Help: Yellow oil light on longer/fast journeys?

R

RJS-Z4

Senior member
 SE London/Kent
All help appreciated zed community....

So, on longer journeys, my (yellow) oil light comes on, only when the car gets hot. This began when I replaced my sensor with a non genuine one, as the one in place wasn't working at all. I did replace it with a meyle one (which I'd lead to believe are OEM)???

I left it alone, as I'd just put fresh oil in, but then I got fed up and requested another to check it wasn't faulty.

Then, a few weeks later I discovered I did actually have a leak (oil filter housing gasket), so, I did some research and I have found (I believe) that the orange oil light can be a sign of low oil pressure, which I thought could be it leaking through the gasket.

Tonight, I replaced the gasket and hoped all could be well. A long drive straight after, a nope, it's back.

What else could this be? Could it be that I need a £100 plus BMW sensor? Or is there anything else that could be bringing it on?

I've also replaced the rocker cover gasket in that time to eliminate that.
 
By "orange" do you mean the amber/yellow oil light? It comes on when your oil levels are low. Using 1 liter per 1000 miles is considered acceptable by BMW standards. Top it off and see how long it takes to reappear.
 
By orange, yes I mean yellow, sorry, I was clearly tired last night :evil:

That's the thing, the level of the oil is entirely irrelevant to when the light comes up, it 100% seems to be due to engine temp.

i.e 30 minutes cruise through the suberbs with no revs will do nothing, 30 minutes of country lane blasts will bring it on. Alternatively, 45 minutes of motorway, where the engine generally gets properly up to temp, it does it too.
 
Could your oil be warming up and thinning enough to trigger the level warning?

I had the same warning light recently when starting the engine and randomly during journeys. I believe it usually means that there is 1/4 left in the engine. I added 2L and havnt had the warning since
 
Hmmm, I could try "overfilling" it, but I don't know if I much fancy that. I'll see if anyone else has an idea. :P
 
have you had a look at your engine breather at all?

it could be your getting a small build up of pressure in the block, just an idea based on the time and heat range you mention?

does it run well at idle? and change when you remove the oil filler cap when its idleing?
 
Nathanhu said:
have you had a look at your engine breather at all?

it could be your getting a small build up of pressure in the block, just an idea based on the time and heat range you mention?

does it run well at idle? and change when you remove the oil filler cap when its idleing?
Click to expand...

I think you may have got something there.

It doesn't idle half as well as it used to lately, I thought it needed new plugs. I took the cap off whilst running earlier, and there is some suction there though?

Is it a case of cleaning up the breather?? Research/help needed there.
 
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