[clydefrog]

Originally Posted by Trogster

20- Mystery Stains

Not exclusive to the M2..... But never park in the garage with your sun roof open after lubricating the hinges on your garage door.

You may return to find the most mysterious looking stains on your center console.

all the more reason to opt for CF roof

[Trogster]

21- My Kingdom for a Dipstick

I've always done my own vehicle maintenance, so not having a dipstick to check motor oil is anachronistic to me.

Does anyone know what the oil volume is between the Min and Max markings?

Plus, any idea what's the oil capacity of our engine?

[RockCrusher]

Originally Posted by Trogster

21- My Kingdom for a Dipstick

I've always done my own vehicle maintenance, so not having a dipstick to check motor oil is anachronistic to me.

Does anyone know what the oil volume is between the Min and Max markings?

Plus, any idea what's the oil capacity of our engine?

I have had my M2 in for an oil/filter service now 3 times: 600 miles, 1200 miles, and just the other day ~5000 miles. I looked at each invoice. There was no quantity of oil provided. Just a unit price (<$2.00/liter which is the wholesale price I was told) and the total price. The total oil price runs close to $100 not including sales tax.

I came across this document which gives the oil capacity but I can't say the amount is correct for your engine. See attached PDF.

No interaction with the BMW techs yet and may not ever have any as I don't have any plans to service my M2 at home. But I had considerable interaction with Porsche techs and I was told by the Porsche techs the electronic oil level measurement system was not intended to be used to know how full to fill the engine. The amount of oil added to the engine was measured by the service bay oil gun. Once the tech had added the specified amount of oil the engine was started and the electronic oil measurement system was activated to *confirm* its reading agreed with the amount of oil *known* to be in the engine.

While my ~500K miles of time spent with car engines (3 Porsche cars and 3 MINIs, oh and 5K miles with my M2) fitted with an electronic oil level system was problem free I was told the system could fail and not deliver any reading or read low or high. (Curious I bought a used electronic oil level measurement sensor and cut it apart to see what it consisted of and with the help of an EE how it worked.)

Also the system was not really intended to show how much oil was in the engine over a certain level. The techs impressed upon me the importance of not overfilling the engine as the electronic oil measurement system did not have the measuring range to show how much above the max oil level the oil was. One couldn't know if it was 1/4 a liter or a liter or more.

Dipsticks don't have to be any better. For example, the dipsticks fitted to my 2 Scat Packs and Hellcat always showed the oil level high, above the max line, when I got the car back from the service department. I was told I was not measuring the oil right. That was BS. What I learned was the word was because Dodge changed the amount of oil the engine should be filled with (increasing it from 6 quarts to 7 quarts) and instead of trashing a boxcar full of wrong dipsticks/tubes used them. For the Hellcat there was a newer dipstick/tube that would show the oil level right with the right amount of oil in the engine. I ordered the new dipstick but the tube was on back order. I never got the tube before I traded in the Hellcat. The oil level was high because the tech put in the right amount of oil and the dipstick was not relied upon to gauge that.

[Squidget]

Originally Posted by RockCrusher

What I learned was the word was because Dodge changed the amount of oil the engine should be filled with (increasing it from 6 quarts to 7 quarts) and instead of trashing a boxcar full of wrong dipsticks/tubes used them.

Groan. It's all the dumb exceptions and resupply quirks and penny pinching like this, that made me kinda give up wrenching my own cars. The day when you could just buy a Chilton's and figure it out yourself are long gone.

[RockCrusher]

Originally Posted by Trogster

21- My Kingdom for a Dipstick

I've always done my own vehicle maintenance, so not having a dipstick to check motor oil is anachronistic to me.

Does anyone know what the oil volume is between the Min and Max markings?

Plus, any idea what's the oil capacity of our engine?

According to the owners manual the amount of oil to add should be given on the control display.

From the digital owners manual: Only add engine oil when the message is displayed in the instrument cluster. The top-up quantity is indicated in the message shown on the Control Display.

When I checked my M2's oil level some miles after buying the car it was low. Not as low as your engine's oil level.

(See attached pic.)

I seem to recall coming across some documentation that said the amount of oil to add would only be displayed if it was necessary to add oil. (But I can't find where I came across that.)

I didn't care. I had bought 2 bottles of the oil before I left the dealer with my car and opened a bottle and added just a bit of oil. By a bit less than I suspected was needed and checked the level and stopped with the level was good.

[Trogster]

A solution may be at hand:

https://www.bimmerworld.com/Engine/B...t-F8X-S55.html

https://www.facebook.com/sctsracetea...6963744492936/


Installation is DIY simple.

[Trogster]

A simple bolt-on solution. However it wouldn't take much effort to design a flanged insert that would allow the M2 to keep the OEM level sensor in addition to a traditional dipstick.

https://www.apmotorsport.co.uk/produ...235iR-dipstick

[tommycr]

Originally Posted by RockCrusher

Hah! Never had my seat "eat" my key but I've had to fumble around and move the seat to retrieve a pocket knife. Only in the M2.

I lose my JUUL constantly in and under the seats!

[dmr]

Originally Posted by Trogster

21- My Kingdom for a Dipstick

Plus, any idea what's the oil capacity of our engine?

7 litres.

[Trogster]

21- Back to the dipstick issue

It would appear that it's not only the Beemer community that's concerned about the lack of dipsticks in modern cars.

One elegant solution I came upon was swapping the engine pan oil drain plug with a banjo fitting. The banjo fitting could then interface with a dipstick assembly.

Of course you would have to calibrate the dipstick to suit the vehicle.

I like this solution. You get to keep the electronic oil level feature, no need to mod the oil pan, and no added complexity to oil changes (with the exception of needing two crush washers instead of the one).

Merits further investigation.

[Trogster]

22- Anti-reflective sunglasses

Broke my favorite pair of sunglasses and had to quickly find a replacement.

Picked up a rather nice pair of MAUI glasses. Perfect fit.

Their anti-reflective qualities are so effective, they make my heads-up display virtually invisible ..... regardless of the brightness level.

Be warned.

[Trogster]

23- Digital Tire Pressure Gauge

With the cold weather upon us, it's time to increase the tire pressure to compensate for the lower air temperatures.

Imagine my surprise when my Digital back-lit tire pressure gauge refused to work when the air temperature was below freezing.

A couple of hours indoors got it up and running again...but it serves as a good remined to keep as old school pencil style air gauge in the car.

[Trogster]

Originally Posted by M2siast

Are you referring to the TPMS? That’s not meant for us to use as a gauge to inflate our tires, as it’s not real time.

One of these...useless below freezing.

[aerobod]

Originally Posted by Trogster

One of these...useless below freezing.

I have a few cheap digital tyre gauges around, never had any problems using them down in the -25C range.

[RockCrusher]

Originally Posted by Trogster

23- Digital Tire Pressure Gauge

With the cold weather upon us, it's time to increase the tire pressure to compensate for the lower air temperatures.

Imagine my surprise when my Digital back-lit tire pressure gauge refused to work when the air temperature was below freezing.

A couple of hours indoors got it up and running again...but it serves as a good remined to keep as old school pencil style air gauge in the car.

Bought a couple of digital tire pressure gauges. Never worked right for me even in mild temperatures.

I remember years ago my friend/mentor fitted his VW -- this before cars came with digital clocks -- a small digital battery clock. It was always "on time". Was curious and asked about that. He said he bought several and set them then let them run. The one that was on time after so many days he put in the car. The others he threw away...

Not wanting to do that I just bought a nice dial air pressure gauge. Two in fact. One for each car.

Currently have one in my M2 and my JCW.

[Trogster]

Originally Posted by aerobod

I have a few cheap digital tyre gauges around, never had any problems using them down in the -25C range.

Make / model please.

[Squidget]

I SUCK at keeping things charged and can never find batteries when I need them, so all my gauges (and calipers) are analog. No problems with those in winter!

[Squidget]

Also I hate those cheap pencil gauges. I have a nice JACO.

[aerobod]

Originally Posted by Trogster

Make / model please.

They are a bit of a no-name brand bought for about $10 10 years ago from somewhere like Walmart. Kept in each car glove box and seem to correlate with the reported tyre pressure from the TPMS on the vehicles within 0.1bar / 1PSI:

[two_three_two]

literally have a jar filled with pencil gauges i refill periodically. they end up getting broken, lost, or donated one at a time. i consider it a public service to my less car saavy people

[two_three_two]

after a few hundred miles... some thoughts.

• The cupholder placement is hilariously bad for 6 speed cars. moving into third, i find myself pushing the gearshift up from behind with my thumb and index finger when i have my morning coffee (which must be in the RIGHT cupholder, lest it prevents me from shifting into first) rather than gripping the knob naturally and pushing up with the heel of my palm. i would like a word with whoever thought this was ok.
• The steering is absolutely not as bad as the (chronically incorrect) reviewers try to make it out to be. its not stellar, but it is not totally dead and i can still get a decent feel of what the front tires are doing (keeping in mind i drive in comfort steering essentially 100% of the time)
• backseat is usable when carbon roof is selected. i am 6'2 220 lbs on a good day, wife is about 6 feet, and we can make it work with another couple in the back seat provided they are normal sized and not like us.
• you can just barely fit 4 OEM size tires inside the car with the seats down.
• iDrive 8 is dogshit and will absolutely be what brings this car down in the long term.
• goes without saying but way better looking in person than in photos. even the launch photos were bad. dunno how professional photogs managed that.

[RemoWilliams84]

Originally Posted by two_three_two

after a few hundred miles... some thoughts.

• The cupholder placement is hilariously bad for 6 speed cars. moving into third, i find myself pushing the gearshift up from behind with my thumb and index finger when i have my morning coffee (which must be in the RIGHT cupholder, lest it prevents me from shifting into first) rather than gripping the knob naturally and pushing up with the heel of my palm. i would like a word with whoever thought this was ok.
• The steering is absolutely not as bad as the (chronically incorrect) reviewers try to make it out to be. its not stellar, but it is not totally dead and i can still get a decent feel of what the front tires are doing (keeping in mind i drive in comfort steering essentially 100% of the time)
• backseat is usable when carbon roof is selected. i am 6'2 220 lbs on a good day, wife is about 6 feet, and we can make it work with another couple in the back seat provided they are normal sized and not like us.
• you can just barely fit 4 OEM size tires inside the car with the seats down.
• iDrive 8 is dogshit and will absolutely be what brings this car down in the long term.
• goes without saying but way better looking in person than in photos. even the launch photos were bad. dunno how professional photogs managed that.

I agree with all of that (especially the cupholder rant) except the backseat.

I am 5'10" and with my seat in my normal driving position, I can sit behind it fine as far as leg room. But there is no way I would subject anyone to sitting in the back because of the head room. With the sloped rear window, I have to tilt my head at a very awkward angle to fit under the glass. My daughter (11) on the other hand fits perfectly.