Burning Oil

[superdog]

Curious if any f15 owners are noticing they burn a lot of oil.

I got a very ominous warning yesterday that I needed to immediately put in two courts. I was lucky and knew of a gas station locally.

I whipped out the manual and added the oil. But I'm wondering:

A. What if I wasn't near to a gas station? How far can I go before there is a big problem? I'd never chance it and I'm now thinking it might be smart to carry a few quarts with me.

B. Is this common in the f15? It's never happened to me before in another car.

C. Is there a fix for this? Or is this just something I'll have to live with? The vehicle has less than 10k miles. I'm due for my first service shortly, and I'll bring it up, but curious what the experts here think.

[Kzang]

Pretty common and it depends on your driving style. More aggressive then more oil being burned is my experience. 50i seems to be more common than other models. Lots of discussion on this topic here though.

[Flying Ace]

A. Hard to say. I would carry 1 bottle in the trunk if this happens frequently. I personally at least have extra bottles on hand at home. I would be more weary of adding the wrong oil than waiting to get home/dealership and add the correct oil. Make sure you add BMW approved LL-01 oil, that's more important than viscocity and all other specs if you're simply topping of oil. That's why when you said "I stopped at a gas station", my mind was like "uh-oh", your chances of getting the right oil is pretty slim at these stores. I believe only Castrol and Pennzoil will have to proper LL spec oil at auto-parts stores.

The stresses of finding the proper oil is more of an issue for diesel owners (who need LL-04 spec oil), and M car owners, who needs both LL-01 spec oil AND stay close to other viscocity specs, but I won't bore you with the details.

B. Could be common, could not be. It all depends on the rate of burn, and how you have been driving. If you were climbing mountains with a full car load, you'll burn oil. If you've been towing, you'll burn oil. If you are excessively idling or going in stop go traffic, you'll burn oil. You need to start monitoring it. Also stick your head under the car and check to see if you're leaking oil. You're not necessarily looking for a puddle, but see if there's greasy coating or splatters on your suspension or underside of the car. That's a dead giveaway there's an oil leak that is causing you to lose oil.

C. read answer to B above. There is no out of box answer for you. You have a 50i, others have 35i, 35d, and 40e motors, all would consume oil differently and all depends on many variables mentioned before like usage and environment. I only had to add oil to my X5 (E70) on 3 occasions. The first two occasion was b/c I was leaking oil out of a turbo oil line. The 3rd occasion was bc I had a car loaded up close to 6000 lbs for a trip into the mountains. I suggest retaining a log to record distances between oil fills and how much you're filling and whether you've used your car differently than in the past.

[superdog]

Originally Posted by Flying Ace

A. Hard to say. I would carry 1 bottle in the trunk if this happens frequently. I personally at least have extra bottles on hand at home. I would be more weary of adding the wrong oil than waiting to get home/dealership and add the correct oil. Make sure you add BMW approved LL-01 oil, that's more important than viscocity and all other specs if you're simply topping of oil. That's why when you said "I stopped at a gas station", my mind was like "uh-oh", your chances of getting the right oil is pretty slim at these stores. I believe only Castrol and Pennzoil will have to proper LL spec oil at auto-parts stores.

The stresses of finding the proper oil is more of an issue for diesel owners (who need LL-04 spec oil), and M car owners, who needs both LL-01 spec oil AND stay close to other viscocity specs, but I won't bore you with the details.

B. Could be common, could not be. It all depends on the rate of burn, and how you have been driving. If you were climbing mountains with a full car load, you'll burn oil. If you've been towing, you'll burn oil. If you are excessively idling or going in stop go traffic, you'll burn oil. You need to start monitoring it. Also stick your head under the car and check to see if you're leaking oil. You're not necessarily looking for a puddle, but see if there's greasy coating or splatters on your suspension or underside of the car. That's a dead giveaway there's an oil leak that is causing you to lose oil.

C. read answer to B above. There is no out of box answer for you. You have a 50i, others have 35i, 35d, and 40e motors, all would consume oil differently and all depends on many variables mentioned before like usage and environment. I only had to add oil to my X5 (E70) on 3 occasions. The first two occasion was b/c I was leaking oil out of a turbo oil line. The 3rd occasion was bc I had a car loaded up close to 6000 lbs for a trip into the mountains. I suggest retaining a log to record distances between oil fills and how much you're filling and whether you've used your car differently than in the past.

I appreciate all that info. Thank you.

I did ensure I met or exceeded all requirements based on what I read in the manual. I even googled the various different types to ensure I wasn't making a mistake.

I'll likely keep a few quartz havdy just in case.

I'll admit I'm a bit surprised though. And if I were buying second hand, I might be nervous about how the first owner hand this.

I don't tow or drive in a very spirited manner. I almost never engage sport mode.

Well, I suppose I finally found something I don't like about the car.

Anyway, thanks again for the info.

[Flying Ace]

Idling and stop go traffic also burns oil as much as high revving performance driving. Anytime you overheat the oil and the needle moves past 210/220 degrees you'll likely burn some oil.

[teodorjelev]

Go to service and change engine!!!

[superdog]

Originally Posted by Flying Ace

Idling and stop go traffic also burns oil as much as high revving performance driving. Anytime you overheat the oil and the needle moves past 210/220 degrees you'll likely burn some oil.

2 quarts seems like a lot.

[Flying Ace]

Originally Posted by superdog

2 quarts seems like a lot.

agreed, and for to lose it in such a short period of time is concerning. The car usually warns you when you lost 1 full bottle. But to get the warning and have to add 2 seems like a lot.

On my top offs, I'm adding less than half a bottle.

[kimi_fan]

Originally Posted by Flying Ace

agreed, and for to lose it in such a short period of time is concerning. The car usually warns you when you lost 1 full bottle. But to get the warning and have to add 2 seems like a lot.

On my top offs, I'm adding less than half a bottle.

Our 50i MSport needed to be topped off at the dealer every 3-4 months (every ~4k miles)...for a while I thought something was wrong with the car, but checked back in 2014 when we bought it and many others with the 50i seemed to have that problem, not so much on the 35i. I never stopped to purchase oil as we don't live that far from the dealer for the same reason other mentioned of not buying the right oil for the car - and the dealer topped it off for free each time.

[iconoclast]

Dealers in the area top off for free and it is a good way to document the consumption rate.
I have not experienced low oil warnings (yet?) however I do not follow the BMW oil change schedule but I have seen the oil decrease on the display but not enough to trigger an alert.

[mcvaughan]

My 50i needed 2 quarts at 6400 miles. My M4 hasn't needed any additional. I would say it's due to the V8.

[Enrico 35d]

When I had my X3 3.0, I too had to add oil before the first service was due. The service manager did not seem alarmed and said it is common due to the break in period. Never had to top up again in the years to follow.

[superdog]

Originally Posted by Enrico 35d

When I had my X3 3.0, I too had to add oil before the first service was due. The service manager did not seem alarmed and said it is common due to the break in period. Never had to top up again in the years to follow.

Great to know. Thanks.

[NOVA99]

As an earlier member mentioned there is a lot of info regarding this for the 50i-N63 motor in the forum. My previous 2013 E70 50i-N63 needed 2 quarts between oil intervals after the first year of ownership. Tops-offs were covered by any BMW dealership nearby. If you need a safety net carry a quart of oil (BMW approved) with you in the in the rear load space.

[double_j]

I got the same message for the first time a couple of weeks ago. I'm not sure why it didn't notify me at one quart but whatever. I'm guessing that the computer is probably conservative to prevent overfills. The two quarts I added brought me exactly up to the max fill line.

I'm not too concerned about it as I probably went about 8000 miles since the last oil change. Assuming that the dealer filled to max last time (doubtful), this would translate to one quart every 4,000 miles or so. Not ideal, but well within the realm of normal for performance engines.

Also, the only oil spec you need to watch for is the BMW LL01 qualification. This only comes on the Euro spec oil for one national brand (I think it's Shell nowadays). Formulation technicalities aside, using non-conforming oil (that is, any oil without the LL01 qualification in BMW's eyes) could create warranty issues for you with BWM down the road.

I actually added non-conforming oil to top off my car when I got the message but only because I'm within 2,000 miles of a full oil change. If I had a longer interval to service, I would have sought out compliant oil or took a ride to the dealer for a top-off.

[Kzang]

Originally Posted by mcvaughan

My 50i needed 2 quarts at 6400 miles. My M4 hasn't needed any additional. I would say it's due to the V8.

My 2013 E70 X5 35i had to be topped off couple of times during its first year and my current 2015 X5 35i was fine. Both cars had it's first oil change done at 5K miles.

[mcvaughan]

Originally Posted by Kzang

My 2013 E70 X5 35i had to be topped off couple of times during its first year and my current 2015 X5 35i was fine. Both cars had it's first oil change done at 5K miles.

I was surprised that it waited to notify me until it was 2 quarts down. I know my M car lets me know when it's only 1 down.