Engine oil dipstick

[jack casey]

Anyone know if BMW will ever put an engine oil dipstick back in the X5 or in other models. Have an '03 X5 and experienced a dashboard oil warning that proved to be a glitch. Having a dipstick let me frequently monitor the oil condition and gave a comfort level. JJC

[motordavid]

Doubtful on any model that no longer has a dipstick...about the same chance as adding a manual trans to auto trans only models,
for the US mkt, imo.

[JCL]

I can't see dipsticks coming back. Problem was, the vast majority of owners never used them. Ever. And those that didn't often didn't know how to use them, ie vehicle level, oil warm, 3-5 minutes for the oil to run back down into the pan. Since they were used incorrectly so often, they provided little value. So, automakers installed a electronic monitors that check the level, make sure the oil is warm, and so on. Once those were reliable, there wasn't much reason to have a dipstick any more. Now they have oil condition sensors built into the same device, and your dipstick never did that.

You can get a false positive with a failed level sensor, but they are designed that way on purpose, to be failsafe. If they lose the electrical signal, they show a warning. The alternative would be to wire them so that if they lost the signal, no alert would show, and if you subsequently had low oil level you wouldn't know. Much better this way.

If you want to sample your oil install a sampling port. They are commercially available, although there is an additional risk of an oil leak due to the additional external oil pressure interface.

I similarly would like a dipstick, if for no other reason than nostalgia. I can't say that I have ever had a problem using the electronic level sensor, however.

[amacman]

I drove some of the Williams Renault F1 Magnum trucks which had a switch to press for checking the engine oil level on an instrument gauge , you could even get an accurate reading whilst motoring along but I still preferred to check the dipstick every day even though the dipstick on those is about 8 feet long .

[jlam86]

My e70 has a dipstick

[killcrap]

most diesels bmw's will continue to have dip sticks.

[kmagnuss]

e500 mercedes could be retrofitted with dipsticks... no idea on the BMW's or newer MB's though.

[romeokc10]

Interesting thread, what year did they start deleting the oil dipstick?

[JCL]

Originally Posted by romeokc10

Interesting thread, what year did they start deleting the oil dipstick?

Our 2007 X3 doesn't have a dipstick, I think that was the first year. Depends on engine model as well.