e53 Diesel, Loud engine and Oil pressure light.
 

Hello, so I have e53 2002 diesel and I noticed that the engine is quite loud, also when I am driving for a long time especially when going uphill for example in the countryside, after 1.5 hours of driving the oil pressure warning light comes on and it is flickering when pushing the gas pedal, also the warning text comes on the dashboard telling me - "Stop engine oilpress!".

I have read online that this could be because of an oil pump, however, I want to know if anybody else has had the same problem with e53, or know if it could be caused by something else.

Any help is appreciated... the maintenance of this car has cost me thousands already... :bawling:

Stupid question first but is the oil level correct? As if the oil pump sucks even a little air it will loose pressure.

Here is a TIS for how to check the oil pressure with a gauge if you have the kit available. That would rule out the oil pressure sensor. Or alternatively they range from £4 up to £22 for a new one.

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e...supply/C4d3A3s

But the oil pumps on the older M57 were prone to failure but not too hard to change. You’d be looking at £200 ish for a Pirberg one or £90 for a Febi-Bilstein one. I’d get the best one you can afford tho! Plus gaskets, sealant and some new oil. Can be done on the driveway on a e39 5 series so will have loads of room to move under the e53.

https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/e...-motor/C49bznQ

And just hope that driving it with low oil pressure hasn’t screwed any bearings.

Note that removing the oil pan on an M57 in an E53 requires removing the front diff, which requires removing both front axles...

The link TIS articles above skip over this "detail". ;)

Ahhhhh that’s a small missing note there! I didn’t even think lol like I said I’ve only done an oil pump on an e39.... so no front diff!

Is there a possibility that I am using bad quality oil? I use castrol oil 5W-30 I was thinking maybe after driving the car for a while and when the engine overheats the oil becomes too thin. I don't know if that's possible or not.

That's possible - esp. if you are in summer temps (which you are).

I'm running Castrol Edge 5W-40 in my M57N - it's rated LL-01 and works well in my application - might work for you too, if slightly low viscosity is the issue.

Really? Never seen or heard of M57 failing oil pump.

Depending on your mileage you can up the viscosity of the oil. My old p38 Range Rover had 180k on it and was smoking like a trooper with lower than ideal oil pressure. I swapped the 5w30 out for some 10w40 and the smoking stopped, and the oil pressure went back up to optimum.

Obviously talking about oil brand and viscosity on a car forum it a Pandora’s box! As everyone has their own opinions lol.

Here is a thought? Have you got a Foxwell or something you can watch live dad from as you drive? Maybe be worth having a gander at the oil pressure live data And drive in differnt conditions to see if it gets effected.

As if it’s a gradual drop Off over time you can change the oil
If you get sudden spikes and falls followed by normal amount that could indicate a sensor going bad
And finally if the oil pressure is low all the time (but not enough to set off the warning) and then drops as you push the car then that could indicate a worn pump.

Oil pump failure is Not as common As say swirl flaps (on the cars that have them) but once the engines get over 175k, if the oil changes haven’t been kept up with the internal
Seals and that degrade. The one I pulled off my e39 (admittedly that had 260K hard miles on it!) was the internal spur gears showed just cavitation damage really badly on the internals. We reckoned maybe some diesel had blown by and got into the sump and over time helped eat away at the pump, but who knows.

M57 does not have oil pressure sensor so you can't monitor oil pressure with diagnostics. Only oil pressure switch on the oil filter stem (has a threshold value to trigger oil pressure warning).

On my E39 530d the HP pump axle seal failed and let 6 litres of diesel in the sump. It started to run on it's own oil but I luckily managed to shut it down before any damage. After dropping 13 litres of oil/diesel from the sump and new HP pump still going strong with 400t km on the clock.

For info there is also a oil cooler/heat exchanger on the 3.0d - so worth checking that the coolant pipes for that are not blocked - causing the oil to overheat ?

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=11_2328

Part 10 on the above - fed by a single entry/exit coolant pipe, exit/entry is the cylinder/head, oil entry and exit is via the cylinder/head directly.

If the noise is there from cold however, then I suspect it's the oil pump but also worth checking oil filter / bypass for blockages also.