Oil Sensor Wrong?

[ghost135i]

Hey guys,

Just changed my OFGF and Oil Cooler Gasket, in the process of doing so I obviously changed my oil. After buttoning everything back up, filling her with 6.9 qts, I warmed it up and read the oil level. It showed the picture below, so I thought "Ok ill add a bit more" since I had a half quart left over. Did so, measured, same result. Added a bit more again (in total engine has about 7.4 qts in it now) and STILL the same slightly lower than optimal measurement.

Is my oil level sensor faulty? And should I drain the half quart out of the engine, or will I be fine running with the additional half quart?

[Olgeezer1]

This is the problem with no dipstick. I don't trust that sensor at all but it's all we got. I leave my car 1/2 quart low before winter storage. Gauge shows full. I add the 1/2 quart in the spring before startup so there's some oil in the top of the engine. Gauge reads exactly the same. I'd just drive the car a bit and re-check the reading after a good drive. Very unlikely 1/2 qt. over will cause you any issues.

[NorthernDancer]

I, and many of us here don't know the new BMWs but I thought that some of them (newer BMWs) were returning to having dipsticks. Probably best to leave things alone-it would likely be a disaster to try and drain out just a ½ qt.

If BMW ever went back to dipsticks, then it is very simple to accurately check oil level but also remove oil via an oil extractor.

[ghost135i]

Originally Posted by Olgeezer1

This is the problem with no dipstick. I don't trust that sensor at all but it's all we got. I leave my car 1/2 quart low before winter storage. Gauge shows full. I add the 1/2 quart in the spring before startup so there's some oil in the top of the engine. Gauge reads exactly the same. I'd just drive the car a bit and re-check the reading after a good drive. Very unlikely 1/2 qt. over will cause you any issues.

Yup oil level is completely normal now after driving around for a day. Unbelievable lol, give me my dipstick BMW

[zx10guy]

Keep an eye on the level reading. This thread is timely as I had replaced my oil level sensor yesterday. I decided to go ahead and do it instead of wondering what the actual oil level is; if we can ever know having to trust this sensor.

My situation is that my sensor would randomly show 1/4 above minimum to full. For a while it would happen while driving the car. The kicker was when I would park my car on my driveway idling and the iDrive screen would throw up a warning that I'm a quart low. My driveway has a slight incline. It never did this before but was doing it now consistently.

So I got under the car yesterday to replace the sensor. This gave me a chance to look around the bottom of the motor to see if there were any leaks. Nope. Totally dry. After draining the oil and installing the new sensor, I filled the crankcase back up with oil with 6 quarts. Wanted to see if it would show low or somewhere in between. The weird thing is it shows full. I went on an extended test drive and it's still showing full. I might just add half a quart in as I did last time and just monitor the level.

[///Makis]

Originally Posted by ghost135i

Yup oil level is completely normal now after driving around for a day. Unbelievable lol, give me my dipstick BMW

Was going to say you should drive around for a bit and check after a day. If you know you added correct amount then don't trust the computer in this case. Also make sure you're on an even surface and the oil is properly warmed up. Oil expands when it's heated up so the volume will be different