I have a 2020 GLB with 148k miles and climbing. At around 97k I started noticing oil under the car. I kept my eye on it and the dealer said it had a “small” leak but ok for now. I used the digital display to monitor the oil and it always read “full”. I checked it obsessively. Cold, running, after stopped, parked on a flat surface etc and always read “full”.
One morning I came out to leave for work and after I left my parking spot it looked like a crime scene only instead of pools of blood it was oil. Well I took it straight to the dealer and had them fix the leak. The oil housing unit was cracked and needed to be replaced. It was a $100 part roughly but costs $1600 all together because it’s so labor intensive. My advisor had told me it was very low on oil and I told him that something was off with the digital gauge because it was reading “full” when it was really down 5 quarts by the time MB received it! I told him the sensor or whatever the part that “reads” the oil level is broken or inoperable. He said after they fixed everything the sensor is fine and working up to spec. Nothing I could do so I trusted in his knowledge.
Fast forward to my current mileage of 149k and it was running a bit rough and vibrating like it did when it was low on oil from the previous leak. I thought even though the oil monitor is reading “full” I should put in a quart just for the hell of it. I did and when I started the car back up the monitor now read at the “bottom/minimum” level. I panicked and put in 1 more quart. Then it read “mid/50%” full. After another 15 minutes of driving now it is back to reading “full”. I have no confidence in how match oil is actually in this car at this point! I don’t know if it’s got a minimum level (the 2 quarts I put in yesterday) or if it’s too full from the 2 quarts I put in it yesterday.

I look out as now a habit for any visible oil under wherever I park and never see any since that oil housing was fixed many many miles ago.

Does anyone have and advice on what to do and/or have any experience with this part (digital oil monitor) failing or breaking on GLBs? Is there a way to manually check it if I get a dipstick? Do these monitors ever break etc?

Thanks,
Mike

Oil puddle referenced before getting oil housing replaced.

Reading full when it had massive oil loss before oil housing was replaced.

 

The display does not work like a dipstick, it has a delay. To get a current reading, I kid you not, completly remove and replace the oil fill cap. This resets the system. Then you will have to drive 6 miles or a certain amount of time, the system will display a message letting you know it is working on it, and you will eventually get the current level. Thus, your last reading of full is likely correct to one quart high, as you reset the system each time you added oil. Most dealerships are clueless about how this works. One service advisor told me the car had to be on a flat section of pavement for ten minutes. Not true.

 

Yikes

 

Yikes is right. And it’s only accurate to ½ liter, nothing in between. BMW has had these things since the 2000s. I really dislike them but it’s what we’ve got.

 

There has to be a more accurate and user friendly version, no?

 

Maybe the workshop menu can help. I have not yet figured out how to get there, but I imagine there is a lag in there as well.

 

Go to the "Workshop" menu, you can google how to do it...there's a youtube video out there. But in there, it shows a more precise measurement of your oil, I believe in %. I saw it the other day when I changed my oil and had to reset the service reminder.