Under pressure

u It was Sunday afternoon when I received a call from a pal in a panic. His partner had just got herself a 2016 BMW 320d and he had told her it would be a good idea to have the oil and filter changed as a starting point.

He is not a mechanic, but hands-on and very capable, so he undertook the relatively simple task himself. With the job completed, he put the old oil in the container and drove down to the recycling centre to dispose of it. As he slowed down to enter the recycling centre the oil pressure lamp glared at him.

He gingerly drove back with a keen eye on the light, which shone brightly whenever the engine slowed to a tick-over.

My first thought was that the filter may not have been fitted correctly. On this engine the filter has a small protrusion which sits in a hole in the filter housing, allowing the oil to drain from the housing when the filter is removed. If not fitted correctly, as this one turned out to be, it also allows oil pressure to by-pass the system. Fortunately, the filter wasn’t damaged, resulting in a very happy pal.

The small lug on the oil filter was not properly located, allowing oil pressure to bypass the system.