E60 523i... Dipstick

Affirmative

pred racer wrote: »

My last 3 cars have had sensors for the oil level, in all 3 cases after the first 2 weeks ive never used the dipstick in any of them. Ive never had a sensor problem either.

But at least you had the dipstick back-up in case anything did go wrong with the sensor

Pain in the ass when your servicing them to be honest. Give me a dipstick instead.

Can the iDrive service indicators be reset without actually performing the service?

on idrive they have "special" brake pad wear indicators. They wear down along with the pads and must be replaced before warning will reset.

https://wiki.bentleypublishers.com/display/tech/Brake+pad+wear+sensor+testing+BMW+5+Series+E60

unkel wrote: »

I doubt that. A leak or something seriously wrong with the engine (or a VW 1.4 ) would need frequent top ups like that

I brought my e60 back to a main dealer with a similar complaint while under warranty and while I can't remember the exact tolerances, I was left with the impression that kind of oil consumption was normal. It's a complete pain in a$$ though, especially coming from a low maintenance Civic!

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

Well unless the car becomes self-aware like Cybernet, I'd say you can :pac:

It's just that many BMW ads have photos of the iDrive showing next service due in 15000 km, but that's no guarantee the oil has been changed, and you can't assess the oil quality by any other means..

Its one thing I dont like about alot of modern cars, an apparent over complication of things that are not needed as far as I can see. Why on earth was the dipstick removed from these cars. Id vote for sensor + dipstick.

DAZP93 wrote: »

Oh wait sorry..we are all imagining this oil consumtion, please continue telling us all about BMW's :rolleyes:

A litre every 1200 miles is far too high for a healthy (four stroke) engine, regardless of what BMW may have you believe.

DAZP93 wrote: »

Just google it buddy..I can assure you this issue is not just related to 4 or 5 boards users;) Although I do see where your coming from!

You appear to be confusing 'common' with 'acceptable'.

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

My 335i has no dipstick either and uses a sensor with info on the dash. IMO, not a very smart move (on the owner's behalf) by BMW as sensors have a nasty habit of failing and then where are you? In a dealers getting a new one installed and if you had the normal dipstick as backup, people wouldn't bother getting the sensor fixed

its a briliant idea, just the matter of which point of view you look at it! :pac:

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

Yah, a brilliant idea until it fails on you and knowing how the majority of Irish people treat their cars, they will wait ages before getting it fixed and to be honest, if they did have a dipstick, they probably still wouldn't bother checking it :rolleyes:

like i said, " certain point of view"

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

Oh you mean a LithuCorkian point of view? i.e. skewed beyond belief? :pac:

Jaysus, did you had some "thick" juice this morning, or the last normal brain cell finally turned in to BMW driver brain cell?

No dipstick, so "dipstick" can't check oil levels, sensor eventually goes boom and engine destroys itself with no lubrication. So where does "dipstick" goes when that happens? In to BMW dealership.
So like I said, it's a brilliant idea, but from BMW point of view, not a consumer! Jaysus, some thick young lads we get these days!

rocky wrote: »

If it's in the manual, it's acceptable

What exactly does it state about levels of oil consumption in the manual?

Pretty normal for the M54 engines to use such a large amount of oil. I drive an M52b25tu and it doesn't use a drop of oil, in fact I have had two and neither ever required an oil top up between services. The M54 equivalent is well known to use up to 1L / 1000 miles. I wouldn't worry about it.

HungryJoey wrote: »

Pretty normal for the M54 engines to use such a large amount of oil. The M54 equivalent is well known to use up to 1L / 1000 miles. I wouldn't worry about it.

Perhaps some / many owners are reporting this, but I simply can not accept this as normal. I'd put my money on any M54 using oil like that, that it has been abused and / or improperly maintained (or there's a leak )

BTW here's the E60 manual. UK version, we get identical cars over here. As I suspected, there is no mention of normal oil usage in the manual, like some owners are falsely claiming in this thread.

DAZP93 wrote: »

They require a litre approx every 1200 miles at normal driving

Who says, your daddy?

It certainly doesn't say so in the manual.

DAZP93 wrote: »

Your ignorance is impeccable..

There might be a difference between a badly designed and / or manufactured engine and an engine that is failing because it was treated badly.

Perhaps some people are blaming the manufacturer of their engine for their own failure of buying a lemon?

Who is the ignoramus now?

So 5k miles and the engine would be completely dry? That's not normal, it's completely unacceptable.

I discussed this issue with one of the mechanics in Courtney Motors. He said it was very common with that engine but that didn't necessarily mean it should be like that.
From what I could gather from the conversation, it's a design issue that means the engines need to be topped up a little bit more regularly than they should be.
There's also a fix for it but it's ridiculously expensive. Can't remember the ins and outs of it, it was over two years ago when we talked about it.

Mine needs around a 1L every 5-6000kms.

ongarite wrote: »

Mine needs around a 1L every 5-6000kms.

That's the equivalent of one top-up in the middle of a 10k-12k service interval. Just about acceptable imho.

DAZP93 wrote: »

Nobody cares about your "Humple Opinion"..we are s**t sick of it!!

People are entitled to their opinions, as are you. If you have a problem with that, may i suggest you go elsewhere.

Do not reply to this post on thread, PM if you wish to discuss.