Earlier today, I noticed that my oil pressure was dropping to almost zero while idling, and it continued to do so for the next twenty minutes (at idle; it was in normal range while under throttle). Later on this afternoon, however, I took it out, warmed it up, and now it does not drop below the first bar. I replaced the oil sender less than a year ago. I will have it checked out tomorrow, but in the meantime, I'm curious; what is the normal oil pressure for a 500E, with approximately 150,000 miles? I use dino 20-50, oil was changed less that 2000 miles ago.

Thanks,

Tom

1.5 bar at idle warm.
Old engines will drop to 1 or slightly less.
Should immediatly rise to 2 bar or more at 1500 rpm and more at higher rpm's.

OE filter is best.
Try synthetic ....seems to hold idle pressure better.

FWIW....BMW is filling with 15W/ 65 in the hi po engines to stop low oil pressure at idle in hot weather. !

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Tom, this just happened to me too ... freaked me out! My 500E is at 108k miles.

The oil pressure sending unit is failing. It needs to be changed ... not too expensive to do. I noticed that when the engine is cold, the pressure gauge appears normal (at idle), but when the engine warms up, the pressure drops to zero.

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1992 500E (Daily Driver)
2004 Porsche RUF 955 Dakara 550