[ALS red]

Hi all.
New here and good to see an active helpful forum.
Yes, I know there are several threads on this but to save an expensive trip my local dealer any opinions would be appreciated.
I have owned a 2017 F-Pace 3.0 diesel AWD for a year and happy with most aspects but why no dipstick is beyond me.
Relying on electronics means I have a potential problem but I have my doubts.
The red oil warning light comes on now and again but very intermittently and at varying speed/revs.
The electronic oil level shows oil is up to the max on a level surface and I have also checked when parked on a hill to make sure the sensor is working and it duly drops by a couple of marks so i guess I have enough oil.
While driving which is mostly on motorways the car performs as expected and the temperature remains constant with no obvious sign of a problem.
I have reset the oil level reading just to make sure this was correct and nothing changed after doing this.
Appreciate that this has been discussed on here before and that the safest bet is to get the oil pump checked or perhaps there is a blockage/dirty filter causing a problem.
Any ideas?
Thanks.

 

[idrobbo]

I would suggest you may have oil dilution, and it is probably overfilled due to this. Best thing would be to get an oil & filter change, ensure it is filled up to around half/three quarters full, then monitor it regularly from there.

 

[FP Steve B]

As idrobbo said I only fill my 3ltr diesel up to 3/4 (a couple of marks from the top). You can do the oil & filter change quite easily yourself. The old dipstick has a plastic cap on it that twists off & your can use a hand operated or electric pump to remove the oil (8mm pipe). The filter is under the engine cover at the top of the engine & is removed after six turns. I put in 6 ltrs (Castrol Edge Professional C1 5w30) check level & then top up another half litre as required. You are out of warranty so it won't effect anything & will save you £300!

 

[ALS red]

Thanks both for your replies.
Bizarrely no warning lights this morning after an 80 mile round trip.
I did also suspect oil dilution might be a problem but no smell of diesel from the oil filler cap and the oil level has been consistent since buying the car.
The level has been at max since the last service in January and I have had no overfilled warnings. As I mentioned, I did check the sensor is working by parking on a slope which resulted in the oil level showing as about 2/3rds full. One idea might be to remove some oil and get it tested for oil dilution if I can find somewhere to do this.
Interested to see the comment about the "old dipstick". As far as I'm aware there is no physical dipstick on a 3.0 diesel engine.
I would be happier if there was.
I would happily do an oil change myself so I'll investigate this further.
I'll sound like an old codger saying this, but cars were so much easier to service yourself in the past it makes me think an older classic would be simpler to own.
That's quite a history of previous vehicles FP Steve B!

 

[ALS red]

FP Steve B Just found another post of yours which explains where to extract the oil from so up to speed now.
Thanks again.

 

[Deltasierra]

An intermittent oil light would worry me, you can’t easily check the oil pump, obviously change the oil and filter, in the past I have had oil pressure switches fail causing this symptom, if there is a conventional switch I would change that too.

 

[KeithL]

One idea might be to remove some oil and get it tested for oil dilution if I can find somewhere to do this.

I use My Oil Doctor for my oil analysis, and the kit is on offer at the moment:

Oil Analysis | My Oil Doctor

You get instructions, syringe, plastic tubing, sample bottle and pre-paid return envelope. It is part of the standard analysis but I always stress that I want the oil dilution figure. Results take a week or two.

 

[ALS red]

Thanks for the replies and the oil analysis service link.
Problem is I'm an expat in Spain so looking for a similar service here.
The 'oil pressure switch' suggestion applies to this car?
Perhaps someone knows the answer.