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      10-10-2012, 04:49 PM   #1
journeyguy
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urgent: Engine oil warning light at 830 miles

I just got the low engine oil warning light at 830 miles.....I then stopped the car as I was scared with the whole oil pump recall etc ( my car was not effected by the recall) and called the SA. He said to bring the car tomorrow morning and will top off the oil. He dint knew if its common for M5 to burn so much oil at just 830 miles. He was surprised that I have the warning light at 800+ miles.
I then checked the engine oil measurement via idrive and it shows just above minimun line. When I started the car again the warning went away.

Is this something normal ? Should I wait till 1200 miles and do the service. Pl advise. I feel I get more information here than my local dealers.

Thanks,
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      10-10-2012, 05:13 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by journeyguy View Post
I just got the low engine oil warning light at 830 miles.....I then stopped the car as I was scared with the whole oil pump recall etc ( my car was not effected by the recall) and called the SA. He said to bring the car tomorrow morning and will top off the oil. He dint knew if its common for M5 to burn so much oil at just 830 miles. He was surprised that I have the warning light at 800+ miles.
I then checked the engine oil measurement via idrive and it shows just above minimun line. When I started the car again the warning went away.

Is this something normal ? Should I wait till 1200 miles and do the service. Pl advise. I feel I get more information here than my local dealers.

Thanks,
I think you're probably OK if it's low oil level versus low oil pressure. My understanding is the pump failure generated a low oil pressure warning light.

The low oil level warning is still something worth exploring. I've not heard of anyone else burning through a quart of oil before the break-in service.
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      10-10-2012, 05:17 PM   #3
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Ha Ha. I did worse than you. 650 miles and low oil warning came on.
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      10-10-2012, 05:28 PM   #4
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I was told always to keep a bottle of oil in the car
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      10-10-2012, 05:29 PM   #5
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so I guess this is normal and I can wait for some more time and try to stretch her close to 1200 miles...Did you top off immediately ? If i take it now they will drain the remianing break in oil and top it off with the new engine oil....right ?

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Originally Posted by bobblehead View Post
Ha Ha. I did worse than you. 650 miles and low oil warning came on.
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      10-10-2012, 05:30 PM   #6
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but they are supposed to drain the break in oil an then top it off with the new oil.....???

Quote:
Originally Posted by cmhsam View Post
I was told always to keep a bottle of oil in the car
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      10-10-2012, 05:45 PM   #7
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My car was not on the oil pump recall list ( I was told by my dealer that my production was just finished and the next batch was affected). Anyway, back to the question, I just had it topped up and soon after, my oil warning light came on again at around 1200 miles but the timing could not be better, I had the break in service done.

Now, I am at about 1450 miles.

My dealer's shop foreman said the engine will indeed consume lots of oil for the first 6000 miles or so before settling down. He did pulled up a BMW Technical directive bulletin informing dealers of such matter of excess oil consumption is within factory estimate. The shop foreman does not know whether the factory put in special break in oil during production process or simply use normal oil, as I was the only customer asked him that question.

Quote:
Originally Posted by journeyguy View Post
so I guess this is normal and I can wait for some more time and try to stretch her close to 1200 miles...Did you top off immediately ? If i take it now they will drain the remianing break in oil and top it off with the new engine oil....right ?
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      10-10-2012, 05:50 PM   #8
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My oil level was still full when I dropped it off at Munich Airport with 1950 miles on the clock.
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      10-11-2012, 09:19 AM   #9
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That is really strange. I am doing ED right now and have over 2010 miles and the oil level is still fine. In fact I went to the info screen and hoped that I would get a message to add oil because I did buy a quart of 0W-40 at the Welt in anticipation of such a message as others in this forum have commented that they were asked to add oil. I read in the manual not too have to much oil as it may damage the engine. So it looks like I may have to leave the quart of oil which I paid almost 28 Euros at the Welt.
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      10-11-2012, 11:46 AM   #10
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I thought BMW recommends 0W-30 for the F10.
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      10-11-2012, 02:37 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mperial View Post
I thought BMW recommends 0W-30 for the F10.
Per the M5 manual and I quote:
"When selecting an engine oil ensure that the oil belongs to the viscosity grade
SAE 0W-30 or SAE 0W-40 or malfunctions or engine damage may occur. Alternatively, also engine oils with viscosity grades SAE 5W-30 or SAE 5W-40 may be used."

Anyway, the only oil available for the M5 at the Welt was the BMW SAE 0W-40 during the time that I picked up my M5 and so that was what I bought.
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      10-11-2012, 02:46 PM   #12
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Thanks for clarifying, I haven't got the manual with me. Gone are the days of buying expensive 10W-60 from the dealership.
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      10-11-2012, 05:36 PM   #13
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I checked my oil after reading some posts and just going through the options it was sitting at half when I got it. I thought it was odd but with so many different oil scenarios going oil I just let it be. We'll see when I get 500-600 miles in and see if it drops more.
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      10-12-2012, 02:51 AM   #14
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After much research, questioning my salesman, M technician, BMW Australia and the knowledge of other on this forum let me state the following

1. Keep 1L of oil in the car as its not abnormal or unusual for the car to need oil before the break in service and then subsequently. My car came with a nice leather bag with a 1L bottle of oil in it from the factory!

2. If you get the oil low message add 1 Litre only no more.

3. The engine can use the following grades
A) 5W-30
B) 5W-40
C) 0W-30
D) 0W-40

4. It needs to be LL01 or LL04 BMW approved fully synthetic oils ( LL = long life) due to long service intervals

5. The M5 S63Tu engine DOES NOT need the TWS 0W-60 oil. Make sure your service staff know this as the level of misinformation and ignorance amongst BMW dealers is amazing.

6.The S63Tu is a heavily revised and modified version of the TT V8 in the 50i BMWs. It doesn't rev as highly as the old V10 hence 30 or 40 high temp viscosity is needed not 60.

Hope this clarifies this issue. Thank to all on here who helped me understand all of this
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      10-12-2012, 06:31 AM   #15
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thanks.

May I add the LL-01 may be more ideal if your local country's gasoline (such as North America) has a higher sulphur content. Wheras the LL-04 is more suitable for countries in Europe with lower sulphur content.


1) BMW has its own oil specs. They are BMW Long Life (LL). There have been three standards LL-98, LL-01, and LL-04. BMW LL-98 allows for Group III hydrocracked oils, but LL-01 is stricter and only allows for Group IV or Group V based oils. LL-04 is very new, designed for primarly diesels in Europe and no oils sold in the US actually are LL-04 approved (Amsoil doesn’t count as they claim their oil meets the standard, but it isn’t approved).

2) The proper oil for all climates is an oil that meets BMW LL-01 or better. There are only three oils that actually meet this spec widely available in the US. Mobil 1 0w-40, Valvoline 5w-40 Synpower, and Castrol 0w-30 (you have to be careful with the Castrol, there are two versions out there, the one you want will say on the back in little writing that it is made in Germany, and will specifically list the BMW spec, Mercedes 229.3 & 229.5 and ACEA A3).

3) All BMW Long Life oils are ACEA A3 oils. An ACEA A3 oil means that it has a high temp high shear (HTHS @ 150c) of more than 3.5. Note that A3 is mutually exclusive of ACEA A1 & A5. A1 & A5 oils have an HTHS of less than 3.5. A5 is simply a newer and stricter standard of A1, so if an oil is A5 rated than it is also A1 rated. NOT ALL A3 OILS ARE BMW LL OILS, ONLY THOSE SPECIFICALLY LABLED AS SUCH.

4) Mobil 1 30 weight oils are not A3 or LL approved. So the next question that will be asked is why does BMW USA recommend them? It is because they never have updated their recomendation from the 90′s when Mobil 1 was available in the US in either 30 or 50 weight. There was no 0w-40 then. THE ONLY MOBIL 1 OIL THAT IS BMW LL APPROVED IS THE 0W-40.

5) Don’t get to hung up on weight. 30 weight oil runs from about 9.5-12.5 cst at 100c. Mobil 1 30 weights are forumlated on the light end of the 30 weight scale at about 10.5 cst, so are nearly 20 weight. By contrast BMW’s relabled Castrol 30 weight is about 12.2 cst, which is nearly a 40 weight. As a rule of thumb, Mobil formulates on the light end of any grade, Amsoil on the heavy end.

6) Redline is a great race oil. For street use it does not work well for extended intervals. The problem is that their chemestry is very old and the oil tends to oxidate quickly and generate higher wear number than Mobil 1 or Amsoil when used in street vehicles.

7) The best widely available oils for your BMW. 1) Mobil 1 0w-40, 2) BMW 5w30 synth. Why the Group III BMW oil when it is only LL-98 approved instead of the better LL-01? It is because the 15k interval used by BMW is to far for even Mobil 1 oils under most conditions, so either oil should be changed at 10k or less intervals. As it is easiest to just change once between the indicator lights (about 7.5k miles) the advantage that Group IV oils have over the BMW labled oils are largely negated.

Last edited by bobblehead; 10-12-2012 at 07:21 AM..
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      10-12-2012, 07:58 AM   #16
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Helpful posts, thanks.

Castrol 06244 EDGE 0W-30 SPT Synthetic Motor Oil is ACEA-3 and LL-01 certified and can be bought at a reasonable price.
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      10-12-2012, 03:50 PM   #17
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dealer just added one full bottle of SAE 5W-30 after I got another warning that it had reached minimum level.
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      10-12-2012, 05:48 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by journeyguy
dealer just added one full bottle of SAE 5W-30 after I got another warning that it had reached minimum level.
That's fine. Here the oil used in the M5 is Castrol Edge Professional BMW Approved LL01 5W-30.
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