E30 Zone

Hi All,

3rd post and a bad one.

Picked up a mint 1991 325ise. Just got it serviced a few days back to ensure everything was tip top. Picked it up in the rain so never bothered checking anything. Spent the weekend giving it some beans etc. Just checked teh oil today from cold and the its well over the max - i mean right up to the plastic indicator. I gave the mechanic 5litres of Castrol Magnatec and he gave me back an empty bottle.

Car seems to be running fine. has he screwed my car up?

i would take it back mate and show him.

i plan to, but im just pissed ive been driving it hard an may have damaged something. Got the aa on the way - hoping they got one of them gizmos to suck it out through the dipstick hole.

very unlikely to have damaged something, im sure its 4.5 they take anyway! its an m20 it will leak out anyway, but if tou have payed the man to do a job, take it back

mash320i wrote:very unlikely to have damaged something, im sure its 4.5 they take anyway! its an m20 it will leak out anyway, but if tou have payed the man to do a job, take it back

Then learn to do it yourself!
If you want a job done properly.........

Cheers chaps. Just had the AA round (yup im paranoid), got him to drain most of the overfill out. Its now sitting at the the second line, but as far as im aware it should be halfway. He had to jack it up a few times to check, but he didnt seem to happy to be doing the job either so i just left it at that.

Will see the mechanic tomorrow and give the gimp what for!

Good luck with that now you've had the AA drain the evidence, did he (AA bloke) give you a reciept stateing what he has done?

Then learn to do it yourself!
If you want a job done properly.........

Thanks Dad!

You can look up the capacity of your car on castrol's webpage.

http://www.castrol.com/castrol/iframe.d ... Id=7044829

Strange on the danish site diff oils etc. are also given

croms wrote:Cheers chaps. Just had the AA round (yup im paranoid), got him to drain most of the overfill out. Its now sitting at the the second line, but as far as im aware it should be halfway. He had to jack it up a few times to check, but he didnt seem to happy to be doing the job either so i just left it at that.

Will see the mechanic tomorrow and give the gimp what for!

Oil level should be at the top line. Much below half way, and the oil level light will come on,( assuming you have an E30 with the right number of cylinders.)

that site, and the haynes manual state 5.8 litres for the M30 engine but if i do an oil and filter change it needs 5 litres to fill to the top line on the dipstick, even after the usual run round and let it settle procedure.
oil level light comes on when it's sat on the bottom line.

why is everyone wrong? or do i have a brick in my sump, toilet cistern water saving stylee?!!!!

anyway, even if you can't/won't change the oil yourself, you certainly can check it! you should be doing this anyway and NEVER trust anyones work on your car without a check-over yourself

So even the AA man couldnt read the dipstick properly?

There are incorrect reference books out there! Oilman (the zone's ultimate authority on oils) posted up the capacity for a M20 (IIRC), a short while ago, which was wrong.
When I pointed it out, he said that the capacity he posted, was what it said in his book.

ah damn now im confused :-S

Its a 1991 325i se - m20 engine i assume.

the AA man was a stroppy git, made it sound like he was doing me a favour and they are not permitted to do this on the roadside - and that if anyone asks, he just told me what needs to be done and didnt do it himself - so i bunged him a fiver for his troubles. Only later did i check the receipt/slip and realise he had actually put down 'drained excess oil'??? lying git, just made it seem like he was sorting me out so id tip him.

Anyway - can anyone confirm if the oil level when cold shud sit at the top line or in the middle of the two?

Top line. [always take out the dipstick, wipe clean,and then reinsert for a true reading.]

cheers chap! AA man was correct then, no need to see the gimp mechanic again!