E60 523i... Dipstick

mloc123

Am I right in thinking that some e60s don't have a dipstick and it is idrive info only?

liam7831

Affirmative

DAZP93

mloc123 wrote: »

Am I right in thinking that some e60s don't have a dipstick and it is idrive info only?

My father has a 2006 523i and there is none. BMW got rid of them in late 2005, you just have to believe the OBC. They require a litre approx every 1200 miles at normal driving

mloc123

DAZP93 wrote: »

My father has a 2006 523i and there is none. BMW got rid of them in late 2005, you just have to believe the OBC. They require a litre approx every 1200 miles at normal driving

Cheers. You have also put my mind at ease, got a warning message tonight after 2000miles that I need to put a litre in.

MetzgerMeister

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

mloc123

I don't like the idea of relying on the OBC myself, when the warning came on my first reaction was... I must check the dipstick to make sure it is not a sensor issue.

pred racer

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.

MetzgerMeister

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

MuppetCheck

Anyone else look at the title of this thread and think something else?

But I wouldn't like a sensor. Give both. Sensor is handy to have, but I would like to be able to check it manually also.

Mech1

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

pred racer

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

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

Very true, I was just trying to give ye some assurance that they dont seem to give trouble ( on french and Italian cars anyway;) )

Mech1 wrote: »

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

True!

rocky

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

MetzgerMeister

rocky wrote: »

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

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

Mech1

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

DAZP93 wrote: »

They require a litre approx every 1200 miles at normal driving

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

neglectarino

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!

Stainless_Steel

My E60 petrol uses a litre of oil every 2500 kms.

rocky

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..

unkel

That's pretty shocking, lads. Can't say I'm au-fait with the current generations of the BMW straight 6, but the ones in the 00s and 90s surely did not consume oil. I don't think I ever needed to top up my E39 520i between services...

Andrewf20

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

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

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

Anan1

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

Anan1 wrote: »

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

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!

Anan1

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'.

rocky

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

ShadowHearth

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

ShadowHearth wrote: »

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

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:

ShadowHearth

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"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSOBeD1GC_Y

MetzgerMeister

ShadowHearth wrote: »

like i said, " certain point of view"

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

ShadowHearth

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!

Ardent

I have an 523i also. A litre of oil every so often is indeed normal.

unkel

rocky wrote: »

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

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

conzy

My 325 needs about 500ml every 1000 miles or so. Up to a litre per 1000 miles is supposed to be considered "grand" from what I have read.

The old 160k miles e34 (520i) I had used none over 4000 miles.

MetzgerMeister

RoverJames wrote: »

The old 160k miles e34 (520i) I had used none over 4000 miles.

You weren't driving it properly

HungryJoey

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.

mloc123

So this evening idrive is not complaining about the level. When I checked the screen it was half way between min and max so I put 500ml in... If only I had a dipstick to confirm :rolleyes:

unkel

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

unkel wrote: »

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.

Your ignorance is impeccable..have you been practicing..?

unkel

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?

unkel

LIGHTNING wrote: »

The owners manual for my Porsche says 1.5 litre of oil per 1000km.

Maybe it is cos the engine in your Porsche is a VW?

Pretty shocking as that admittance in the manual is, the owners manual for a BMW E60 does not say anything about oil usage.

MuppetCheck

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

MetzgerMeister

MetzgerMeister wrote: »

You weren't driving it properly

It averaged about 23 mpg for me so I think it wad driven very properly indeed.

Heroditas

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.

Crackity Jones

My e90 325i would have similar consumption levels. When I got the car first I had it checked out by the garage and they said it was within tolerance levels.

ongarite

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

pred racer

ongarite wrote: »

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

I would call that consumption normal, all the others excessive, and I dont give a hoot what Bmw say.
You guys do realise that thats Bmw's standard answer to any query about something a bit odd;)

unkel

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

unkel wrote: »

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

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

Alanstrainor

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.

rocky

It appears it's not in the manual... But many people report that BMW say it's normal to consume up to 1L/600 miles, and are not taking a look at the engine below that.