High oil usage

She's drinking about 1l every 500-650 miles. I've even changed her over to 10W40.

E85 N52.

Whole PCV system replaced with Febi
Oil filter housing and cooler gaskets replaced with BMW oem.
Vanos solonoids replaced with new gaskets, and solonoids.
No visible leak on drivers side of engine.
Passenger side is pretty grotty down the front, lot of debris, old oil around oil filter housing/crankshaft.

Any thoughts as to what could be leaking? Could this be overspill from oil filter change?


Pictures are of front bottom of engine on right side corner as you face car. Just to right of crankshaft pulley/belt.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_20220516_090942.jpg
    IMG_20220516_090942.jpg
    112.3 KB · Views: 348
  • IMG_20220516_090948.jpg
    IMG_20220516_090948.jpg
    102.9 KB · Views: 348
Probably best to replace the gasket on the oil filter housing to engine block joint, well known for this to fail through age as heat cycles will cause it to go hard and brittle and end up leaking in the area you photographed. Have you noticed any blue smoke in the exhaust on acceleration and on the overrun when you take your foot off the throttle? If you have then that could be down to worn out valve seals allowing oil to be sucked past the valve stems and get burnt in the cylinders. BMW engines with high mileage seem to suffer from this.
Changed a fellow members oil filter housing gasket out the other week, it involves taking the belt off and an idler then take the alternator out to get at its six bolts. His was as described hard and brittle, replaced it with a Febi replacement gasket.
 
colb said:
Probably best to replace the gasket on the oil filter housing to engine block joint, well known for this to fail through age as heat cycles will cause it to go hard and brittle and end up leaking in the area you photographed. Have you noticed any blue smoke in the exhaust on acceleration and on the overrun when you take your foot off the throttle? If you have then that could be down to worn out valve seals allowing oil to be sucked past the valve stems and get burnt in the cylinders. BMW engines with high mileage seem to suffer from this.
Changed a fellow members oil filter housing gasket out the other week, it involves taking the belt off and an idler then take the alternator out to get at its six bolts. His was as described hard and brittle, replaced it with a Febi replacement gasket.

Afternoon bud. Done the oil filter housing gasket to block and the cooler gasket with oem replacements.

Does make me wonder if its valve stem seals, it's at 124k on the clock. And the blue smoke comes and goes but definitely has been present in certain situations.

Just struggling to explain this weeping down the front. Plan is to give it a good clean down today and see what it looks like in a week.
 
I would suggest cleaning the whole engine, with a brake cleaner, just clean everything and that drive for a couple of days and check.
This kind of consumption is relatively normal in M54B25 engine, BMW mechanic said to me, 1 litre per 1000 km is just ok, even in different driving modes.

This kind of consumption that you have I would go with the leak, as the leak would have to be massive, but maybe normal oil consumption. Can you please take a photo of your tailpipes? Are they full black?
 
I'd imagine the engine is burning the oil. Imagine what a litre of oil would look like if you poured it onto your drive.
 
Back
Top Bottom