3.0d using Oil at 18,000 kms

the warning symbol lite up on the way to work this morning !
tried to check what I could whilst driving, it didn't give me any info.
When I got out in the carpark, the Oil level symbol came up, so that means I'm low on Oil.
There is no Oil dip stick on and X5 30d, so how do I know how much oil to put in it ????

call me Old school, but I would prefere to have a dip stick to check monthly or bi-weekly just for peace of mind.

For some reason I thought the diesels still had a dipstick -- hidden away sort of -- but a stick nonetheless. Every diesel I ever had (6 counting boats) used some oil. More than the gassers in any event. Never bothered me as long as I was able to check the level.

So long as I could check it manually, I wouldn't mind either,
now I have to dig out the hand book, and check all that in the carpark before setting off to the nearest garage to buy some oil (2 miles)

and then, how much do I put in ???? I think a litre should be OK (2 pints)

I could go to the dealer, and get charged a wack of money to top off my oil.
How stupid would be !!

On the N54/E60 you add a quart/litre. You could alway check with dealership.

Please don't mix oils. Only add the same oil as they've been using.

Oil molecules are oil molecules...but the additive packages vary between brands (and even within a brand)

I drive an M5 and a 996TT, so my garage looks like a Jiffy Lube, with full selections of oil on the shelves- diesel included just by habit.

A

@ Ard

hear what your saying, and yes my garage also has a selection of different oils, but I was not at home. I was at work.

However, after reading the handbook on Oil page 286 or 236 I think it was.
Something we are all told to do, but how many of us actually do it ????

Anyway, it turns out that our X5s are equiped with an electronic dip stick.

I- drive
press "i"knob, select "info" not settings, select "Service" scroll down for Oil (it was at the top)
and the car will tell you where your Oil level is, just as on a conventional "dip stick".
It then tells you how much oil to add, but not the grade.

All this to be done on level ground with a warm engine, and the engine running

The hand book did say which grade quite clearly "ACEA B3"
Now assuming that BMW also had put in a Oil with that spec, It shouldn't be a problem.

I actually added 1 Litre of Shell HDX semi synthetic I think it was where the book preferred Castrol, but as the nearest garage was a Shell garage obviously I had no other choice.
It should be fine, I'm not worried, and I learnt a bit more about the car.

I imust say though, for it to burn it's way through 1 Litre of Oil in 9,000 kms on a new Engine, I supose that is to be expected, but I hope that it waill not burn another litre up until the scheduled service which i-drive has calculated to be in 8000 kms approximately next July (I think it will sooner than that) but quite clever, tick one for BMW.

Originally Posted by Marlbro

I imust say though, for it to burn it's way through 1 Litre of Oil in 9,000 kms on a new Engine, I supose that is to be expected, but I hope that it waill not burn another litre up until the scheduled service which i-drive has calculated to be in 8000 kms approximately next July (I think it will sooner than that) but quite clever, tick one for BMW.

The BMW petrol engines do this too, ours needed 1 qt at 7,500 miles. None of my other new cars have used any noticable amount of oil.

I had a Porshe 944 S2 once a, 3 Litre 4 cylinder petrol engine.
If you took it above 4000 rpm it would drink oil almost as fast as it did petrol.


I know, all you gear heads are saying "your piston rings were F#@ked" but i had it checked at the dealer, it was only 2 years old. They gave me a Porsche headed letter that said that the engine was designed to do that.
So my daily drive to work from Belgium, across Holland, and into Germany, 120 kms) on the Autobahnns, I needed to top off my Oil before driving home at night. I needed to carry at least 2 litres lf Oil in the car if I wanted to drive above 150 mph (like a sports car should be)

My old Volvo didn't use much Oil, and that was a 2,4 litre Diesel chip tunned out to 185 hp and 400 Nm torque.

So I don't know why BMW needs to design Engines that burn Oil, but they do. Which is why the X5 has such a fancy way to check the Oil level.

286 bhp & 550 Nm torgue out of a 3 litre twin turbo Diesel is quite good after all, and I guess we have to pay for that power somewhere !!!!

Originally Posted by Marlbro

the warning symbol lite up on the way to work this morning !
tried to check what I could whilst driving, it didn't give me any info.
When I got out in the carpark, the Oil level symbol came up, so that means I'm low on Oil.
There is no Oil dip stick on and X5 30d, so how do I know how much oil to put in it ????

call me Old school, but I would prefere to have a dip stick to check monthly or bi-weekly just for peace of mind.

There is an oil dip stick. It is not anounced to people. I discovered it. It is under the engine cover. If you look at to the right side( when facing the windshield) towards the driver side.

First need to remove the engine cover ( lift and pull kind of thing)
Second look for a black headed pipe looking thing on the driver side of the engine . It is not hard to reach at all. If you look with a flash light you can still see it when the engine cover is in place.

Some oil usage is to be expected on a diesel engine. I would change your oil on your vehicle even if it shows that you still have 12,000 km to go. The extended oil changes on BMW are a complete nonsense and designed to write your engine off in five years. I have the same diesel engine and I had my oil tested at 20,000 km by an independent oil testing lab who found that the synthetic oil was degraded with 2.6% diesel dilution, low viscosity and high iron content from wear. Low viscosity oil will tend to cause the vehicle to use a bit more oil.