Where does the certainty that going one quart low will damage the engine come from? It must be some information that the BMW engineers didn’t have, or I’m sure they would have designed the low oil warning light to come on before there was any danger of damage, not after.
To the OP, have you ever had a low oil pressure waring come up? Have I missed something?
BMW does not use the standard rattle type PCV valve.
Personally, I think any dealer who makes the recommendation that one should wait until the oil light comes on (red or yellow, it matters not) as a basis for checking oil consumption should be avoided.
That’s not just asking for trouble; it’s begging for it.
Raise the hood at X number of miles and check the oil level on the dipstick. Period.
Add that to the fact, according to the OP, they’re replacing gaskets one a a time until the problem is fixed and there’s a chance that someone is skipping diagnostic steps, overlooking the obvious, or the OP is being BSed to some extent.
“This is one of those cases where the extended warranty has paid off for the owner.”
No it hasn’t. They haven’t fixed squat. Sounds to me like the engine is toast and the dealer is just playing games avoiding replacing the engine.
“I have an extended warranty, and several months ago, the temperature light went on while I was on the highway. The water pump went out, and everything started to go wrong. The power steering wouldn’t work, and the car got very hot, as you might imagine.”
Yes, we can imagine. We can also imagine you continued to drive the car until it would go no further…I don’t think warrantees cover toasted motors…
Tardis, to whom are you speaking?
I haven’t assumed that going one court low will damage the engine. I just suggested the OP should get in the habit of checking his own oil before he ends up having to buy a new engine because of oil starvation. I believe the OP isn’t checking his oil between visits to the shop. That just isn’t a good idea.
Thank you for your encouragement. I plan on selling the car with at least 6 months left on the extended warranty, but I can not sell it in good conscience with an oil leak.
He has a sensor that checks the oil level for him. What is wrong with that? Do you not trust it? If so, maybe he should also get out and check engine temperature every so often instead of trusting the dash gauge.
The OP is checking his oil level, continuously via the dash one quart low warning light. This seems better than checking it only every few days via the dipstick.
I don’t know anything about cars, which is why I went to this website. I don’t know about the oil light issue, but the dealership was not going to take my word for measuring oil levels regardless of whether I kept the results in a journal.
I appreciate your sharing my concern that replacing gaskets one at a time raises red flags about avoiding the real issue. Thanks for your response.
That’s why I asked those two questions in the first place. I just wish someone had said “this car doesn’t have a dip stick because it has an oil level gauge on the dashboard.”
That’s all I really wanted to know…and since gauges never fail, and since dashboard lights never burn out, the OP should never have an oil starvation problem. With foolproof technology like that, what could possibly go wrong?
I wished I could be of more help but without having car in hand about all I can do is theorize a bit.
The head gasket(s) giving up due to severe overheating I can understand. However, when those head gaskets are replaced this means the intake manifold and valve cover gaskets are also replaced. This pretty much rules out everything up top so any oil leak would have to be lower.
It’s very difficult for me to see an oil pan gasket or something like that leaking on an '04 BMW as overheating would not have much affect on that.
My feeling is they’re overlooking something. What, I don’t know.
Thanks. That is a big help, and I will press them to describe to me the trouble shooting that they have done. I told them that I want an explanation about what they have done so far, and why they think they finally have solved the problem. We’ll see.
I don’t think this has been brought up yet, but to take a step backward… what was the cause of the overheating? The OP states that the power steering also wasn’t working, which suggests the serpentine belt may have broken. (That age 7 series still has hydraulic power steering, not electric, right?) Does the car have an extended service program, or just a warranty? If the car has a service program, and all scheduled maintenance was performed, is it possible the belt may have been overlooked by a dealer during scheduled maintenance? Otherwise, the fact remains that the car was driven for a distance with an overheating engine. Also, now that the subject of resale has been brought up, BMW’s service records now indicate head gasket replacement, which may scare a lot of buyers.
Also, I don’t think I saw a response to the nature of the oil leak–is a puddle showing up under the car?