3.0 Oil Consumption Very High

Z

z4-cheapskate

Member
Hi,

My 3.0 uses no oil when I drive on motorways at 70 mph, not a drop over 1000 miles.

Get onto b roads where 4500+ rpm is the norm and it burns a litre in less than 500 miles.

Is this normal, and any idea why the higher revs cause the oil loss.

Thanks
 
Mine uses around a litre per 1,000 miles under hard driving. The M54 engine does tend to use a little (or lot) of oil, particularly as the mileage increases. Nothing to worry about as long as the temp gauge is fine, and you dont have mayonnaise on the dip stick....
 
My 03 reg 3.0 has only used 250ml in 12000 miles,including 2 600+mile motorway blasts.They do have a fondness for oil,so unless there's an obvious oil stain on the rear of the car and no leaks under it, I wouldn't worry.
 
Only topped mine up for the first time in 2 years of ownership just recently. I've had it serviced twice in that time though. I've been surprised at how little oil its used to be honest. But then my last car was an RX8 :roll:
 
Had this concern on my 330ci, took it to the dealer in winchester and they said it's perfectly normal and is due to the very low tolerences and the mileage of the M54; burns through it rather quickly.

At least you're not in an RX8, now that eats oil like a fat boy eats cake.
 
th30d0r3 said:
Had this concern on my 330ci, took it to the dealer in winchester and they said it's perfectly normal and is due to the very low tolerences and the mileage of the M54; burns through it rather quickly.

At least you're not in an RX8, now that eats oil like a fat boy eats cake.
Click to expand...


Surely lower tolerances would retain more oil? Not as much sneaking past the piston rings and valvegear into the combustion zone.
 
I've heard the theory that if the cars are driven overly gently in their early lives, the bores glaze and they eat more oil. No direct experience of this, but I guess it's a possibility. Seems counter-intuitive doesn't it, but slightly comforting that a previous owner treated your P&J as their P&J also :)
 
Mine gets through a bit of oil too, about half a litre every 1-1.5k dipstick oil appears clean so I don't think it's anything to worry about. It's not smoking out the exhaust anyway and I can't see a visible leak.

Could whip undertray off and see if it has any oil on it?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom