Oil Monitoring (Certain Markets Only)
General
The following components are used for oil monitoring:
- oil level and oil temperature sensor (7/166)
- engine control module (ECM) (4/46)
- driver information module (DIM) (5/1).
The sensor is used for purposes such as informing the driver whether the oil requires filling. This is done via the driver information module (DIM).
Detecting the oil level
In order to detect oil level, the capacitance (the ability to store an electric charge) between the two capacitative elements is continually measured. Variations of the oil level between the elements changes the capacitance. Information is then sent to the engine control module (ECM) and is converted to an oil level. The control module takes temporary oil level changes into consideration.
Calculating the oil quality
The control module uses the measured oil level and the oil temperature from the sensor together with engine speed and fuel consumption to calculate the oil quality. Oil quality is then used as the basis for whether a service message is displayed to the driver.