yellow oil light & beep?

O

oz-boz

Member
 Hastings east sussex
When I turn off the engine I've started getting a yellow oil symbol accompanied with a single beep... Probably a silly question but what does this mean?

I'm sure the oil was in the middle when I checked it couple weeks back. Will check it tomorrow but could it mean anything else?

Thanks.
 
oz-boz said:
When I turn off the engine I've started getting a yellow oil symbol accompanied with a single beep... Probably a silly question but what does this mean?
Click to expand...
it means she wants oil! :o Doh!
 
I'm not a fan of the electric oil level indicator!

I had the same recently. Turned off the engine, a beep, and the yellow oil light came on.

When I last changed the oil, I topped off to half full (as indicated on the electric display). This was as I didn't want to overfill, and added just less than I had measured had drained out during the oil change.

So the first 8000 miles used no oil (N52), then the oil gauge indicated 500ml of oil had been used in just 4000 miles. This didn't add up. There was no oil visible in the engine bay, or where the car had been sat.
When I got the car to operating temp, driving above 1000 rpm, it still measured low, asking for +1 litre.

I read a lot about oil level sensors failing etc. But also about the vanos system and oil galleries. So when I turned off the car and it indicated that the oil was low, it was after a gentle drive where the revs never exceeded 3k. I don't think the double vanos is used at these engine speeds.
I got the car hot, then got the revs up a few times to use the vanos, and the oil level was then indicating 1/2 full, as it was when I last changed the oil. It is still reading 1/2 full now, 1k miles later.

My conclusion... The oil level sensor is working reliably, but the oil level must be read after the engine is warm, and the vanos system has been used. I believe the vanos uses oil pressure, so running the car at low revs can lead to oil sitting in the vanos galleries and not hitting the sump, leading to artificially low oil readings. This is my theory only, not facts. Take as read.

It's never a good idea to risk running the engine low on oil. The n52 holds so much oil, that the last litre is really a reserve, so I made sure I needed oil, rather than risk overfilling. There's a lot on the 1 series forums (n52 engines too) about unreliable oil level readings after adding 1 litre of oil. I wanted to make sure that I didn't overfill, especially considering my oil usage has been so low, and the low reading was atypical.

Just my experience... If in doubt and it's not just following an oil change, then I'd get it to operating temp and use the vanos, and re-check. If it's still low then put in 500ml of oil in and see what it reads.
 
MHZ4C said:
I'm not a fan of the electric oil level indicator!

I had the same recently. Turned off the engine, a beep, and the yellow oil light came on.

When I last changed the oil, I topped off to half full (as indicated on the electric display). This was as I didn't want to overfill, and added just less than I had measured had drained out during the oil change.

So the first 8000 miles used no oil (N52), then the oil gauge indicated 500ml of oil had been used in just 4000 miles. This didn't add up. There was no oil visible in the engine bay, or where the car had been sat.
When I got the car to operating temp, driving above 1000 rpm, it still measured low, asking for +1 litre.

I read a lot about oil level sensors failing etc. But also about the vanos system and oil galleries. So when I turned off the car and it indicated that the oil was low, it was after a gentle drive where the revs never exceeded 3k. I don't think the double vanos is used at these engine speeds.
I got the car hot, then got the revs up a few times to use the vanos, and the oil level was then indicating 1/2 full, as it was when I last changed the oil. It is still reading 1/2 full now, 1k miles later.

My conclusion... The oil level sensor is working reliably, but the oil level must be read after the engine is warm, and the vanos system has been used. I believe the vanos uses oil pressure, so running the car at low revs can lead to oil sitting in the vanos galleries and not hitting the sump, leading to artificially low oil readings. This is my theory only, not facts. Take as read.

It's never a good idea to risk running the engine low on oil. The n52 holds so much oil, that the last litre is really a reserve, so I made sure I needed oil, rather than risk overfilling. There's a lot on the 1 series forums (n52 engines too) about unreliable oil level readings after adding 1 litre of oil. I wanted to make sure that I didn't overfill, especially considering my oil usage has been so low, and the low reading was atypical.

Just my experience... If in doubt and it's not just following an oil change, then I'd get it to operating temp and re-check. If it's still low then put in 500ml of oil in and see what it reads.
Click to expand...

Somehow I don't think the OP has the N52 lump. :tumbleweed:
 
No, I'm sure not, I clarified my engine to share what I've experienced. You never know who'll be searching for oil level related info in the E85/E86 problems forum in the future.

I'm not sure what similarity there is in the ineffectiveness of the oil level sensor across models, whether electric or a stick, but figured it's worth sharing with the OP and the forum if all the engines use vanos.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom