Oil Consumption
 

Hello All,

I have a 2006 X5 4.4 with 106,000 miles one it. My car seems to be burning oil at a rapid rate. I have topped up the oil a couple of times to check the frequency at which the check oil level indicator comes on. And the oil consumption is averaging about 2000 miles for 8 quarts.

I took it to an independent auto shop and they checked for leaks and did not find any.


I had the spark plugs and coils at about 100K miles and Crankcase Ventilation Vent PCV Valves as well.


Would you guys know what could be the possible reason for this. Would appreciate it if you share your experience or guide me to where I can find some more info.

I did look through the threads but I wasn't able to find much more information than changing the CV valves like above.

thanks in advance

For clarification, you are adding 8 quarts every 2000 miles?

yes, that is correct I fill up everytime the check engine level indicator comes on.

Using a quart every 250 miles, I can't imagine there aren't very obvious symptoms--smoke, oil leak, not running properly, oil in the coolant etc.

^ What he said. There has to be something, using that much oil in that period. There will be indications, you just need to find them.

Example - valve stem seals will lead to smoke when you rev the vehicle after it has been idling for a couple of minutes. Am sure the 4.4 specialists will chime in with other symptoms to look for which are common on that engine.

I can't imagine you don't have blue smoke if you don't have any visible oil leaks. I think they call them valve stem seals, a common issue on the facelift V8s. Research it a bit, you'll find plenty.

If your engine is really burning that oil there is no way your nose can miss it!

My engine was in a similar situation and it was leaking from everywhere and the all the bottom of the engine was dripping oil!

Also as an engineer point of view, if your car is using that much oil you should stop using it until you clear the problem, if the oil that much is going in the engine you will have catalyst, O2 sensor problems etc.

Regards

You're probably overfilled and that can damage the engine. Do you have a dipstick?? If not, I'd do a drain & fill to verify.

You should be leaving tracks like a snail leaves tracks if you are using 8 quarts in 2000 miles. That's a quart every 250 miles. More than a quart of oil per tank of gasoline.

I call the oil level sensor bad. You need to check actual levels.

Never, that's N-E-V-E-R, add oil without reading the dip stick. Never.

If you are adding oil without reading the dipstick and the oil level sensor is defective, then you have added 8 quarts of oil to the 8 quarts that are supposed to be there anyway, and this gives you 16 quarts of oil. If nothing else is wrong, 16 quarts of oil will become problematic very soon.

If you are using a quart of oil faster than a tank of gas, there has to be a huge mess under the car everywhere you park it. Oil should be literally dripping out of the tail pipes if it isn't in a pool under your car.

Did mention that you MUST check the oil level on the dip stick before you add any?

First of all thank you all of pitching in. I apologize for the lengthy reply as I am trying to respond to all the questions and explain my situation.

No I did not overfill.

Yes the X5 has a dipstick. I tried to look at the level (after cleaning the dipstick) and reinserting it and it came out dry.

I did tell the shop that there was excessive oil usage and the indicator keeps coming on very quickly. I also told him about the very strong shaking when I started the car during winter. He changed the CCV valves and the problem went away for some time and came back in january. And yes he also checked the car for signs of oil leak and found none.

My usage of this car has been very minimal almost less than 50-100 miles a week in the past two years and the last time I topped the oil was in November 2014 and then took the odometer reading to remind me at what mileage i did it at.

I did however leave the car on in the cold mornings to warm up, so maybe that has caused additional consumption of oil but that should be an equivalent of another quart or so. I used to do oil changes every 12K-15K when I had the warranty. Even if say I made a mistake in noting down the odometer , is it normal to fill up every 4-5K miles ? There is a lot of smoke when the car starts but that dies down in a few minutes and the car runs normal. I will pay closer attention to the smoke this weekend.

I did read somewhere that valve steam seals cost 12K or more to replace. There is a video of a guy claiming that. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SF5rilgdyfc

I am not even sure what other repairs could be coming up so I can just have it fixed before major issues creep up.

The Car was a CPO with 32k and i had warranty coverage till about 90K miles after which it expired 2 years ago. So I got the dealer to fix what ever I could at the 90K mark. I have been starting to hit these problems and since my usage has been so minimal I didn't want to spend any more on this car. At some point it has diminishing returns. I also just changed the door handle 2 months ago by looking at a video on youtube.

I am at a point where I am trying to gauge if I can just live with it with the minimal mileage I drive or fix it or just get rid of the car.

Mine was using 1l of oil/200-300Km before tackling the valve stem seals. Exactly the same symptom as yours. The cloud of shame was visible once the engine was warm, and after a short idle at each stop light. Also absolutely no visible oil leak. But once stuff was taken off, well....every seal & gasket was shot. With the beauty covers on and everything else in place, you would swear I make things up. Take a read.

I also have a 4.4L (2006) with valve stem seal issues. After an extended idle of 1-1.5 minutes will see a puff of blue smoke at takeoff.

However, I have been checking on a regular basis (dipstick) and over the last year have been needing a quart of oil every 2,500-3000 miles depending on the whether it was mostly city or highway driving.

At this point hoping for the best long term. Pretty hard to justify a 6,000-7,000 repair unless someone knows a mechanic in the Milwaukee area willing to tackle the job for half of that.

Try another shop or try do fix it yourself if you got time ,knowledge and the right tools.

If it is true that you are using a quart faster than the gas tank empties, you should have a huge mess on your hands. It should be painfully obvious where the oil is going, or has gone.

I would remove the stiffening plate and look if the engine has any leaks.
That plate catches well all the fluids if it's not a liter per hour loss and stores it on itself and then once you are moving it's all dumped on the pavement.So may not even see anything on your driveway or garage floor.
Another thing to consider is,that if all that oil was burned then cat.converters would give a code,same applies to the O2 sensors.I lost 2 liters over 10,000 kms due to the wrong connection of OSV hoses(reversed them :( ) and I had all the aging codes for O2 and cat.converter.

But wait, if there are 8 quarts in 2000 miles, there's nothing large enough to hold it.

If the shop you took it to couldn't diagnose the issue, I'd try another shop. There's clearly something wrong if your dipstick is dry after only 250 miles, assuming you're warming up the engine first, waiting 5 minutes or so, then checking the dipstick while the car is on level ground (the oil check procedure is described in the owner's manual).

My experience with valve stem seals was similar to those mentioned above. My X used a quart roughly every 800-1000 miles. And after sitting at a long stop light, or sitting in traffic, or sitting in a drive through, I got a big puff of blue smoke out of the tailpipes. But without the idling, there wasn't really any noticeable smoke.

$12k to repair the valve stem seals probably includes removing the heads. There's not much of a good reason to do this anymore now that AGA came out with a tool to allow the seals to be replaced without removing heads. Cost on this repair should be about $2000. Yes, it's not cheap, but it's way better than $12k. When I was shopping around for my repair, most of the shops in my area used this tool. I bet yours would too.

Also, I see you're in NJ. There's a guy who does this repair for about $1500 in NY or NJ with lots of happy customers. Search around here and on other BMW forums - he's mentioned a lot.

One of the X5s I test drove when shopping for mine had a service record for a visit to the dealer about excessive oil consumption. The statement from the dealer on the invoice was 0.8L/1000km was considered within BMW's spec. I read it and laughed.

An attitude like this is why they get away it.

At the very least check whether the engine is drawing oil into the combustion chamber through the crankcase breather system. It would suggest that it's not sealed correctly.

- I have a very slight oil leak on garage floor: 2-3 drops a night. I have to fix the OFH gasket soon. No time yet.
- The CCV is still stock at 115K miles.

My M54 engine sucks about 1qt/1000 miles.

Once I fix the above 2 issues, I will report back re oil consumption.

However, I have gathered over the years (in different forums) that the M54 engines drink about 1 qt/2,000 miles even fresh from the showroom.

[QUOTE=trader4;1035725]Yes, as you pointed out - It's the dealership and manufacturer's attitude towards the situation the consumer is expected to accept. Whereas it will cost the consumer in related repairs that should be considered a result of design/emission defects.
You may have read this article, but it's worth posting again. And while on early port injection model/years may clean the carbon from intake valves, the oil injested from CCV and/or valve seal design flaws still damages the system.
Article from;
Edmunds - Auto Observer
Direct Injection Fouls Some Early Adopters
By AUTOOBSERVER STAFF June 15, 2011

Tony Chick, principal engineer at European Performance Labs in Stratford, Connecticut, has made a career of repairing and rebuilding high-performance engines from Audi, Porsche AG and BMW, among others and his operation has garnered a reputation among car enthusiasts as a go-to place for cleaning DI engines that have become choked with carbon. Chick thinks the problem for most affected engines can be traced to the breathing system – specifically, the design of its crankcase ventilation and exhaust-gas recirculation components.

All modern gasoline engines return some crankcase and exhaust gases back through the intake manifold in order to help control emissions, but, according to Chick, some exhaust-gas recirculation designs are “dirtier" than others. Some, he said, are less-effective at preventing the passage of tiny bits of oil, carbon and other particulates that eventually get baked onto the intake ports and valves.

Chick reached his conclusion after inspecting dozens of different DI engines at his shop and finding some, like the V8 in Boyadjiev’s Audi RS 4, regularly choked with carbon while others, like the DI version of Porsche’s horizontally opposed 6-cylinder, remained much cleaner.

If he’s right, the rapid adoption of DI has actually illuminated an issue, not caused one. A “dirty” intake or exhaust-recirculation design can easily go undetected in a conventional port-injected engine due to the cleaning effect of gasoline passing over the intake valves. When the same engine designs are adapted to direct-injection fueling, however, that cleaning effect is suddenly lost – and the carbon layers can build.

There is no simple fix for engines that are prone to carbon build-up, Chick says. What’s needed is a complete redesign of the crankcase ventilation and exhaust-gas recirculation systems to prevent particulates from getting through. Fortunately, the manufacturers whose engines are frequently cited in carbon build-up reports – mainly VW, Audi and Lexus – appear to have taken this step with many of their latest models. For instance, Audi’s new 3-liter supercharged V6, used in the S4 and A6 models, has so far been free from carbon-related complaints – a far cry from the 3.2 liter V6, which has numerous threads dedicated to the condition.

If Ford and GM engineers and Chick are correct, the carbon-buildup problem now may be relegated to previous engine designs that were not well-adapted for DI. But that’s probably little consolation to some early adopters like Boyadjiev, who must add regular carbon cleaning services to their cars’ ongoing maintenance requirements – a cost that, for now at least, they are expected to absorb entirely on their own as they grapple with the “dirty” secret of this emerging technology.

Audi extends emission warranty to cover carbon build up -

http://www.a5oc.com/forums/attachmen...3&d=1376966072

So - realistically, what would the average N62 with approx. 100,000 miles consume in the way of oil? Would you need to top-up between service intervals, assuming you do these every 5000 - 8000 miles?

I think an "average" would be a guess. I would go by how much consumption of oil is too much. I would be looking for a reason with any engine if I was adding a more than 1/2 quart of oil in the same number of miles. As an example, my oil consumption is about 1/2 quart per 5000 miles. If it changed to 1 quart per 5000 miles I would be concerned and would find out why.