Increased oil level

[Alter]

Hello,
I own 2007 BMW 120D (2.0l diesel) 130KW/170hp 6-speed Manual. I changed my oil about 4 months ago and it was on MAX mark (bought used car 4 months ago). Recently i checked the oil level again and noticed that it’s above the MAX few millimeters. First i thought it might because of the ground level, so i checked multiple times on different surfaces and got same results. I got really worried, started checking everything – my coolant level dropped from MAX to about middle too. First thought of course was a head gasket leak… Checked oil cap – no sludge or anything, looks completely normal, no exhaust smoke either, oil on dipstick looks normal – no bubbles and it’s dark, cold start – with no problem, instantly. I googled a lot and found something about doing a lot of short trips (which i do, because my work is 5km away from home), DPF, fuel injectors and high pressure fuel pump.

What do you think? Should i be worried or just suck down a little bit of oil?

Topic

[Richard Kirshy]

With doing a lot of short trips, its possible that your seeing condensation buildup in the oil.
That or you may have fuel seeping pass the rings, though this would thin down the oil to some extent.
My thought is to start changing the oil and filter every 3 months and see if the condition persists

[Alter]

So I’ve sucked about 200ml oil trough the dipstick a month ago and it was perfectly on MAX mark. Recently I noticed that oil level is increased a little bit again. I couldn’t find any milky residue under oil cap and my coolant level didn’t changed since my last check (when oil was sucked).
I have bought new oil and filter, but didn’t changed it yet. What would you recommend me to do?

[Jimmy Cross]

Three things you need to verify besides water in the oil. 1 Is your car sitting in the exact same spot so you can rule out slope or tilt of the engine changing the level. 2 Was you engine the same temperature as when you checked it before? 3 Did you allow sufficient time for all the oil to drain back to the pan before checking it each time before?

[Alter]

It was sitting for at least few hours before I checked. I also did that on multiple surfaces and also checked with electric oil level sensor and via dipstick. Both showed slightly increase. I was googling for a while and I found a lot of information that this might be caused by DPF regenerations. I think my car has one, not sure how to check if it really has, since I bought a used car(maybe it was already removed?)…

[Author]

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