[sleedawg]

Has anyone had this experience? I had an oil change about a week and a half ago. Was driving home on the highway on Saturday and the display comes up saying "Engine oil at minimum! Please add a quart of oil." Being about 30 minutes from home, I continue to drive. Park the car and do the measurement. Perfectly fine and at max but the light still on in the service indicator?! Leave it parked on Sunday. Today I get in the car to drive to the dealer. Lights are all gone. Key read shows nothing. Anyone have this before?

[milanoverde]

I had the same experience twice now. When I did the reading, it was at the fill line when I got the low reading. The next day the light was off. I did a reading , it was about 1/2 way between add and full. All by itself!
Beats me. I keep a quart of oil in the trunk now. Tony

[stormlv]

I saw a similar effect after I did my oil change.
Yesterday it was here:


Today it's at max...

[snowghost]

They never should have gotten rid of the dipstick.

[FC4]

Just had this message this evening. Car has 4,250 miles on the original factory oil. Light/message came on and oil level was at minimum. Shut off the car for one minute and checked again, light still on. Checked about an hour later and the light was gone.

Does anyone know what the exact factory fill is on a 2014 435i? Owners manual did not indicate.

[nemith]

I have found myself low on oil more than once. I belive any hard driving with our turbos will burn a bit of oil. I bet you anything it will come back. Good to have a quart on hand just in case.

[F32Fleet]

ugh. Seems BMW still can't get this right. Back in the E90 days it was moisture that would cause the sensor to not always read correctly. Cars that were short tripped were more prone to having this problem.

[Axman85]

My 335 loves to drink oil. Get about 2500-3200 miles before needing a quart. I usually drive fast and hard in Sport/Sport+. Dealer said its to be expected

There are 7 quarts in the N55.

[FC4]

Again, anyone wish to comment on what the factory fill is?

[dreamspeed]

The e dipsticks are horrible. The only way to get any kind of consistent reading is to always check it in the same spot, like your parking spot at home

[m6pwr]

Originally Posted by FC4

Again, anyone wish to comment on what the factory fill is?

If you are asking what brand or type of oil is filled in the n55 at the factory:

There are two possibilities. It could be an oil made by FUCHS. They are known in Europe as "FUCHS . . . The factory fill specialist". They specialize in cooking up tailor made brews for euro oems. The factory fill in BMW diesels is made by FUCHS, while the service fill at BMW dealers is an oil made by Castrol. The FUCHS factory fill for diesels is easy to spot in used oil analyses: it has no zinc (but it does have plenty of anti-wear phosphorous) - - something which perplexed many of the the oil analysis labs when the BMW diesels first appeared in the U.S.

FUCHS (pronounced fooks) is an old and very innovative refiner. In Europe it did most of the original research on synthetic lubricants back in the thirties when the Third Reich needed an oil that would stand up to the high heat and rpms of jet turbine engines. More recently, when the consortium that made the monster engines (one of the most powerful jet engines ever) for the Concorde supersonic jet, they chose FUCHS to develop the lubricant. They only made 63 of those engines.

The only problem is that FUCHS oils have very limited availability in the U.S., and most that would fit a BMW are made to the BMW LL04 approval standard. These oils should only be used in BMW's that run on the low sulphur fuels in Europe. http://www.fuchs-europe.com/fileadmi..._2-2013_GB.pdf

The other possibility is that the factory fill on the n55 is the BMW High Performance 5w30 oil used by BMW dealers in the U.S. as the servce fill. It is made in the U.S. to BMW specs by Castrol. It's a good oil.

All this trivia aside, the real question should be, regardless of who makes the factory fill, is the factory fill different from the service fill insofar as the additive pack, particularly additives designed to assist in break-in? For example, Honda uses a special factory fill oil with extra friction modifiers and warns in the Owner's Manual NOT to change the factory fill early. And here's an interesting comment that was made some time ago on the BITOG oil forum by Doug Hillary, a lubricants engineer with wide experience who has worked in Europe for both Castrol and Exxon/Mobil:

"Many modern engines have unique lubricants as their Factory fill and in some cases a special specification lubricant many be needed . . . This is for specific “bedding in” reasons and often depends on the engine’s design and certainly on its “wear face” metallurgy! People that chose to ignore the Manufacturer’s advice concerning the first oil change period and the lubricant to be used then are IMO quite foolhardy – especially if they intend to keep their vehicle for many years."

In other words, keep the factory fill in there until the oem says to change it.