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      06-17-2020, 08:48 AM   #1
DOLO4ly
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Engine Oil Level Not Updating

Hey Guys I have a 2013 335i Sedan and I drive pretty hard so i monitor my oil weekly. It's been little over 1000 Miles since my last oil change and Slowly over the course of that time frame The levels dropped. Probably 2 weeks ago it was one Tick above minimum. The message never popped up without me actually going into iDrive and measuring the oil but today I pulled into work measured it and it told me to add a quart so I pulled my Liqui Moly 5w-40 Out Of the Trunk and added the entire thing. I turned the car right back on and measured it and it still says Minimum.

I then drove maybe 4 Miles for a total of 10 Minutes not accelerating hard and measured it again and still nothing. The indy i usually go to was closed so I called an SA at the dealership. He said sometimes you need to add 2? This didn't really make sense to me since it's not like i've been driving with it low this entire time but i added it's as soon as I found it was low. And I don't want to overfill it.

Is there a certain amount of time it takes to update? Did I do something wrong? Should I have added half a Qt Instead? Do I really need to add another?

P.S There is no leaks, my last oil change was actually when replacing OFHG And Oil Pan Gasket.
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      06-17-2020, 09:37 PM   #2
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that happened to me before. checked from the iDrive and then I started getting the warning, where before it had prompted me automatically. so I stop by autozone and grab 2 qts, was going to save one so I'm covered again in a few months if needed. I dump 1 qt in and drove home, then checked the iDrive again and it was still at the "min" level saying to add a quart, after adding that quart I measured again and it showed at "max". I don't have any leaks either, so you really might just need another qt, I did. and just keep a qt handy and check 1-2 times a month, that's what I do now.
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      06-17-2020, 10:11 PM   #3
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Oil level measuring is SHIT to say it nicely. I never check mine just add a liter when car is telling me.
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      06-17-2020, 11:13 PM   #4
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Quote:
Originally Posted by harkes View Post
Oil level measuring is SHIT to say it nicely. I never check mine just add a liter when car is telling me.
how do you know when to add it if you don't measure? wait until you hear the lifters ticking? lol
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      06-17-2020, 11:23 PM   #5
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How many miles are you your cars? I change my oil once a year, which is about 6k miles. I drive the car pretty hard, including long WOT pulls to 160+ mph, with FBO and stage 2+ tune... I check my oil about every 1k miles and even the last check right before i change it at the end of the year, its still full. So i have also questioned how accurate it is. Really wish we had a good 'ol dipstick.
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      06-18-2020, 12:04 AM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by thejeremyman9 View Post
How many miles are you your cars? I change my oil once a year, which is about 6k miles. I drive the car pretty hard, including long WOT pulls to 160+ mph, with FBO and stage 2+ tune... I check my oil about every 1k miles and even the last check right before i change it at the end of the year, its still full. So i have also questioned how accurate it is. Really wish we had a good 'ol dipstick.
my car just hit 65k miles, a 2013 F30 PWG. I have seen several people out their who go through a quart every couple thousand miles, mine is a quart every 3 months or so, quick math is about 2,500 miles..
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      06-18-2020, 12:14 AM   #7
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Originally Posted by DreamerJoe View Post
my car just hit 65k miles, a 2013 F30 PWG. I have seen several people out their who go through a quart every couple thousand miles, mine is a quart every 3 months or so, quick math is about 2,500 miles..
Yeah, ive seen alot of posts about some oil consumption being normal. Ill just take it that i am lucky and the PO didnt beat on the car too much. I did buy CPO single owner with all maintenance history and am only at 45k miles.
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      06-18-2020, 10:31 PM   #8
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Quote:
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how do you know when to add it if you don't measure? wait until you hear the lifters ticking? lol
Thank God the BMW engineers are smarter than you are :P
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      06-18-2020, 11:00 PM   #9
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Quote:
Originally Posted by harkes View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by DreamerJoe View Post
how do you know when to add it if you don't measure? wait until you hear the lifters ticking? lol
Thank God the BMW engineers are smarter than you are :P
but what happened to both OP and me is the car DIDN'T tell us anything, and by that time we were down 2 qts.. I had no warning (!) or notice on my iDrive until after I did it manually through the settings, but the time before that it popped up by itself.
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      06-19-2020, 12:35 AM   #10
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DreamerJoe View Post
but what happened to both OP and me is the car DIDN'T tell us anything, and by that time we were down 2 qts.. I had no warning (!) or notice on my iDrive until after I did it manually through the settings, but the time before that it popped up by itself.
OK. That sound weird. This has always worked for me. How do you know you were 2 qts low?
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      06-19-2020, 01:58 AM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by harkes View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by DreamerJoe View Post
but what happened to both OP and me is the car DIDN'T tell us anything, and by that time we were down 2 qts.. I had no warning (!) or notice on my iDrive until after I did it manually through the settings, but the time before that it popped up by itself.
OK. That sound weird. This has always worked for me. How do you know you were 2 qts low?
the iDrive showed the same message as your picture, level at "Min" add 1 qt, so I added 1 qt and drove a few minutes. when I remeasured, it showed the exact same screen still at the "Min" level and to add a qt, I guess it doesn't show any lower, so I added the 2nd qt and let the car idle a few minutes. checked again and it showed at "Max". but from now on I'm not going to wait for it to automatically notify me, I'll check it manually every few weeks. also going to be stepping up to thicker oil, hopefully that helps reduce some burn off. what oil weight are you running, and average ambient temperature?
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      06-19-2020, 05:27 AM   #12
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DreamerJoe View Post
the iDrive showed the same message as your picture, level at "Min" add 1 qt, so I added 1 qt and drove a few minutes. when I remeasured, it showed the exact same screen still at the "Min" level and to add a qt, I guess it doesn't show any lower, so I added the 2nd qt and let the car idle a few minutes. checked again and it showed at "Max". but from now on I'm not going to wait for it to automatically notify me, I'll check it manually every few weeks. also going to be stepping up to thicker oil, hopefully that helps reduce some burn off. what oil weight are you running, and average ambient temperature?
Running 0w40. Ambient temps in south China are rarely below 15°C.
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      06-19-2020, 11:04 AM   #13
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If it's still reading low after adding a quart, my next step would be to add half a quart and recheck. Overfilling can cause a big issues.

Another option, if you have BimmerLink, is to use the oil sensor level readout. I've found that at rest on a level surface, the sensor value sits around 70-75mm when full. To me, that's easier than running the car to the narrow temperature range the oil needs to be in for the car to complete the measurement process in iDrive.
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      06-19-2020, 11:06 AM   #14
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UPDATE: Apparently the engine just needs to cool off and warm up again. I was so panicked because i didn't want to drive with low oil. But after letting it warm up and driving home i checked it again and it Updated. Seems like if you add oil while it's hot it won't update right away.
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      10-25-2020, 08:47 PM   #15
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Engine Oil Level Sensor Always Reading MAX

Hey Guys,

I have a 2013 335iX. The car has roughly around 45k km's. When I go to measure my oil level, the idrive is constantly reading MAX. I do the oil changes myself approx every 6000km. Last oil change I put 6.5L in to start off with as what I found was recommend by the dealer and some videos. Throughout the whole 6000km sequence the oil level constantly read MAX, but when I went to change it, it was at roughly 5.7L. Any sujestions as why it may not be working or what I can do to fix it.

I recently changed the sensor thinking maybe it has gone bad but doesnt seem to be the case because it is still reading MAX even through I am 3000km into this oil change run.

All help is appreciated. I am running out of ideas as to where the problem may be!
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      10-25-2020, 08:59 PM   #16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CPRO723 View Post
Hey Guys,

I have a 2013 335iX. The car has roughly around 45k km's. When I go to measure my oil level, the idrive is constantly reading MAX. I do the oil changes myself approx every 6000km. Last oil change I put 6.5L in to start off with as what I found was recommend by the dealer and some videos. Throughout the whole 6000km sequence the oil level constantly read MAX, but when I went to change it, it was at roughly 5.7L. Any sujestions as why it may not be working or what I can do to fix it.

I recently changed the sensor thinking maybe it has gone bad but doesnt seem to be the case because it is still reading MAX even through I am 3000km into this oil change run.

All help is appreciated. I am running out of ideas as to where the problem may be!
Quote:
Originally Posted by CPRO723 View Post
Hey Guys,

I have a 2013 335iX. The car has roughly around 45k km's. When I go to measure my oil level, the idrive is constantly reading MAX. I do the oil changes myself approx every 6000km. Last oil change I put 6.5L in to start off with as what I found was recommend by the dealer and some videos. Throughout the whole 6000km sequence the oil level constantly read MAX, but when I went to change it, it was at roughly 5.7L. Any sujestions as why it may not be working or what I can do to fix it.

I recently changed the sensor thinking maybe it has gone bad but doesnt seem to be the case because it is still reading MAX even through I am 3000km into this oil change run.

All help is appreciated. I am running out of ideas as to where the problem may be!

you're fine bro everything's working correctly, it only drops down in increments of .25 having 5.7L of oil is more than .75 of the top quart. So that hasn't triggered the dipstick reading. to drop
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      10-25-2020, 09:29 PM   #17
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DOLO4ly View Post
you're fine bro everything's working correctly, it only drops down in increments of .25 having 5.7L of oil is more than .75 of the top quart. So that hasn't triggered the dipstick reading. to drop
But for the f30 335i (N55), if the oil capacity is 6.5L from the dealer. Then shouldn't the oil level read in the middle of MIN and MAX? and if it moves in increments of 0.25 then it should be reading a bit low right since I am about .7L short from 6.5?

I am new to BMW's, I dont know to much about how this system works.
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      10-25-2020, 09:55 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by CPRO723 View Post
Quote:
Originally Posted by DOLO4ly View Post
you're fine bro everything's working correctly, it only drops down in increments of .25 having 5.7L of oil is more than .75 of the top quart. So that hasn't triggered the dipstick reading. to drop
But for the f30 335i (N55), if the oil capacity is 6.5L from the dealer. Then shouldn't the oil level read in the middle of MIN and MAX? and if it moves in increments of 0.25 then it should be reading a bit low right since I am about .7L short from 6.5?

I am new to BMW's, I dont know to much about how this system works.
Quote:
Originally Posted by CPRO723 View Post
Hey Guys,

I have a 2013 335iX. The car has roughly around 45k km's. When I go to measure my oil level, the idrive is constantly reading MAX. I do the oil changes myself approx every 6000km. Last oil change I put 6.5L in to start off with as what I found was recommend by the dealer and some videos. Throughout the whole 6000km sequence the oil level constantly read MAX, but when I went to change it, it was at roughly 5.7L. Any sujestions as why it may not be working or what I can do to fix it.

I recently changed the sensor thinking maybe it has gone bad but doesnt seem to be the case because it is still reading MAX even through I am 3000km into this oil change run.

All help is appreciated. I am running out of ideas as to where the problem may be!
It's really finicky the way it updates, but it works for the most part. You have no problems, there also could have been oil elsewhere in the engine, and i assume you probably changed your oil while it was cold. With your oil change interval, unless you had severe leaking to the point that you could see oil coming out of the car you have nothing to worry about.
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      10-26-2020, 08:26 AM   #19
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I have a 2014 335i. Car has 107K miles on it. I've never had to add oil or top off. Oil changes done every 5K since new.
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      10-26-2020, 09:49 AM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DOLO4ly View Post
It's really finicky the way it updates, but it works for the most part. You have no problems, there also could have been oil elsewhere in the engine, and i assume you probably changed your oil while it was cold. With your oil change interval, unless you had severe leaking to the point that you could see oil coming out of the car you have nothing to worry about.
ummm ok, thanks for the help! When I change the oil I warm it up and then empty but by the time I am putting the new oil in the engine is kind of cool (definitely not at operating temp). I know it is not leaking, havnt seen any pools on top or on the undertray.
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