changed oil - no oil on disptick - SOLVED!
 

I have 209,000 miles on my 02 4.4 X5. I've owned it for 6 years now. I change the oil myself. Today, I'm mystified. I changed the oil and filter, and now 3 hours since the change there's no oil on the dipstick. It's dry as a bone. No oil spilled. It's ALL in there. Somwhere. 8.75 quarts. So, where's it hiding? The check oil level light is not on.

Is the vehicle level? Engine warm? Did you wait 2 minutes after shutting it off for the oil to drain down? Was the dipstick fully seated? Was the dipstick replaced, possibly with one of a different length? Is their oil in the cooling system? No oil collecting in the belly pan?

Based on answers to all of the above, add another quart and see if it shows on the stick.

You sure you put the dipstick in the diptube?

from what i remember, a dipstick on a facelifted 4.8iS is a bit longer than on 4.4i - but that is an N62 motor...

for the M62 engine, the dipsticks should be the same...

11 43 7 505 454 - 4.4i, 4.6iS

Well guys, I let it sit overnight. Level ground (garage). No oil on the dipstick. And, yes, yesterday I checked the dipstick to make sure it was seated. I added a quart of oil this morning and it was barely touching the dipstick. Oh, it IS the vehicle's dipstick. Now to check with the shop guys about what could be possibly occurring. I do not have any leaks. They did an inspection on the vanos a while back. Maybe something did go back correctly.

You mentioned the VANOS was inspected. Was it possible the dipstick was removed and not reinstalled correctly?

Drain your oil back out into a clean container (so you can reuse it) and measure what you get out.

i think if you put TOO MUCH oil, you can damage the engine... is it not what happened to Bnagy's car? so, you should not exceed the 8.5 qts for a V8

Were you able to get a dipstick reading before the oil change? If so then you can rule out any dipstick issues.

Here's the latest. The dipstick tube was not affected during the VANOS inspection. I parked the X5 with the front pointed down our sloped driveway. Lo and behold it finally had an oil reading this morning! It read just over full. Tomorrow the shop is going to take a look at the tube. Stayed tuned.

Hope that extra qt on top of the orig ~ 8.75 qts isn't too much to froth around in the sump...
Steep slope driveway?! Why didn't you say so?! :rofl: ... ;)
GL, mD

HSV2006,Please dont take offence ,its all in good humour,we love to help but also love a good laugh and the truth is ,the english have a name for people that check their oil level , with the front pointed down a sloped driveway!They would call you "you dipstick"..:rofl::rofl:true ;)

Situation resolved! 'JCL' came the closest to getting it right. I took the X5 to the shop today. They blew air down the tube and they could hear it in the engine. No obstructions. Next they inserted a long rod. It showed oil. They compared it to the dipstick, and that's when THE LIGHT WENT ON!!!

During the vanos inspection they had previously performed the top of the dipstick broke off. As a temporary measure they inserted a short dipstick which looked exactly like mine save for the length. OH. They forgot to tell me!!!!! They ordered a new dipstick and when it arrived they had no notes about it, so they didn't know to contact me! I now have the correct dipstick, less a quart of oil (overfill).

So, at the end of the day, is your dipstick too short? Is it long enough? :)

A couple of observations. My X5's oil level sensor does detect overfill. "Check oil level". A little hard to do with the wrong dipstick! During all this, the engine sometimes had 1-2 quarts too much oil in it. It simply got rid of it. Thankfully nothing serious occurred.

To all of you who responded, THANK YOU! Oh. The technician has a new nickname!

cool!!! can youmark the title of this thread - SOLVED, RESOLVED or FIXED? so the others can see what the solution was...

:)

PS was the dipstick from a different model? in facelifted N62 engine the oil pan is a bit deeper, so the dipstick is longer... does it apply to M62?

Good to read the resolve...
Wondering how your overfilled engine 'simply got rid of'... the extra qt or two?
GL, mD

Good to hear problem solved! Did they just crack the drain plug to get rid of the extra?

To MotorDavid, I wonder, too. It was burned off in some manner. I never saw a smoke screen. To Ricky, they cracked open the drain plug. To TerminatorX5, I don't know where they got the shorter dipstick, around the shop. As for the M62 vs N62, I've no idea. Sorry.

Glad you found the problem! Hopefully no serious damage will have been caused by the extra oil, I'd be interested to know where it went...