Brand new E70 but was delivered to me with too much engine oil...
 

so after driving about 450 miles on the brand new 2009 30i i checked the engine oil and the computer says "engine oil too high". should i be worried? dealer is closed now so i will call in the morning. thanks.

edit: i read that excessive oil could damage seals and bearings in the engine. i will demand they drain the oil to find out how much was overfilled. however how can i know if the seals are ok? open up the engine? i have made repeated checks on a flat and level surface. computer still shows "yellow bars" with "engine oil too high" warning.

edit: btw can you fellow e70ers with the 30i engine tell me what your idle speed is? mine is about 600ish (the needle is a tad above the 500 mark). i want to know if my engine has been over-revving due to excess oil. thanks.

Excess oil only damages the engine if it is so high that the crankshaft dips into the oil in the sump, effectively whipping up the oil like a blender. Frothy oil is full of air bubbles, and doesn't have the same lubricating qualities. That is what damages the bearings. It is easy to see if the crankshaft whipped up the oil, by the appearance of the oil.

It may be marginally high, or you may have a bad level sensor. In either case, let the dealer check it. They should drain the oil down to the correct level, and it the oil appears OK visibly then no damage was likely to have been done.

I don't see the connection with idle speed. Sounds fine.

I'd demand they drain ALL oil, and re-fill with the appropriate amount. And send a sample of the drained oil for analysis, to find out if anything has been damaged.

so i came back from the dealer. they showed me when the car is stationary the computer says oil level is ok. however when car is moving it says oil is too high. they told me it's a software glitch, and bmw will issue a software update sometime in march or april. any truth to this?

Gotta love having no physical dipstick. You won't know anything for sure unless they drain the oil and see how much comes out. What they're saying is possible.

> bmw will issue a software update sometime in march or april. any truth to this?


Typically if this is true, BMW would have sent a letter or TSB to the dealers. You could ask the dealer to show you this if you are concerned. Did they tell you they would call you in March or April to download the new software?

I have a similar problem. Oil changed at dealer two weeks ago and on the way home Idrive reports high oil level. Tech confirmed he only added 7 quarts. Spent 2 hours at the dealer today, they drained/added/drained the oil until it showed normal. No way to tell exactly how much oil there is because of the lack of a dipstick. Driving home, Idrive warned "1 quart low". This has to be a sensor or software issue. I just got off the phone with BMWNA and they're going to look into it, but suggested that you insist the dealer report it to BMW, which is what I'll do.

I had a similar thing happen to my car when I first got it (showed up the day after I picked it up). It turned out to be a problem with the oil sensor - moisture got in while the car was on the ship. People at the dealership said it was a fairly common problem. Yours could be a software glitch, but I would ask them to check the oil sensor for moisture just to be sure.

Ya. Was just about to say oil sensor. Had this happen on my 2008 M3. I would ask them to look at it again.

Just started the X5, hoping that after it sat for a few hours any errors would clear. Now getting a message saying something about oil at minimum, driving may cause damage, etc. Getting it towed in the morning to the dealer. It's probably the sensor, but why take a chance.