Driving BMW after minimum oil level warning light (yellow) comes on

[KayGee]

Assuming it's a worst-case scenario and it's not possible to top off the oil, how many miles can the E90 and F10 gasoline models be driven before the cars absolutely have to stop? Does BMW provide any numbers? This is after the yellow warning light (not the red) comes on while driving.

Please help!

 

[JCH13]

A friend of mine has a $5k+labor engine replacement to do because someone drove his BMW with the warning light on.

Decide for yourself if a $100-$300 tow bill is worth risking replacing the whole engine.

 

[pauldun170]

Why not just pull over at the nearest gas station\auto parts store and add some oil?

 

[SpatiallyAware]

WTF... E90/F10.... We're talking >$30k cars here.


I can't even believe this is being asked. Sell the BMW and buy a corolla, they tolerate this stuff much better. In all seriousness, based on just your question, I really do think you should sell the car before you destroy it.

That being said, you are *probably* fine with the yellow light, but you really should top it up absolutely ASAP. What is the year/model/engine?

 

[KayGee]

To the three posters above: do you have problems with comprehension? I am a mechanical engineer; I know it's bad to drive with a warning light on. I also know that mechanical systems always have a safety factor designed into the build. My question was if anyone on this forum knows what that safety factor is. Obviously, the three of you have no clue what that is, so please do me a favor and go thread-crap in the Off Topic forum. Thanks.

 

[JCH13]

To the three posters above: do you have problems with comprehension? I am a mechanical engineer; I know it's bad to drive with a warning light on. I also know that mechanical systems always have a safety factor designed into the build. My question was if anyone on this forum knows what that safety factor is. Obviously, the three of you have no clue what that is, so please do me a favor and go thread-crap in the Off Topic forum. Thanks.

Oh darn, you didn't get a response from a BMW engineer... clearly we don't understand what you're asking.

Take it from another mechanical engineer who builds and races cars: oil is not something to be trifled with. A yellow light indicates a low oil level, as you probably guessed. However, it is impossible to tell through the internet if you have an oil leak that is getting worse and your car might puke all it's oil out in 2 miles, a faulty oil level sensor, or something in between. Even if your car is jut burning oil an exceptionally hard turn or spirited driving might put you into an oil starvation situation. Thus we offer conservative advice that might save you a whole lot of hassle if you've got a potentially disastrous situation on your hands.

 

[MagickMan]

I have an F10, and if my oil warning light came on I'd immediately be moving to the shoulder so I could shut it off. Just pull over and kill it, then call for a tow. I wouldn't risk permanent damage to the engine unless there was a significant safety issue involved.

 

[LTC8K6]

IIRC, the light indicates 1 quart low.

Theoretically, you can drive a long way being just one quart low.

To get to 2 quarts low would probably about as long as it took to get from full to one quart low.

Assuming there are no leaks and this indicator is just from normal oil use.

If you wanted to be "safe" in this scenario, say half the distance it took to get a quart low in the first place.

That should make you 1.5 quarts low.

I would not drive far at all if I were one quart low with a nice engine like that.

I would either keep a quart in the trunk, or buy one as soon as I saw the light.

 

[SkullWalker]

how many miles can the E90 and F10 gasoline models be driven before the cars absolutely have to stop? Does BMW provide any numbers?

Anywhere between 1 and 10.000.

 

[LTC8K6]

I read that the manual says you can go up to 50 miles when the 1 quart low light comes on.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

To the three posters above: do you have problems with comprehension? I am a mechanical engineer; I know it's bad to drive with a warning light on. I also know that mechanical systems always have a safety factor designed into the build. My question was if anyone on this forum knows what that safety factor is. Obviously, the three of you have no clue what that is, so please do me a favor and go thread-crap in the Off Topic forum. Thanks.

Awwww man we have a badass here!

As an all-knowing ME, you should know that no manufacturer is going to specifically list out how many miles you can go before engine failure. A warning light is a light that tells you to add oil... Not run a specific number of miles until right before the point of catastrophic failures.

So..... Being that you know so much, I'm not sure why you're here.



In all seriousness, if the warning light is on you really shouldn't drive the car. I would say the safe numbers of miles is the distance to the closest place that sells oil from wherever the light turns on. Like, 50-100 miles max, if it were my car.

 

[LTC8K6]

Okay, just read a 2010 328i manual. It says to add the oil within 125 miles or engine damage may occur.

I think the turbo engines use a shorter mileage number.

So, it's a pretty stern warning. You need to add the quart as quick as you can.

That's what most of us would do anyway with any warning related to engine oil. Take care of it right away.

 

[jaha2000]

As a mechanical engineer, i am sad to hear you say you know that all mechanical systems have a safety factor. I am also sad to see you think that you know more than others because you are a mechanical engineer.
How about this..
All mechanical systems i design have a safety factor built in. Do you know what standard FOS the BMW engineers use?
Lets see.
Loss of life possible? Nope
Danger to life? Nope
Inconvenience cause some idiot is not smart enough to check the oil in his car and drives with the oil warning light on? Sure enough.. I dont care how many stages the oil light has, if that thing came on in my car, i would stop within 200 feet and put more oil in...

 

[Sulaco]

To the three posters above: do you have problems with comprehension? I am a mechanical engineer; I know it's bad to drive with a warning light on. I also know that mechanical systems always have a safety factor designed into the build. My question was if anyone on this forum knows what that safety factor is. Obviously, the three of you have no clue what that is, so please do me a favor and go thread-crap in the Off Topic forum. Thanks.

Rather than coming across as a combative, ignorant ass, maybe stop to think about what they actually said?

As pauldun170 pointed out, why would adding oil ever NOT be an option? It's an asinine question, because it's always an option, unless you're a fool, or rallying across Tunisia

 

[manimal]

sadly most idiot lights trigger too late when you have a catastrophic failure. The lights only really good for slow leaks or internal burning consumption as has been discussed on ATG almost as much as IRS.



If your driving on the hwy and the oil and the temp gauge start to peg or warn pull over and call a tow. Even blowing a HG because your expansion tank blew isnt as bad as cooking an engine with no oil.


danger will robinson danger


so I guess my answer to the op is zero if its new and has no leaks.

 

[LTC8K6]

Just to be clear, this is the oil level light.

Not the oil pressure light.

The crankcase or tank is 1 quart low.

 

[jaha2000]

Just to be clear, this is the oil level light.

Not the oil pressure light.

The crankcase or tank is 1 quart low.

Still
Why risk it?

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Still
Why risk it?

Because he's an ME and thus knows he can run the engine down to that last mile before damage without any problem....

 

[pauldun170]

Assuming it's a worst-case scenario and it's not possible to top off the oil, 1. how many miles can the E90 and F10 gasoline models be driven before the cars absolutely have to stop?

2. Does BMW provide any numbers?

This is after the yellow warning light (not the red) comes on while driving.

I admit I did not answer the two questions because I was more interested in the "it's not possible to top off the oil" remark. Why would someone attempt to drive a vehicle with low oil? Did BMW take away the dipstick AND the oil cap while I was looking at that shiny object over there? I automatically assumed you were some teenage girl driving around in her birthday gift and was about to report some bad news to daddy. My apologies.

To the three posters above: do you have problems with comprehension? I am a mechanical engineer; I know it's bad to drive with a warning light on. I also know that mechanical systems always have a safety factor designed into the build. My question was if anyone on this forum knows what that safety factor is. Obviously, the three of you have no clue what that is, so please do me a favor and go thread-crap in the Off Topic forum. Thanks.

- Did you read your original post?

I read that the manual says you can go up to 50 miles when the 1 quart low light comes on.

Why the hell would someone read the manual....

Okay, just read a 2010 328i manual. It says to add the oil within 125 miles or engine damage may occur.

Are you saying that BMW put it in the owners manual?

OP - Why didn't you read the manual?

My advice to the Mechanical Engineer who opened this thread is to read the manual. Its a very engineering type of thing to do from what I hear.

As for the consequences of running it low, I think you should tear the engine down. Take a baseline and then after putting it together run it minus a quart and then check the results.
I'm not a mechanical engineer but I think that's the only way to be sure.
My personal non mechanical engineering experience with engines run low on oil runs from bearings going south in motorcycles to absolutely nothing going wrong in old GM Iron dukes.

Sorry I did not contribute to the thread or answer anyone's question.
I just wanted to be part of a thread that had real mechanical engineers in it.

 

[LTC8K6]

Still
Why risk it?

Why not read my posts where I say not to risk it?

 

[LTC8K6]

Because he's an ME and thus knows he can run the engine down to that last mile before damage without any problem....

Well, you just need one of those miracle additives and then you don't even need any oil.

 

[Slacker]

No experience with BMW's but I know you can drive a Ford 4.6 that is 4 quarts low for about 2 weeks with no catastrophic failure, I do not plan on doing any longer term testing on this

My oil pressure "gage" needle was acting weird for a while, it would jump from off to on rapidly every now and then, I figured it was a Ford electrical gremlin and ignored it til I noticed it had been 10k since my last oil change, it took 4qts to get to full, that was a month or two ago, I guess I should get around to changing the oil soon

 

[LTC8K6]

No experience with BMW's but I know you can drive a Ford 4.6 that is 4 quarts low for about 2 weeks with no catastrophic failure, I do not plan on doing any longer term testing on this

My oil pressure "gage" needle was acting weird for a while, it would jump from off to on rapidly every now and then, I figured it was a Ford electrical gremlin and ignored it til I noticed it had been 10k since my last oil change, it took 4qts to get to full, that was a month or two ago, I guess I should get around to changing the oil soon

You lost oil pressure at times then. I'd be very worried.

 

[pauldun170]

No experience with BMW's but I know you can drive a Ford 4.6 that is 4 quarts low for about 2 weeks with no catastrophic failure, I do not plan on doing any longer term testing on this

My oil pressure "gage" needle was acting weird for a while, it would jump from off to on rapidly every now and then, I figured it was a Ford electrical gremlin and ignored it til I noticed it had been 10k since my last oil change, it took 4qts to get to full, that was a month or two ago, I guess I should get around to changing the oil soon

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[pauldun170]

I'm starting to feel a little out of place in this thread since I check my car oil every 3rd fill up and my bikes oil prior to every ride.