I have no idea how the “digital dipstick” in the B9 engine works. My car only has about 1,200 miles on it and I’ve received no low oil warnings. But after I installed ECS Tuning dipstick, I checked both level and condition. Level was dead on and crankcase oil was same color as a quart of replacement oil I purchased in case I needed to “top off” my crankcase before the 1 year / 10,000 mile change.

It just provides me a (false?) sense of security to be able to “eyeball and smell” what’s going on in the lubricant of my car.

You know the saying about “old dogs and new tricks” — this old dog prefers to look and smell and hopefully avoid surprises.

1) Pull the engine cover




2) You’ll see a black plastic plug behind one of the pumps / compressors / alternator on the driver side at the front of the engine.

3) Pull that plug straight out — I used a set of channel locks to make it easier — and insert the Dip Stick there.

The tech advisor told me the digital oil gauge is showing you the top quart of oil. So, if it’s at zero, you are down one quart. Makes sense. I had the same thing on my 335xi and it behaved the same way. When it got down by about 2/3, I’d top off the oil.

Yes — but it’s a 5 second, 4 corner pull up on the engine cover, flip it over & lay it on the engine move.