it (early Moggie 1000). When they brought out electric start cars he said it would never work - 'New fangled electric stuff aint reliable.' But here we are many years on and who would want to go back to a crank handle start. Many other examples on cars carburettors to fuel injection, ABS systems and so it goes on.

So go with the flow accept modern technology live with the oil fill light. Certainly an aftermarket kit would require significant modification to the engine block to fit. :P
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Alan,
A good parallel, and you're probably correct -- old fuddie-duddie clinging to past concepts. I might, however, point out in the case of the electric starter that there was always the push-start alternative when the electric starter failed. Not as awkward and tedious as guessing oil levels.

I think what worries me about the electric oil level sensor is my ignorance about where it is tied into the car's overall circuitry. Which modules' failures could also cause the sensor to fail?

For instance, I changed out the Z's battery, and need to register the new battery (I'm awaiting the cables/software). As a result, the heat/AC blower does not work, the NAV screen is in the half-closed position, and the oil level indicator does not appear -- and quite possibly other things that I have not noticed. I found this out when I just changed the oil.

I saw in a previous post on this topic that the factory solution is to get the car up on the rack and dump out the oil and measure the volume -- and then pour it back into the engine.
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When you say need to register the new battery I take it you need to 'code it in' BMW style. This should certainly not be the case and a battery change should require nothing more than disconnecting the old and replacing with the new. Sorry to hear about the other problems which suggests you do have an issue :(
 
AlanJ said:
When you say need to register the new battery I take it you need to 'code it in' BMW style. This should certainly not be the case and a battery change should require nothing more than disconnecting the old and replacing with the new. Sorry to hear about the other problems which suggests you do have an issue :(
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Alan,
This was to my amazement also! I went out a few weeks ago, and the battery was dead. Since battery was stamped 2007, I assumed that it was just old, so I did not try jumping it or recharging it as a test. I simply bought a new AGM battery from a local store and swapped it out. However, two things happened.
1) The new battery was dead in 24hrs;
2) The NAV screen went into a half-open position and could not be moved, and the AC/heater blower could only operate at LOW, and several other HVAC controls were nonfunctional. NOTE: I did not incorrectly connect the battery terminals. The coincidence of dead battery and loss of functions was too great to not think they were connected.

In the meantime, I had put the original BMW battery on a desulfating cycle and recharged it. I put this old BMW battery back into the car, and it started back up. Nothing changed regarding the NAV screen and the HVAC controls. (BTW, that old BMW battery has now held up for 3 weeks with nary a problem!)

I went online and found numerous posts regarding the need to "register a new battery", including the ridiculous charges for this registering service at various dealers in the States (quotes from $200-300 just for the computer thing -- BMW battery being quoted as $250 extra). Internet also talked about getting the cable and software from eBay to be able to "register the new battery" and perform numerous other functions, such as locks, windows, keys, etc -- all for under $50 cost of cable/shipping. Matter of fact, the info came from a BMW site in the UK, as I recall.

I'm still awaiting arrival of cable from the UK.

Obviously you have changed out your battery without a problem. Can it be that there is a certain critical interval between dead battery and new battery installation that results in the "loss of registration?"

Or???
 
Breaker said:
I can't see how you would need to "code" a new battery? Batteries have no circuity in them to code? :?
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YAh, it's ridiculous, isn't it. I have NEVER run into this problem, and we have owned Cadillacs, Lincolns, Jaguars, Audis, INfinitis, MB, Porsches -- high end cars. Evidently, BMW requires its computer to learn certain things about the battery's capabilities purportedly to be able to keep it charged at the appropriate rate and level. Online blogs were noted to state that if not done properly, the computer would tell the alternator to overcharge a battery (or undercharge it).

Craziness -- again reflective of the original incident that prompted this blog -- a dipstickless engine.
I guess for DIYers, this loss of ability to DIY is frustrating.
 
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