Engine warning light - interesting problem

[massivesi]

Hi all, we have a 2002 330cl estate - not sure which E-number, it's my dad's.

Recently it's had the engine warning light coming on all the time, apart from for about an hour or so after you've topped up the oil in the engine. It consumes a bit of oil, but nothing outrageous. Has anyone got any ideas as to what the issue could be?

Engine not overheating or under performing as far as we are aware and yes, we've checked we're using the dipstick correctly!

Thanks

[lord trumpton]

Unless you get your fault codes read then its a guessing game I'm afraid

The oil thing may be a red herring or it may be oil pressure or oil temp or many other things.

It's like me asking everyone to guess what I'm having for my dinner tonight

ps - it's an e46

[massivesi]

Thanks trumpton,

It's due a service soon so will get it checked out, it's done about 2k miles since the light came on and we never drive it hard.

Does this mean we can plug you into something to find out exactly what you had for dinner? No wait, don't answer that...

On another note: there's some kind of relief valve in the clutch which is really annoying - changes the clutch pressure even though your foot stays in the same position. Apparently you can remove it, but not got round to that...

[Locknut]

lord trumpton said:

It's like me asking everyone to guess what I'm having for my dinner tonight

ps - it's an e46

I didn't know you could eat an E46, what sort of gravy do you put on it?

[mark.c]

when you say enigine warning light, do you mean the engine check light or the oil level warning light?

[rsv696]

They do use a lot of oil. My oil level warning light used to come on every 500-1000 miles (2.2 6cyl M54 engine, 2005, 90k), but disappeared fairly quickly once I'd topped up. Sounds fairly normal for an ageing E46, just make sure you haven't got a leak somewhere.

Edited by rsv696 on Tuesday 30th June 09:17

[Collectingbrass]

Get a Bluetooth ODB reader (approx. £20 on Amazon) and the Torque app (free on Android). That will give you the fault code which you can then insert in your search engine of choice to help narrow down the fault. It's not perfect by any stretch, but it's a big help.

[RC1]

get the fault codes read otherwise its like pinning jelly to a wall...

[kenam]

Locknut said:

I didn't know you could eat an E46, what sort of gravy do you put on it?

If you can eat a cessna then I am sure an e46 wouldn't be too bad.. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Lotito might need a bit of salt?

[anonymous-user]

Can I assume you mean the yellow oil level light is coming on? If so this will be the oil level sensor in the bottom of the sump, it is a very common problem.

Be warned, the cheap ones on eBay are rubbish and will probably last 6 months before the problem comes back.

[massivesi]

Its the engine symbol light, not oil level warning. It's an interesting one, because the topping up of oil obviously has a physical effect on what's triggering this engine warning. It could be to do with oil pressure (changing viscosity), but not crankcase pressure i don't think because just opening the filler/dipstick and not topping up doesn't remove the engine warning. Anyway, like i said it's due a service soon so will get it checked out then - thought i'd post just in case someone had a magic answer. Thanks chaps

[anonymous-user]

The best thing to do is to just get the error codes read. I can confirm that the INPA/EDIABAS software and leads that you can buy on eBay will easily be able to read the codes. It is a bit of a pain to install the software, but once it is up and running it is definitely worth it.

[TheEnd]

Codes are the No. 1 thing to be checking.

There are oil level sensors on the car, but they won't put on the check engine light. That only comes on if there is an emissions relevant fault.