Hi Guys,

I'm having an issue with my 2003 SL55 that I'm hoping someone can help me with.

I have owned my SL for about 4 months and covered aprox 3,000 miles in this time.

I have occasionally checked the oil level via the cars computer and it always says its 'ok'. The last time I did this was about 1000 miles ago I guess.

The other day I was embarking on a long journey and a warning came on the dash in red saying "Engine oil level - Visit Workshop!"

I pulled over and checked the oil level after about 5-10 mins and it said "add 1.5L of oil".

I added 1L and checked again and it said "engine oil level ok" so I carried on.

About 50 miles later the same warning came up so I diverted to a local Merc dealer but unfortunately they said the couldn't check it with their dipstick as "the rubber seal on the cars dipstick cap had broken off in the tube and they could not remove it". They checked it via the OBC and it still said 'ok' so they gave me some oil and told me to carry on as it could be a faulty sensor.

The alarm kept going off at random intervals during the journey so I took the car to a local Merc specialist when I returned who did measure the oil via a dipstick as apparently the rubber seal that Merc said was stuck in the tube was actually supposed to be there to stop dirt etc getting in the engine if the tube cap fell off.

The Merc specialist said that the car still needed 0.5L of oil so he topped it up an said it should be ok but I'm still getting the same 'Engine oil level - Visit Workshop!" warning.

The next step is probably to change the sensor but I wondered if you guys had any idea what the problem may be?

It just seems a bit of a coincidence that the warning keeps going off after initially needing oil.

Sorry for the long post but wanted to give you the full picture.

The car seems fine apart from the warning, but don't want to damage it.

Many thanks in advance for your help.

you can interview the oil level sensor with das. this will require a short drive and some realtime data logging.

do not replace oil level sensor before its readings have been found implausible via das.

I also got a problem with my sensor and have to change it.

My merc dealer diagnosed it with their system and they said it needed to be replaced.

My problem is that the sensor doesn't hold the memory after I shut the car down, the next day it says "check oil level visit workshop".

Then I have to measure the oil level again and everything is ok.

I'm going in on wednesday to get it fixed.

The other thing is your oil comsumption, I don't know how much the sl 55 is supposed to use of oil, maybe some other folk here in the forum knows?

the 55k motor should use minuscule amount or no oil at all.

Likely true for normal driving. My SL55 doesn't need oil between normal changes, but during a couple hard track days (3 roughly 20 minute sessions per day) it used a bit more than a quart of oil.

That is not normal. I have tracked 55k motors and they pretty much did not touch the oil.

Yeah I don't I didn't have an issue replacing quarts of oil on my old 55, something doesn't sound right you might need to get it looked it

if you have 8 to 9 quarts of oil in the engine then it is a faulty oil level sensor.

where is the oil sensor? is this something you can DIY?

on the oil pan