Electronic dipstick giving spurious readings ?

[XPorker]

Hi all, new CSL owner here.

Had my new toy delivered just over two weeks ago and took it on an extended roadtest the day after.
My test route took in the south of France and a bit of Italy and covered some 3000 miles over ten days :-D

Totally in :smt055 with the car now and seriously wondering why I've spent the last seven years driving Stuttgarts finest . . . . .

One small issue with the car was the oil level.

After a few hard miles in France I used the electronic dipstick function to check the oil level.

It showed + .9 litres. I duly purchased a litre of Castrols finest and put it in.

The display then showed the level as +.1 litres.

On the final day of my "extended test drive I checked the level electronically again. This time it showed +1.1 litres.

I take it this means the engine requires 1.1 litres and not that I've overfilled it by 1.1 litres ? ! ! :whistle:

I decided that it was better to be safe than sorry and thus put another litre in. After this the display STILL showed +1.1 litres.

Am I being a total f*ckwit or is the electronic dipstick not functioning correctly ? (I believe there are known issues with the system ?)

Thanks in advance.

[cslbecks]

The engine is burning or losing a hell of a lot of oil over a short space of time if it is!!!!

[Jaw_F430]

Couldn't you have just used the normal way to check the oil and use the dipstick?

[cslbecks]

The dipstick on the CSL is underneath the carbon airbox - and so you need to remove the airbox to manually check the oil - not something i would personally want to do!!!

[Jaw_F430]

Guess I will find that out when I find one and buy it lol :thumbs:

[Andyk]

Should read 1.1.......also if you don't do many miles it may read -.- everytime you start it up. It's nothing to worry about because it takes arounds 25 mins to get a reading. If you don't get a reading after a long run then you will need to top it up.

[Mark CSL]

XPorker

You will have over filled it if you put 1lt in when it read .9

The min is 0.1 and the max i 1.1 it wont show you if you over fill it


Get the car to normal running temp then on level ground
turn the car off / then turn the ingnition to ingniton 2
get the display to show oil level then hold the sport button in

it will show --- then give you a reading if all this does not help
you have to remove the front of the carbon air box
then the dipstick is below it it is red and near the back.

I MUST MAKE A VIDEO :whistle:

[cslbecks]

Mark (or whoever else knows) - for the newbies and complete techno-phobes like me - could you give us an exact step by step to correctly check the engine oil? Would really help as i still cant really work out how to check it properly and know for sure that i have an exact proper reading. Thanks!!

[Mark CSL]

It is in the csl manuel that came with the car

[XPorker]

Blimey, fantastic responses on here ! !
Thankyou for that indepth description Mark. It's much appreciated.
I'd been carrying out the check incorrectly. . . . :smt101
I'd caned the car mercilessly so thought it quite possible that it may have burned a litre in 3000 miles.
I'll run a proper check when I use it again (it's not my daily driver)

Sorry to be a nuisance, I have a further question :whistle:
The car is currently running on Michelin Pilot Sport 2s (with incorrectly sized 275 section tyres on the rear)

3000 miles of hard driving in France have all but finished them off.
I visited the lads at Simpson Motorsport last week and asked what tyres they recomended fitting. they were vocal in their criticism of the MPS2s saying they'd had handling issues with a couple of cars they'd been fitted to.

I don't use the car on track (I know, I know) and I'm unsure about fitting the original equipment Michelin Cup tyres. I had them on a 997 GT3 and drove it in sub zero conditions with the roads damp and covered in grit/salt.

Personally I thought they were "ok" and a rise in temperature saw them improve drastically. BUT, I never drove that car on wet roads or in heavy rain.

The press and Mr Clarkson made a big deal about the Cups shortcoming in the wet (and the car does seem lacking in rear end grip compared with either my previous 996 or 997 GT3s) I'm thus worried about putting the Cups on as the weather gets colder and wetter . . .

What are peoples thoughts ?

[cslbecks]

What is the problem with running 275's on the back???

[Mark CSL]

XPorker
I run the PS2 and think they are great and have cups for the track.
265X30X19 AND 235X35X19 Extra Load Thats the correct size.

I know 1 that runs 275x30x19 and 245x35x19 on his CSL ok

Gaz has conts on his CSL and they are not as good as my PS2s
He is geting PS2s when the conts are done.

[XPorker]

Apart from the fact that technically the 275 section tyre is not the tyre that was specified originally for the car, there's nothing "wrong" with using the wider section.

As the originally specified tyre for ther rear is a 265 section it just seems sensible to retain the recommended sizes both front and rear (especially for road use)

As regards the PS2's, I've run them on my E46 330D Sport for the last 18 months and liked them.
Antony at Simpson M/sport was most vociferous that they'd caused major handling problems on a car they'd had in.

The car in question had been fitted with a new set of PS2's and the owner had complained the car handled poorly, after several checks of the geometry they ended up bolting another set of wheels on (fitted with Cup tyres) Bingo, problem solved.

They put the problem down to the PS2's having soft sidewalls (which they are softer than the original Pilot Sports hence the PS2 rides better and is quieter)

[Bravo73]

It showed + .9 litres.
<snip>
I duly purchased a litre of Castrols finest and put it in.
<snip>
I decided that it was better to be safe than sorry and thus put another litre in. After this the display STILL showed +1.1 litres.


:smt103

It sounds like you overfilled your engine by about 2 litres.

0.9l is a normal level. Unless your engine is seriously ill, you would have to drive at least 1000 miles around a track in order to burn off that much oil.

If I was you, I would take your car into a dealer and to get them to check the level manually. This will involve removing the airbox.

[Mark CSL]

I shall do a video later how to remove the airbox

Here is a good link on how to remove the airbox
http://www.m3csl.de/diy.php
on pix 4 there is a yellow arrow that is where the oil dipstick is :thumbs:

[DazBlackCSL]

Back on the tyre bit !!!

Im moving from the std 265 / 235 set up to 275/245 as recommended by thorney , as he has done extensive testing on both, and reckons the 275/245 handles far better on road and track because of the wider track, also going for some proper race wheels , to keep as a second set , that way I can keep the cups on a set.
Rays RE30's which are lighter than the standard CSL's and have a wider track also, so no need for spacers etc.

Will post up some pics Wed night as im getting then put on during the day..

:drool:

[cslbecks]

I have Conti's on my CSL - they were already on and almost brand new when i bought it - but have to say so far they feel perfectly fine on the road - i guess the track day at Brands will give me a better impression.
I did a check on the oil this morning before, during and after a decent length run - exactly how it is described in the CSL manual. The "long term" check read +0.8 which im assuming is perfectly fine. However, when i stopped, turned engine off, waited a good 3 minutes or so, turned ignition to position 1 and held sport button in - it read +1.1 - i know it says that this doesnt give the most accurate readingbut does this seem right??

[XPorker]

Had a chat witha BMW technician this morning about checking the oil level with the dipstick. He commented that the airbox screws can become seized and thus be a real PITA to remove.
They used to remove the undertray and check the dipstick from underneath rather than do battle with the screws in the CF airbox . . . .

[SpineOnABap]

It sounds like you overfilled your engine by about 2 litres.

0.9l is a normal level. Unless your engine is seriously ill, you would have to drive at least 1000 miles around a track in order to burn off that much oil.

If I was you, I would take your car into a dealer and to get them to check the level manually. This will involve removing the airbox.

I agree - sounds horribly overfilled - and I'm not sure even 1000 miles around a track would burn that much off :119:

I predict a massive oil eruption sometime soon :bigcry: :thumbs:

[Bravo73]

Xporker,

Have you had the oil level checked?

[glendog74]

I had a weird occurence of the electronic dipstick not registering any reading at all when i left Germany yesterday... It was a full 45 minutes before a reading appeared, having initially displayed '-.-'!

Having just had an Insp II, i was reasonably confident that oil was in fact still in there! :whistle:

[XPorker]

Xporker,

Have you had the oil level checked?

No, but have just embarked on a tour of Wales. No rattling noises (apart from a rear damper mount) and no pools of oil underneath.

http://i34.tinypic.com/1426ec9.jpg

No comments about nervous looking sheep either please ! (and if they DO look nervous it was the induction noise from the car that caused them to look so . . . )

[RichW]

Great Shot!



:smokin:

[dave1]

I had a weird occurence of the electronic dipstick not registering any reading at all when i left Germany yesterday... It was a full 45 minutes before a reading appeared, having initially displayed '-.-'!

Having just had an Insp II, i was reasonably confident that oil was in fact still in there! :whistle:

mine was the same it takes a while to register, as long as it is a + plus reading it is fine 1.1 is the maximum .5 is halfway as with a normal dpistick the level should be between the min and max there is no need to have it on the maximum

you want to get some oil out as to much is not a good thing you have 2 to 3 litres to much in there

[Bravo73]

No, but have just embarked on a tour of Wales. No rattling noises (apart from a rear damper mount) and no pools of oil underneath.



:119:

I think that you might have a few big bills coming your way. The head gasket will probably be the first thing to go (due to the very, very high oil level and pressures).

:smt107

[SpineOnABap]

I had a weird occurence of the electronic dipstick not registering any reading at all when i left Germany yesterday... It was a full 45 minutes before a reading appeared, having initially displayed '-.-'!

That's not "weird" Glen, it's totally normal behaviour.

All the -- means is that it's been unable to take a longterm reading and the reasons for that are 1) you've been spanking it for a while (eg, trackday) or 2) you only do short journeys.

I generally do about 8 miles a day (to work and back) - car never gets fully warm. As a result my reading is nearly always --

As you say a longer 'normal drive' journey is required to acheive a successful longterm reading :thumbs:

[glendog74]

That's not "weird" Glen, it's totally normal behaviour.

All the -- means is that it's been unable to take a longterm reading and the reasons for that are 1) you've been spanking it for a while (eg, trackday) or 2) you only do short journeys.

Ahh, that'll be reason 1 then... Spanking is fun though! :snakeman:

[RichW]

[quote=SpineOnABap] Spanking is fun though! :snakeman:


We all know that - its good fun thrashing the car too :thumbs:

[XPorker]

No, but have just embarked on a tour of Wales. No rattling noises (apart from a rear damper mount) and no pools of oil underneath.



:119:

I think that you might have a few big bills coming your way. The head gasket will probably be the first thing to go (due to the very, very high oil level and pressures).

:smt107

If indeed it is high, the level should have no impact on cylinder pressures whatsoever, it may however cause somewhat elevated crankcase pressure.

If that were the case I'd expect to see pools of oil all over the floor where the front and rear crankshaft seals had failed or the sump gaskets had given up the unequal task of trying to contain the pressure.

I will do a proper test when I get the opportunity (I did try and do one on the outward leg to Wales but I forgot both the instructions kindly given on here and the CSL supplement to the cars manual) I know I'm a :wanker:

I make no bones about it, the car was used very hard whilst over in France, I'd be very surprised if it has more than one litre of oil over and above the specified amount in it's sump right now. hence my somewhat blase approach !

The car also has the official dealer issued BMW warranty too, from my perspective if there's oil in there when it goes bang it''ll be tricky to prove there was too much in there !

Perhaps I should add I was a muckanic in my dim (apt) and distant past. hence the old phrase about a coblers children being worst shod is proving true !

Promise I'll check it next time out ! :thumbs: