HELP!! oil level problems

[BMRBOI 8]

hey guys the oil level in my e36 bmw will not show up on the dip stick, im to scared to poor to much oil into is as i have already put some in. any way of telling how much is in it with out doing the oil change again as it was done around 4,000km ago?

cheers

[E30stz 0]

sounds serious.. I'd go put a litre in just to be careful, but if just remember if you put too much oil it may not be able to function properly and put excess wear on your engine. If its off the dipstick there can still be some left at the bottom but not enough, you need to top it up, dont drive it with no oil, or you may not have a car when you get to hte other end.

Edited August 1, 2006 by E30stz

[keen 6]

Thats an expensive query I would not be 2nd guesing that problem.check for leaks around the engine first then go to the sump plug and drain out whats in there.thats the acurate way and put some new oil in.$50 to $60 is a lot cheaper than a cooked engine.

[BMRBOI 8]

as fair as i can tell its not leaking oil, if i poor to much oil in what would it do? flood the sparks?

[keen 6]

maybe silly but do you have the dip stick pushed home fully?

[Carl 3]

as fair as i can tell its not leaking oil, if i poor to much oil in what would it do? flood the sparks?

Too much oil is better than not enough IMO but to put too much oil in you'd have to be pouring in well in excess of 6 litres

E: Oh, and if you really did have too much engine oil it would create a significantly high oil pressure which I would imagine you'd notice quite easily as oil would leak out considerably easier and your car may not rev too well as crank would have more resistance. This is no where near as bad as overcooking your engine and or killing the bearings.

Edited August 2, 2006 by Carl

[BMRBOI 8]

its all the way in mate. ok so if there is no leaks then i must have low oil. this must mean my cars chewing oil. also its running on magnatic which ive been told isnt the best for these bmws. if i have low amounts of oil would my car be using alot of coolent?

[bravo 34]

Cars don't "use" coolant - they may leak it tho.

The difference between the bottom of the dipstick and the top for most cars is about a litre of oil so put it in in 1 litre amounts until it shows up on the dipstick. Keep track of how much you put in.

Your engine cannot magically "eat" oil when it is not running so if you have put in 4 or 5 litres and it is still not showing on the dipstick it must be going soimewhere. (under the car?)

If it is using oil then you should find out where - if it is a leak then you need to replace the seal or gasket where the leak is. If it is burning it it may be the rings or valve guides in which case if it isn't too much and your car is running fine you could chose to leave it and just top up oil now and again although eventually you may be up for a rebuild or at the very least new rings/valve guides. My car is like this - uses a tiny bit of oil and small amount of blue smoke. Runs fine tho and mine being a relatively inexpensive m20 motor I'm just going to drive it until it gets worse which could be 5kms or 50,000kms.

Coolant could be leaking from hoses, radiator, waterpump gasket or through your head gasket into your cylinders, you'll notice white smoke, milkiness in your oil and chances are it'll run like a sack of sh*t. Haed gasket is a pain to replace but not the end of the world. Way less scary than people make out, but still could cost a pretty penny to do.

[bekker 7]

This similar to a question I had a little while ago.

I changed the oil on my e28 525e. 5 litres took it to half way up the dip stick, yet all publications I've seen say the capacity with new filter is about 4.3 litres.

So why does mine appear to take about 5.5 litres? When they say '4.3', do they mean to the bottom of the dipstick.

The most sensible explanation so far came from my girlfriend who suggested I had the wrong dipstick!

It doesn't leak an drop, doesn't burn any (more then normal) and theres no oil in the coolant.

I'll a little perplexed and frustrated since I put a synthetic in it that only comes in 5 litre amounts.

Any other suggestions?

[BMRBOI 8]

haha yeah thats what came to my mind the dipstick hmmm. well ive got it on the dipstick now but its staying around the bottom of it.

This similar to a question I had a little while ago.

I changed the oil on my e28 525e. 5 litres took it to half way up the dip stick, yet all publications I've seen say the capacity with new filter is about 4.3 litres.

So why does mine appear to take about 5.5 litres? When they say '4.3', do they mean to the bottom of the dipstick.

The most sensible explanation so far came from my girlfriend who suggested I had the wrong dipstick!

It doesn't leak an drop, doesn't burn any (more then normal) and theres no oil in the coolant.

I'll a little perplexed and frustrated since I put a synthetic in it that only comes in 5 litre amounts.

Any other suggestions?

[bekker 7]

My suggestion is to top it up, although the earlier post suggesting a drain and refill is a good idea.

If its not leaking, its not burning and its not in your coolant where else can it be?

Cheers.

[Steve K-B 51]

Q: How much have you put in?

[BMRBOI 8]

2l. which brung it up in the dip stick. i think its fine now it never leaked. i just thing my rings are worn and thats why its buring oil.

Q: How much have you put in?

[bekker 7]

I dont know how much, but I was in Shelly BMW yesterday and they said they dont know exactly how much oil my car takes (I'm sure they do approximately)! They said its not very exact and just top it up till its right.

I had made the mistake of not letting the engine sit (off) long enough before checking the level.

After I had spent $25 at the dealer for a litre of oil I went back to work. After the car had been sitting a couple of hours I rechecked the level. It was spot on.

So, two things came out of it for me.

1 - The books say 4.3 litres for my car. It takes 5 exactly.

2 - I need to let the car sit for a long time before checking the level. I dont know why, but in this car it just takes a long time to drain down. Probably a good thing actually.

I am starting to suspect that the figure they give, in this case 4.3 litres, is the safe minimum. In other words, to the bottom mark on the dipstick.

On the plus side, exactly 5 litres is a very handy amount of oil!

Good luck .

[bravo 34]

Engines tend to find their own level too. I was talking to a technician for Yamaha who helped us run in our new 4 stroke outboards. Alot of people will check the oil and find it is just below the full mark on the dipstick. So they top it up - a week or so later they check again and same thing so they maon to the dealer that their new motor is using oil. In fact, the motor is "full" just below the dipstick and they keep overfilling the motor and the motor keeps "losing" the little bit extra. (I don't fully understand where). If left at this just below full mark, and checked, the level never drops any more than this.

My guess is car engines are the same.

[Doc|le 0]

oil not showing up on the dip stick: i encountered this problem before on my first car. checking the dip stick while the engine is cold will show a incorrect measurement. be sure to run the engine for at least 2 - 5 mins for the oil to come up from the oil pan. then check it again.

i though i was running with no oil, but then my m8 told me never check oil on a cold engine.

[Guest Andrew]

Checking the oil with an engine that's just been running will give a lower reading on the dipstick.