Oil consumption in a 3.0...
 

...OK, I've had my X5 3.0 for about 10,000 miles now. I bought it CPO. It had 36K and is now at 47K.

It's eating a quart every 900-1200 miles. Consumption is higher when I am doing a long highway drive which leads me to believe the higher rpm and resulting higher oil pressure is pushing oil by somewhere (I would have to believe by the rings).

Called the stealer and they said that's within spec. WHA? He claims BMW won't even look at it until it's 1 quart per 750 miles.

I've got an Audi A4 in the driveway with 250,000 miles (not a typo) that doesn't eat a drop of oil between oil changes. Oh...and that engine has a bigger turbo/injectors/exhaust running 18psi on stock internals.

Two things. First, does BMW really suck that hard at building engines? Second, is the dealer screwing with me?

Mike O.

MikeO:
BMW motors don't suck, but many consume some oil and coolant;
nature of the beast. Some rave about zero oil consumption, but
most admit to loss higher than most "regular" cars.

Highway speeds use more, in my experience.

Stlr is not screwing with you; that's the "tolerances" they have
to go by, in terms of "normal" usage.

I use and have consumed, a qt every 1000-1200 miles since day one,
4 1/2 yrs and 55,000 miles ago. It does not help my situ that my '01 is
a 5 spd manual with the correspondingly high rpms at cruise speed.

The rest of my stable consumes oil by the pint, combined total, per year:
2 other cars and 4 motorcyles...your X is what it is and I wouldn't worry.
5 bucks every 1200 miles is the deal.
GL and welcome to DaBoard.
BR,mD

Thats normal burn for an X5 M54. As for the "suckyness" of BMW engines, the M50-54 BMW slant 6 engine is the best engineered power plant BMW has ever developed to date. It also arguably the best 6 cylinder engine currently in use. Oil use is not something to worry about. If you were getting blow by on the pistons you would be fouling plugs and O2 sensors.

BTW your Audi is very impressive, my experience with the 1.8T is not as good as yours, mostly I see blown head gaskets and serious oil slug problems resulting is cylinder head failure. Running that much boost on stock top end is really amazing, good job.

I do not have any oil consumtion on my 4.4 X5, but once I drive the car for 3000 miles after the oil change I will get check engine oil level messege whenver I do highway driving for an hour or more, in town driving nothing will happen although there is no oil lose

It's normal for the M54. I use about a litre every 5000km in my 330xi but I don't do much highway driving.

Oh...and the car has 42 track days on it. That's a total of 56 hours at WOT. Leakdown test recently showed it's like a 50,000 mile engine. Mobil 1 15/50 every 5,000 miles and before and after every track event can be credited.

The only issue I had was a custom hybrid turbo that got destroyed by an electrode from a Bosch spark plug that decide to part ways with the plug.

Mike O.

I'm glad I found this thread for my piece of mind.

Just returned from a 1000-mile surfing road trip (SF-LA-San Diego and back). On the way down the yellow oil light came on when I was on I-5 in the middle of nowhere. Luckily there was a Mobil at the nearest exit (20 miles) and I picked up 2 quarts of Mobil1 10w-30. Unfortunately they didn't have the 5w-30.

The dipstick was at the minimum level. I dumped a whole quart in there and got back to the max level.

5 days and 800 miles later I'm driving home. When I pulled into a gas station on I-5 this evening I saw the same dreaded yellow oil light flash briefly after I turned the engine off to refuel. My first thought was "WTF?!?!?! I just put in a quart on the way down!" I checked the dipstick and it was about a 1/4 inch above the minimum level. I dumped half a quart of the 2nd container of Mobil1 I picked up from the first day of the trip.

I was worried at first, then when I saw this thread and a couple of others, and looked back at my driving style this trip then it all made sense: 85-90 mph on I-5 SF-LA with 90-100F external temp , and nightmare bumper-to-bumper traffic on 405 and 5 also at around 90F, with the A/C blasting the whole time = a quart of oil.

My X5 CPO 3.0i displayed the low level oil indicator 10,000 miles after the oil change. I dumped 2 BMW quarts of oil to raise the level from min to max.. the silly light won't go away... does the sensor monitor anything else beside engine oil.. ex. transmission or power steering fluids, etc..?

I have the 3.0l in two different cars, both 2003 and neither uses a drop. I drive mixed local and highway but have taken both on long drives and nary a drop used.

I always consider oil use a warning sign that something is amiss. To fix oil use problems is, and always will be, an expensive proposition so manufacturers and dealers will always hesitate to go that route and go the sheaper way of just adding oil when you are low.

I just sold three BMW vehicles, all with 2.5 or 3.0 six cylinder engines. Each used a litre every 4000-5000 km, from new. I know the BMW service limit is a litre per 1000 km, so I figured I was doing fine.

I think there is a connection to break-in procedures, but I can't prove it. I am always surprised, however, when people don't follow the manufacturer's break-in instructions given that the engine has a predisposition to consume some oil.

Just my $0.02

I was amazed by this myself, as I unfortunately put a lot of highway on my manual 5 speed car. It sucks down oil like a college kid on Redbull at finals time...but it is within spec. I do so much highway I carry a spare case of 5w30 in the trunk because of this.

Anyone had the check oil level indicator get stuck? After I had added the oil the ODB continues to alert me to the low loil evel condition (after I stop the engine).

You either have a failed sensor or you need to add more oil. Either way, the dipstick will be the ultimate decider. If the dipstick says the crankcase is full, the sensor is busted. If the dipstick reads low, the low oil indicator is in fact correct.

My 2001 3.0 also is an oil guzzler. Comes with the territory I guess :(

Just got back from having my 2005 X5 3.0 serviced, 44K miles. I had added 5 quarts over the last 15K miles and questioned the dealer. I was told that 1 quart per 1000 miles was BMW's low service limit, was shocked as my 323I with over 100K has never needed a drop of oil between 15K services...
By reading this I guess this is the norm, just seems odd. Am I alone thinking this?

Old thread from 2006 but I thought it is important to compare oil consumption.

- 2006 X5 3.0i 5sp MT with 114K miles. I currently add about 1 qt every 1,500 miles.
- Probably "normal" from what I read.

PS: I am familiar with BMW CCV issue (did the CCV in my 1998 528i a while back).
For this E53 vehicle, CCV is still original, but I inspected it: no broken vacuum hoses. Dipstick balloon test shows nice suction, i.e., no excessive crankcase pressure.

I did an oil change 2500 miles ago (when I bought the X5), and haven't lost a drop on the dipstick. 03 3.0 5spd. Just shy of 160k miles.

Even if the CCV looks normal cn90 I'd replace at that age. I replaced my 10 yr old CCV and dipstick guide tube this year (to cold weather parts) and haven't consumed any oil to date. Even if it's looking functional I think due to age there can be some buildup causing oil consumption.

- I don't mind doing the CCV overhaul, but I hate to spend 6h doing the CCV overhaul just to be back to square one!

- So far my inspection shows CCV-system hoses to be intact, no vacuum leak. Suction with dipstick is good with the balloon test.

- For those who have done the CCV, does your oil consumption go down?

FWIW, I test drove a few before I bought mine. One of the service records for an 06 4.4 was for a report of "excessive oil consumption" by the owner. In the report they dealer wrote something to the effect that "acceptable consumption was 0.8L/1,000km". And yet I still bought one..... :)

Are you sure you're oil loss isn't from an external leak?

If not it could be the typical M54 oil control ring issue, some say it's vacuum related from the CCV, some say it's carbon build up, personally I have yet to experience either (knock on wood).

I would inspect the CCV hoses for oil build up, if none is present I would remove your spark plugs and inspect the piston tops, you won't see much but you will see the texture, which will show smooth or coarse indicating carbon build up.

Controlled amounts of seafoam though the brake booster hose on a hot engine would likely yield results if carbon is your culprit. I've used it many of times to restore compression in engines that have carbon build on on valve backings and such.

I plan on seafoaming my X5 even though there's no oil loss, but there is a good amount of varnish and emulsified oil residue where the oil likes to pool/rest. Barb adapter, clear hose and some vise grips. Should take about 8-10 minutes to do about 1/2 a can.

I have no external oil leak, i.e., no oil stain on the concrete driveway.

I hope you absorbed more from my post than just if you have external oil leaks lol.