At how many quarts does CHECK OIL LEVEL come on? M54 consumption Q's...

[Ricky Bobby]

So my CHECK OIL LEVEL came on today at lunch, I'm wondering about how many quarts does that mean I have left in the engine? I will top up and do an oil change this weekend, as I'm due for my yearly change.

I changed my oil in beginning of November last year, and if I put on 5k miles this year I'd be surprised, with all the maintenance I did. My M54 currently sits at 70k miles, I filled up with 8 even quarts last year of Shell Rotella T6 5w-40. No smoking from my engine, no CCV issues to speak of, I looked under the dipstick and oil filler cap and no paste or sludge.

My X5 does not drop any oil, that I can tell, unless it drops on the reinforcement plate and never makes it to the ground, but I don't think it leaks.

Valve cover looks good visually, I will run my fingers underneath it and see if I get oily fingers or feel any leaks, but I don't see any dripping problems or major leaks to speak of. OFH is going to be visually checked, thanks to the E46 forums I know where to look in relation to seeing if the OFH is leaking. I don't do short trips much at all, my commute has a solid 20 miles of highway speeds which I am usually at 4k rpm's to keep the CCV happy.


Other than that, I guess with the 4-5k miles I put on this year, my oil consumption I guess is normal as can be?? This is the first car where I've found that engines consuming oil in between oil changes is "normal", with my past VW's if they consumed half a quart every 5k miles I'd be amazed.


Fire away with thoughts.