[Timujin]

Last Friday OMW to the Grand Prix of Long Beach I was surprised by a no start in 999 miles dash light. Funny I had the car in for service at the local BMW dealer 7000 miles ago. I thought a DEF refill was part of the oil change. Instead of going to the dealership for another unknown experience, I decided to do a DIY refill. I called the BMW dealer for a price on the small bottle of DEF with the special flow nozzle and it was $26. I called the local VW dealer and found it for $12 for 2.5 gallons. I purchased it and a FloTool funnel and refilled the tank at home. The dash light turned off right away and there is no mess to clean up. Hopefully the car doesn't have a urea drinking problem. That's all.

[Kamando]

Sometimes the dealership will forget to fill the DEF during service.
I have also had a bad metering unit replaced before.
Other than those two situations the DEF has always lasted me until the next service.

[Archangel1]

I just bought a 335d a month ago and got the same warning. I am not sure when the previous owner refilled before. I was due for oil change and the dealer ship filled 2.5 gallons. I told them it was more than 6 gallon capacity but they just laughed at me.. But in my search i found it was 6.5 gallon refill. I am not sure how to put up a pdf but please look at this link and the info was originally posted there which is a technical document for dealers i think.

It is the 6th post.
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=824037

I suspect that the dealerships dont have proper refill instructions to fill 6.5 gallons when they are supposed to.

[335dFan]

Originally Posted by Archangel1

I just bought a 335d a month ago and got the same warning. I am not sure when the previous owner refilled before. I was due for oil change and the dealer ship filled 2.5 gallons. I told them it was more than 6 gallon capacity but they just laughed at me.. But in my search i found it was 6.5 gallon refill. I am not sure how to put up a pdf but please look at this link and the info was originally posted there which is a technical document for dealers i think.

It is the 6th post.
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=824037

I suspect that the dealerships dont have proper refill instructions to fill 6.5 gallons when they are supposed to.

Kinda unsettling when they think they know more than you do but they don't, and yet it's their line of work. Takes a lot of patience and doing your best not to make them look bad so they don't do something stupid to your car (on purpose that is).

[Timujin]

A quick note on the refill. I followed the manual and only filled the bottom opening which is the passive tank I believe. At any rate there is a blue collar around the filler neck indicating to fill this one. I used about 1 gallon but no where near the max capacity of the system. I'll see how long before I get a light again.

[kbsilver]

Originally Posted by Timujin

A quick note on the refill. I followed the manual and only filled the bottom opening which is the passive tank I believe. At any rate there is a blue collar around the filler neck indicating to fill this one. I used about 1 gallon but no where near the max capacity of the system. I'll see how long before I get a light again.

The bottom port with the blue ring is the active tank. Its smaller than the passive tank.