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You guys are cracking me up.
Oil is to be checked as per the manufacturer's recommendations. For vehicles, that is usually warm. Check your owner's manual, it is pretty straightforward. The BMW dipstick is marked with a safe range relative to warm oil.
Some vehicles have two 'safe ranges' marked, one on either side of the dipstick. This was common practice on automatic transmissions, and still is on oil sumps in trucks and heavy equipment, as well as some vehicles. One side of the dipstick will be marked "warm" and one will be marked "cold". Manufacturers have pulled back from that practice for consumer products, heck, they have even stopped putting in dipsticks in some cases. I guess they don't trust owners to check oil, or follow their instructions for checking oil.
The practice of the engine being warm, and then standing, is designed to allow the engine oil to circulate, and then the excess to drain down. You don't really need to wait 5 minutes like the manual says, but if you test it every 30 seconds you will quickly see when it settles down after a couple of minutes.
So, for all the scientists out there, if you want to check it cold, no problem. All you have to do is get it warm, let it drain down for a few minutes, and adjust the oil level to the max level. Then let it cool overnight. Then check the dipstick. See the difference, remark the dipstick at the new 'cold' level with a Dremel, and there you are. Seems like a hell of a lot of trouble to me.
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2007 X3 3.0si, 6 MT, Premium, White
Retired:
2008 535i, 6 MT, M Sport, Premium, Space Grey
2003 X5 3.0 Steptronic, Premium, Titanium Silver
2002 325xi 5 MT, Steel Grey
2004 Z4 3.0 Premium, Sport, SMG, Maldives Blue
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