BMW what to do?

neilmcl

motorguy wrote: »

I dont think too many people check their oil until the oil pressure light (which they think is a low oil level light) comes on, and by then a lot of the damage could already be done.

On some newer cars the choice is out of your hands as there's no way of manually checking the oil levels.

Iceweasel

neilmcl wrote: »

On some newer cars the choice is out of your hands as there's no way of manually checking the oil levels.

I don't see that as a problem actually as they usually have a system that gives early warning that a top up is needed.

Having said that I would prefer to have the traditional dip-stick as well.

motorguy

Iceweasel wrote: »

There is no way that BMW will do anything pre-emptively as they would need to recall hundreds of thousands of engines - not all of which are going to fail - and there is no safety element in this - only a financial disaster for anyone who doesn't have a full service history.

Yes, though simply reducing the long life service interval would be a good help towards prevention.

Also they have done preventative work - there is an upgrade done if the car is believed to be at risk - though only if the car is in anyway, its not a recall.

Iceweasel wrote: »

As to 'lifting the bonnet' I remember a few years back there was a motoring organization doing free 'weekly checks' for people at several motorway service areas over a bank holiday weekend and they reported that over 75% of vehicles they checked had low oil levels, low coolant levels and low tyre pressures.

Yes very scary - people just dont have a clue about basic maintenance any more.

motorguy

neilmcl wrote: »

On some newer cars the choice is out of your hands as there's no way of manually checking the oil levels.

I cant think of a car that you cant check oil levels - usually you can check through the menu system in car.

Technically making it easier as you dont have to get your hands dirty...

bigjl

motorguy wrote: »

I cant think of a car that you cant check oil levels - usually you can check through the menu system in car.

Technically making it easier as you dont have to get your hands dirty...

I did the rear brakes on a mates 116i a few weeks ago and tried several times to get it to give me the oil level and it failed to read every time.

Tried it hot, tried it cold.

Menu was same as in my 116D and I never had an issue on that one, I looked and couldn't see a dipstick.

I was always a big fan of the system on old Renaults where it gave you the oil level every time you started the car, back in the 90's it was an analogue gauge on later stuff it was a digital readout.

But all those Renaults still had a dipstick, not that many people bother anymore as was evident with the Fiat TwinAir engines seizing due to lack of oil when the engine first came out.

To be honest my wife has never checked the oil on any of her cars, when the oil light came on with her old Accent she put a pen on the binnacle to cover the light up and kept driving. I once added over a litre, which considering the sump was something like 3litres it really is surprising the car survived.

Last I heard from the person we sold it to the car was still running, still used oil as it had done since we bought it.

neilmcl

motorguy wrote: »

I cant think of a car that you cant check oil levels - usually you can check through the menu system in car.

Technically making it easier as you dont have to get your hands dirty...

I did say manually checking, eg, via a dipstick.

motorguy

KiNo wrote: »

Hi!
I had the same issue except the timing chain caused huge damage to my engine
Bmw covered the timing chain replacement but not the damage it has caused (it!!!8217;s currently not drivable)
How did you get on in the end?
I have started a website and it will be running in a couple of weeks. I!!!8217;m sourcing people with this exact issue to share their story and hopefully bmw U.K. will listen if there is enough of us. Would you be willing to share your story and if it were to go to press willing to speak about your experience?
Thank you!

What age is your car? Does it have a full BMW service history? Have you had the car from new?

With respect, this has been a known issue for many, many years. If the worldwide corporation that is BMW have opted to not do anything more than they have, what hope do you have so far down the line with a few signatures on a website?

Prevention is better than cure with these engines - oil change every 10K miles, check and top up the oil weekly (as they do use oil).

The vast majority of people dont bother checking the oil level between one service and the next.