[ghosty]

i remember something along the lines of pre-lci 6 cyliners do have dispsticks and 4 cylinders dont

i'll be 3rd to confirm that my pre-lci 335d has one

[BoondogUK]

mines a 4-pot pre lci and it does have a dip stick

[Jon D]

Originally Posted by doughboy

Conversley I would say every dervburner I've owned has burnt oil like Texas, whereas the petrols never use a drop....

I've never owned a BMW diesel though, but asking a few of the masses of 320d owners at work they all seem to use top ups.


Nice new motor BTW

I can only base any comment on my preceding two cars - a 2008 (pre-LCI) E92 330d and a 2010 F10 535d, both of which had dipsticks and, over a combined total of 40k miles, did not require mid-service top-ups (on the 535d there was no visible drop on the dipstick in 15k miles) - quite remarkable.
My 640i indicated halfway between min and max (on screen) at 3k. I added ½ a litre to return it to max and after a further 3k it's showing ¾ full. I'm told by my dealer that this is perfectly normal and forum consensus agrees, so I'm not in the least bit worried. I'm sure I could quite safely drive until the system triggered top-up alert, but I feel happier with it just off the full mark.
Of course, I'm well aware of the dangers of overfilling and you have to add in very small increments to prevent it - yet another reason to lament the omission of a dipstick.

PS: Thanks for the comment on the 640i - even without a dipstick, I can't think of anything else I rather be driving and, seeing as the sun's just decided to show itself up here in Aberdeenshire, I think I'll nip out for a spin with the roof down

[ghosty]

Originally Posted by BoondogUK

mines a 4-pot pre lci and it does have a dip stick

scrub my earlier comment then, lol
now thats confusing! i hope we get to the end of this as this is very strange..

[Frobius]

My pre-lci 330d has a dipstick.

Not sure if there's anyone that doesn't yet? Are we going in circles?!

[ukbeemerboy]

It's LCi cars we need to hear from! That's what the OP has. I thought the dipstick at the rear of my LCi 330d was for the Auto box but looking at the diagram on page 1 its for the engine oil.....

[Hopeful]

Well, it went in to the stealers this morning for the free 'security update' and I asked them to check the discrepancy between the dipstick and the IDrive.

As usual, on collecting the car the people behind the desk don't know exactly what 's been done but 'it's fine now sir'. The dipstick now reads 1mm above the minimum mark!

[briers]

Did you check it on a cold engine?

It can be low when cold, drive it for at least 10 mins and check once warm.

[Hopeful]

Originally Posted by briers

Did you check it on a cold engine?

It can be low when cold, drive it for at least 10 mins and check once warm.

Nope, checked it after 20 min drive home from garage.

The IDrive still says too full but apparently I need to leave the car to sleep for 6 hours! Technology eh. Needless to say, I'll be regularly checking my dipstick for a while now that it's down near the min mark just in case the electronic level thing is dodgy.

[briers]

Originally Posted by Hopeful

Nope, checked it after 20 min drive home from garage.

The IDrive still says too full but apparently I need to leave the car to sleep for 6 hours! Technology eh. Needless to say, I'll be regularly checking my dipstick for a while now that it's down near the min mark just in case the electronic level thing is dodgy.

Not good!

I would keep a close eye on that because it won't warn you if its too low. I would trust the dip stick.

[briers]

Originally Posted by doughboy

OT - new car briers?

Almost missed this

Yes picked it up beginning of march and loving it ever since. Already put a black R grille on it and enquiring about an xfr-s exhaust from spires as one might be in the pipeline. Already has a custom exhaust so its loud and can't get enough of the noise. Gone through a fair bit of fuel tho!

The 335d went last week, will be missed for sure.