I drive a 2011 BMW 328 Xdrive sedan. It was “in-service” May of 2012 and now has 143,000 kilometres on it. The car has been driven gently with a lot of highway travel and maintained by the book. Oil changes have been every six months (not annually).
After an oil and filter change last spring the yellow oil light came on while driving. The light indicated to add a litre. I stopped at a BMW specialist garage in Ottawa and the technician suspected the electronic dipstick had malfunctioned. He added a partial litre and the light went out. Apparently, this electronic dipstick giving incorrect readings is not unusual and adding some oil can reset the system. After an oil and filter change in November the same issue occurred. However, adding a partial litre did not reset the warning light. The replacement of the sensor is apparently $600-700 with tax. Is there a means to get this system to work more accurately without this expense? Thanks – Andrew B.
At first glance, the electronic dipstick seems like another redundant car component designed to overcomplicate a simple task. However, it is anything but simple. From my perspective it’s not the addition of an electronic system that is the kicker, it’s the removal of the manual dipstick.
The electronic dipstick is there to alert the driver to a low oil condition. One might ask why the driver needs to be alerted electronically to low oil? The answer is simple, even if there was a manual dipstick only a handful of drivers would use it. For any vehicle that features an extended oil change interval such as your 328, the manufacturer must account for oil consumption. While you may be proactive in your own oil change intervals, most are not. Many similar vehicle owners will travel the full 15,000 kilometres before even thinking about an oil change without popping their hood to do anything but add windshield washer fluid. While the oil products used may be able to travel that distance without an oil service, the engine will consume oil during that time. Unfortunately, as the engine ages it will consume more oil making the electronic oil level monitoring system necessary. Keep in mind the high-performance engine needs the full oil load to be able to adequately dissipate oil heat. Operating the vehicle continually low on oil will cause a long-term problem.
There is likely nothing wrong with your oil level monitoring system. I can think of two possibilities that are the real issue. Firstly, your engine is aging and consuming more oil than you realize and adding oil between oil changes is now going to be part of your life. Secondly, the oil level was not set correctly after your oil change. If the technician added half of a litre and the light went out this would suggest that the system is performing as intended.
The dealer has an advantage in this situation. Dealers are required to have automated oil dispensing systems in their bays. So, when your car is in for service at a dealer, the technician must drain the oil thoroughly and then the automated oil dispensing system puts the exact amount of oil into the engine. The technician in an aftermarket service bay must put in what they think is the correct amount of oil and then use the vehicle’s onboard system to check the oil level. The electronic monitoring system takes a fair amount of time to do its thing and is also prone to inaccurate readings at this time. This is because the engine needs to be at full operational temperature for an accurate reading and that does not happen in the service bay during the oil change.
Bringing me back to my point regarding the lack of a manual dipstick. This is the true issue. Right or wrong, I imagine that from the manufacturer’s perspective, why spend the money on what they consider a redundant system? Given that manufacturers prefer their vehicles to be serviced at their own facilities, the inclusion of a traditional dipstick would mainly benefit aftermarket service centres. Now, why would they want to do something like that?
Lou Trottier is owner-operator of All About Imports in Mississauga. Have a question about maintenance and repair? E-mail globedrive@globeandmail.com, placing “Lou’s Garage” in the subject line.
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