2004 X5 4.4i oil dipstick question

[avusm3]

Hi All -

About six months ago I purchased a CPOed 2004 4.4 X5. This is my fourth BMW. All my previous BMWs were six or four cylinders so this is my first V8 from Bavaria...

My question is: the dipstick on our X5 will show full on one side and only 1/2 full on the other (if you rotate it 180 degress). I never saw this type of difference on my previous 6 cylinder BMWs. Is this charateristic of the V8s?

Thanks,

John

[switchman]

i have same indication on '06 4.4, and have to measure after engine gets hot. measure after shut off approx. 5 minutes.
does anyone know why ?

[GmX5]

The lower side is the actual oil level because one side will always be high do to pulling it in and out of the dipstick tube. You should do this when the oil is a operating temp.

[motordavid]

Must be a V8 dipstick thing...my ol' 3.0 reads the same on
both "sides" of the stick; actually my stick is an odd roundish
shape without real "sides". I do notice a different overall reading
when checking stone cold vs. hot/waiting period, though.
BR,mD

[dkl]

Originally Posted by motordavid

I do notice a different overall reading
when checking stone cold vs. hot/waiting period, though.
BR,mD

Which reads higher or lower? stone cold or hot?

[motordavid]

Originally Posted by dkl

Which reads higher or lower? stone cold or hot?

Fully warmed up/"hot" has always read a tad higher...not a lot, but
farther up the stick, even after waiting a good 20-30 mins to read it.
No biggie...my oil consumption has reduced considerably over the
past 20K+ miles, curiously. So has the coolant "usage", fwiw.
BR,mD

[rayxi]

Originally Posted by motordavid

Fully warmed up/"hot" has always read a tad higher...not a lot, but
farther up the stick, even after waiting a good 20-30 mins to read it.
No biggie...my oil consumption has reduced considerably over the
past 20K+ miles, curiously. So has the coolant "usage", fwiw.
BR,mD

That's odd. I would think hot would read lower since more oil is up in the engine block and less oil is in the pan from having just ran it. I've always checked it hot/warm so I don't have a cold comparison.

[motordavid]

Originally Posted by rayxi

That's odd. I would think hot would read lower since more oil is up in the engine block and less oil is in the pan from having just ran it. I've always checked it hot/warm so I don't have a cold comparison.

Odd to me, too Ray...
I suspect some capillary action or...ufos.

I almost passed on answering the stone cold vs. warmed up dipstick
level and hope it doesn't garner much more attention or, arm wrestles
over my observations/more oil threads,

And, back at the GoingBrokeRanch, my old X is a 3.0 vs the 4.4 the OP
was wondering about, as I noted...

[E61Silver]

I would think that stone cold would be the way to check it.
My 05 4.4 never burn oil, would go a whole year without need of toping off.

Now my 335 does not have even have a dip stick.

[Weasel]

Nope... you gotta go through the cluster for your dipstick on the 335, and it has to be with the engine running and warmed up a bit too.