Excessive oil level

[Skynet5]

My car (520d) came back from its service with a red indicator. Good job I read the paper work as no one told me on collection.

Phoned up and they said it needed to come in for an investigation as it could be fuel in the oil.

I have extended full bmw warranty so hopefully any cause of this symptom would be under warranty? Any ideas what it could be ? 

The last time that oil cap was removed was by them last year. So in the unlikely result it just has too much oil in it… that would be on them.

had no warnings in idrive and the dip stick seems to show it’s just on max.

I have to pay an investigation fee. Which seems odd being under warranty as they told me to take it in, not initiated by me.

Hopefully I get that back either way.

First post since this forum has come back online! Good to see you all back.

Edited November 23, 2023 by Skynet5

[Cadwell Parker]

I had that on my car soon after I bought it. It was still under the 3 month (Non BMW) dealer warranty. They replaced the oil level sensor and all was well again.

A specialist BMW indie garage told me a software issue can give the same apparent fault in which case the sensor is OK, all that's needed is a software update.

The level on the stick being OK suggests a sensor issue.

[Andrew]

Did they carry out an oil change?

If not, high oil level can be from unburnt diesel in the sump from failed DPF regens.

[skyjawa]

I had this on mine when I got it.  Dipstick showed max but car was whinging.  Took out about 250ml using suction via the dipstick, checked DPF status in Bimmerlink (all good), and the warning went away, not come back since.  Also had the oil analysed just to be sure. 

 

Maybe yours has just been slightly overfilled perhaps?

Edited November 24, 2023 by skyjawa

[Skynet5]

No oil change done. I’ve also not seen any idrive warnings.

The first I came aware was reading the service report when I got home.

It’s booked in for Monday for investigation. I won’t be happy if they say all is fine, just too much oil and we sucked a bit out. As they did the oil last time. And they’ll be trying to charge me an investigation fee.

 

[Skynet5]

So investigation showed nothing. 

They’ve drained the oil and put new oil in and said in 50 miles I should measure the oil via idrive and see what it says.

Watch and see is the next step basically.

i paid £180 odd for an oil change and an investigation which found nothing at this stage.

I little strange.  Only made more palatable as I was thinking of having an oil change as well as people say it’s a good idea doing it annually regardless of idrive.

QQ I’ll also check the dipstick. Do you check it when the oil is hot or cold on this car. I presume either way it’s with the engine off? As oil wouldn’t be in the pan when the engine is running.

[Andrew]

Check oil level with a hot engine that has been stopped for a 5-10 mins to allow oil to drain back to sump.

Oil should be between min and max marks.

My experience of BMW services is that they fill to max level on a cold engine.

When you next check the oil, make sure you smell the dipstick to ensure there is no Diesel in the sump from failed DPF regens. Failed DPF regens dump fuel into the sump which increases oil level and dilutes the lubricating qualities of the oil which isn't ideal.

 

[Skynet5]

Thanks Andrew.

You were outlining the dipstick method right?

 

I guess if everything looks ok when I check, we wait and see how it goes.

Im still a little confused with how the garage has approached this. I guess next year they could say the same thing…then find nothing….again.

I suppose if i keep an eye on the oil and think it’s rising or smelling or diesel, I just take it back in and they continue their investigation…no clue who is paying for that though or if it’s covered by the extended warranty etc.

 

 

 

[Andrew]

6 minutes ago, Skynet5 said:

Thanks Andrew.

You were outlining the dipstick method right?

Yeah, ye-olde dipstick method.

6 minutes ago, Skynet5 said:

Im still a little confused with how the garage has approached this. I guess next year they could say the same thing…then find nothing….again.

It's a case of the car had a 'moment' and fired off an incorrect warning, not unheard of. I would like to think they would have reported back diesel in the sump.

You could always change the oil and filter yourself, it's not a bad job, I've done one on the B47 variant of the 2.0d engine.

Oil filter can only be fitted one way so you can't possibly get it wrong. 

All you need is a few basic hand tools and a catch pan.

[Skynet5]

Yeah they mentioned the oil had been diluted. They didn’t explicitly say diesel though, but I presume that’s all it can be?

I’m still confused as to why idrive didn’t alert me. Only they said it was high. Perhaps they looked at the dip stick which was on the high side, or their computers give other info not visible in idrive.

 

[Andrew]

Just now, Skynet5 said:

Yeah they mentioned the oil had been diluted. They didn’t explicitly say diesel though, but I presume that’s all it can be?

 

 

Defo from a failed DPF regen(s). See earlier post from me tonight.

Take the car for a motorway blast.  Ideally needs to be driven for a journey of 30 miles once a week on the motorway to get a regen done.

Yes you can force one via diagnostics but it's better if the car can do it itself on the motorway.

[Skynet5]

5 minutes ago, Andrew said:

Defo from a failed DPF regen(s). See earlier post from me tonight.

Take the car for a motorway blast.  Ideally needs to be driven for a journey of 30 miles once a week on the motorway to get a regen done.

Yes you can force one via diagnostics but it's better if the car can do it itself on the motorway.

Thanks Andrew.

 

Would failed dpf regens not appear on their diagnostics? They said they couldn’t find a conclusive reason, but did still mention short journeys could be the reason.

 

i drive 15 mins each way to work twice a week, maybe some short trips in between as well and then do a 100 mile round trip 2-3 times a month.

But I guess those short journeys could be enough of a reason.

 

Thanks for the advice. Appreciated.

[skyjawa]

It should show on diagnostics as you can see DPF info from obd readers, this is Bimmerlink:

[Andrew]

4 minutes ago, Skynet5 said:

Would failed dpf regens not appear on their diagnostics?

I don't know, sorry, as I've never interrogated a Diesel for that.

5 minutes ago, Skynet5 said:

but did still mention short journeys could be the reason.

Short journeys and the DPF won't regen completely, it may start then not complete as you've now stopped and it dumps the fuel back into the sump, diluting the oil and increasing the level.

For short journeys, change your oil more frequently, yearly or 10,000 miles.

 

Was it a BMW dealer the car was in?

[Skynet5]

24 minutes ago, Andrew said:

 

 

Was it a BMW dealer the car was in?

Yes. I’ve only kept going as I plan just to pay the extended warranty whilst I own the car. 

24 minutes ago, skyjawa said:

It should show on diagnostics as you can see DPF info from obd readers, this is Bimmerlink:

I have an obd, I’ll check. But I guess it would be the number of fails that would indicate the amount of diesel has made its way to the sump.

 

[Percha]

Failed DPF Regens will definetly be flagged in the end it will go to "Reduced Torque mode" and then eventually will stop the engine completely as worst case it will choke the exhaust flow completely. I would guess its a dodgy oil level sensor rather than Diesel in the oil, the only real effective way is to keep monitoring.

 

Edited November 28, 2023 by Percha

[Cadwell Parker]

12 hours ago, Andrew said:

12 hours ago, Skynet5 said:

 

Short journeys and the DPF won't regen completely

I guess short journeys don't necessarily lead to failed regens. As long as you can tell when a regen is happening and you let it complete before switching off. From what you've described there's of scope for that to happen on you journeys. The tricky bit is knowing when it's happening. Sadly BMW chose not to provide a warning light to let you know. Bimmerlink is useful for that as @skyjawa referenced. I use it myself and find it quite helpful.

Definitely change your oil every 10000 miles. I do mine myself twice a year as I do quite high mileage. It's pretty easy.