Sorry I miss the dipstick as well.

The reason why they removed it because of cost cutting reasons, or maybe for another reason, really not sure.

 

I read in a few different places about this and their saying eliminating the dipstick helps to keep oil contamination down.

 

It reduces emissions. When the EPA does emissions testing, they put the car in a sealed tent-like enclosure for 24 hours or more. Hot soak, cold soak, running - the entirety of the emissions are analyzed. Apparently crankcase emissions are significant, or at least significant enough to affect CAFE.
Same reasoning for eliminating a full size spare, because weight saving enters into their algorithm for fuel efficiency.

 

I let the engine warmup and watched the oil capacity slowly lower to 9.5.
Thanks for all the help guys!

 

Yay we are all set then!

 

I was thinking they save cost on the dipstick tube but then realized doesn't an oil sensor cost more? Thanks for explaining the certification/testing process, I never would had known.

 

I do realize bmw (?) started it first (?) the digital oil level thing, they had it since the 2000s? or 1990s?

 

Apart from the emissions that was mentioned, that is also possible but doesn't it go through the oil filter anyways? The oil filter will trap it regardless?

 

I wonder if another reason they eliminated the dipstick was due to convenience for non enthusiasts. You can check it just by sitting inside the vehicle instead of popping the hood (obviously not as good as the dipstick) but I guess not a lot of MB customers like to pop the hood and get their hands on engine oil. I also don't think the sensor will be as accurate as the dipstick as well.

On dipstick equipped MBs, there is also only a low level sensor (float) that will trigger the Please check engine oil level at next refueling and it doesn't have a sensor or way to detect overfill (which I learned that dealerships seems to be doing, overfilling).

 

Maybe dealerships overfill oil to "over deliver" on what customers paid for, "free engine oil (anyone?)" but obviously too much engine oil is bad for the engine, crank will whip it like cream.

 

I would think they would be worried about moisture getting in the oil

 

Hmmm moisture...

 

Here's a current review from Motor Trend: https://www.motortrend.com/reviews/2...ck-test-review