[matt_435xi]

car alerted me at 4000 miles that i was at minimum oil level and asked me to add a quart. now i am at 8000 miles same warning, so i will add another quart this evening. i had an e46 coupe and never had to add this much oil? e92 oil consumption that much different? is this normal?

[toofasttooslow]

Good question. I also got the oil low warning light today after changing it only 2500 miles ago.

[6Zylinder]

Seems a bit much to me. But then depends on how high you rev your engine.
I went 8000 miles and still had 1/3 until the minimum.

[bimmerron]

I have gone 9000 miles still showing full

[samwoo2go]

faulty sensor?

[toofasttooslow]

Maybe, but when I put a quart in the light went off. It might be the fact that I take short (2.5miles each way) trips to work and home every day. A quart in a month and a half does seem like a bit much for a brand new car though.

[matt_435xi]

at 10,500 i added a 3rd quart, still haven't had my first oil change. i am getting close to my 1yr anniversary April 10th and my oil service indicator says another 1500 (i have 12k miles now) until my first oil change. i am just following the orders of my dealership and my car, but this can't be normal oil consumption?? 3 quarts in 12k miles?

[john335]

i noticed that on a hill with the engine running the car will ask for oil, obviously as the oil all runs to one end. make sure the car is flat when the warning comes on

[matt_435xi]

Originally Posted by john335

i noticed that on a hill with the engine running the car will ask for oil, obviously as the oil all runs to one end. make sure the car is flat when the warning comes on

it is parked in my flat garage, and i always wait a day or 2 before adding a quart. maybe its because i drive a short distance to work in city type driving? i don't drive my car that hard? everything else is perfect with the car, but even my last 325Ci would ask for some oil from time to time? i mean BMW is the ONLY car i have heard of that supplies you with a quart of oil to top it off? i think they should at least give me a couple of quarts as I shouldn't have to pay for oil under warrenty. (yes i know Mobil 1 only costs ~$6, but its the principle)

[midlife]

Originally Posted by matt_335Ci

it is parked in my flat garage, and i always wait a day or 2 before adding a quart. maybe its because i drive a short distance to work in city type driving? i don't drive my car that hard? everything else is perfect with the car, but even my last 325Ci would ask for some oil from time to time?

i do not know if the short trips helps u to consume oil, but so many short trips is bad for you engine (cabon build up cause the car runs rich when cold).

i live in a small town so most of my trips are short... i may be crazy, and i do pamper my car, so in the mornings, if i have to do a short 2 mile trip, i will drive the car for 10 minutes first, wait until my oil is at operating temps, then i go the 2 miles .... note my car is a semi daily driver.

IMHO, many short trips and not driving your hard hard at least once in a while = bad engine performance in the long run.

my 2 cents

[matt_435xi]

Originally Posted by midlife

i do not know if the short trips helps u to consume oil, but so many short trips is bad for you engine (cabon build up cause the car runs rich when cold).

i live in a small town so most of my trips are short... i may be crazy, and i do pamper my car, so in the mornings, if i have to do a short 2 mile trip, i will drive the car for 10 minutes first, wait until my oil is at operating temps, then i go the 2 miles .... note my car is a semi daily driver.

IMHO, many short trips and not driving your hard hard at least once in a while = bad engine performance in the long run.

my 2 cents

ok maybe i mis-spoke. my short drive to work (one way) is ~8 miles and takes 20-30mins depending on traffic. obviously this is more then enough time for my engine (oil) to heat up, so i still don't know why my engine is drinking my oil?

[Chowbow]

If it's consuming oil it is basically some oil getting past the rings and getting burned up. Honestly there isn't much you can do apart from replace the rings but nobody is going to go through that just for oil consumption. Keep a quart in your trunk...

There's lots of talk about break-in methods and oil consumption and all that. Believe what you want, but there's really not much you can do anyway so I'd be over it.

[Mr. 5]

I had to add a quart after 5K miles.
I changed the oil to 0w 40 after 10k miles and added a quart after another 5 k miles, so it doesn't matter what oil is used IMO.

So, I guess for me, I'm adding a quart every 5k miles.
Hopefully it will get a bit better.

[bullmrkt]

Just had to add some myself. I wonder if this has anything to do with the high temps of the turbos? Oil Cooler? No idea just guessing...

[midlife]

Originally Posted by Chowbow

If it's consuming oil it is basically some oil getting past the rings and getting burned up. Honestly there isn't much you can do apart from replace the rings but nobody is going to go through that just for oil consumption. Keep a quart in your trunk...

There's lots of talk about break-in methods and oil consumption and all that. Believe what you want, but there's really not much you can do anyway so I'd be over it.

a bit OT but related:

rideelment just reported that after 1,000 miles there was about a teaspoon of oil in his catch can. if that oil (which came from the turbos and then ran through the iC chargepipes) reached the combustion chamber, after say 50,000 miles how much sludge (unburnt oil from the combustion chamber) would accumulate in the oil pan??
...and will this be a problem?

for these reasons i think a catch can is a good mod. i may not do the catch can mod only because if i run water/meth, the bit of oil in the combustion chamber (coming from the IC charge pipes) may be of some slight help with my meth injection.

thanks

[Chowbow]

Good question... I don't know what to guess, but it's a valid point.

[E30M3Driver]

Originally Posted by matt_335Ci

car alerted me at 4000 miles that i was at minimum oil level and asked me to add a quart. now i am at 8000 miles same warning, so i will add another quart this evening. i had an e46 coupe and never had to add this much oil? e92 oil consumption that much different? is this normal?

I started showing oil loss on the e-gauge at 4K and had to add at 5K. Running two days on the track used about 1/2 of a quart. This seems pretty typical to me. My e90 330i never used a drop, but all my M3's went through a quart or so every 3-4K miles.

[E30M3Driver]

Originally Posted by Chowbow

If it's consuming oil it is basically some oil getting past the rings and getting burned up. Honestly there isn't much you can do apart from replace the rings but nobody is going to go through that just for oil consumption. Keep a quart in your trunk...

There's lots of talk about break-in methods and oil consumption and all that. Believe what you want, but there's really not much you can do anyway so I'd be over it.

I attribute a lot of the oil consumption in the N54 to the high oil temps-oil volatilization basically-not being burned through the combustion process. The Oil Volatility test runs at 300F for an hour and good quality synthetics will lose 5-10% of volume in that test. Clearly our oil temps run hot enough that seeing oil loss due to volatilization is reasonable, particularly cars that are run on the track and see oil temps in the 270-280 range. I lost something like half a quart in about 4 hours of track time.

[HyperM3]

Welcome to my world. Car is in for service right now to replace a faulty oil sensor.

[Blue92]

Maybe OT... maybe not. 535i owner here at work has had oil issues since car was new. They were adding significantly more than a qt. per 4~5k miles. It is still in the shop for 2 new turbos. I am at 14,5xx miles on my 335 and have done a break-in and one other oil change (next one will be 15k) I have never had to add ANY oil. Indicator is still at Max level.

[vase330]

Originally Posted by bimmerron

I have gone 9000 miles still showing full

Varies car to car, but mine been excellent so far. No oil consumption I can speak of. Driven hard sometimes too.

[swestland]

Brake in durring E.D. on back roads and the Autobahn. Changed oil, M1 0-40, at 2000 mile. Currently 8500 and reading full. Car indicates that it expects an oil change at 9000. Great auto!