Is my baby sick? Mayo on dipstick :-(

B

Blue

Active member
Since getting my car I've topped it up with about 3 litres of oil, over 6,000 miles.

I last topped up recently during the snow and since then can't have done more than about 600 miles, the oil light (the yellow one) came on the other day, I've looked on the dipstick and it has indeed used the whole litre in the last 3 weeks.

When I checked the dipstick I noticed that there is some mayo at the top of the stick but the oil still appears to be free of it (albeit quite dark), I've looked under the filler cap and the cap itself is well coated in mayo. I don't recall seeing this at all on my previous checks.

I've also felt that the car hasn't been quite as smooth, particularly when cold, when lifting off the throttle the car jerks as the engine seems to cut power very suddenly.

The car gets a few miles to work each day and is interspersed with longer runs, I will admit that I've used it slightly less recently but still get the engine thoroughly warmed through more often than not.

Does anyone else have this mayo or is this a sign that I'm going to be without her for a while? I'm going to take her to the dealership tomorrow and see about booking her in for a full check. Car is under AUC warranty, thank god. :D
 
That sounds like a lot of oil to be using/losing - I've topped up my ///M with a total of about 250ml since I bought it (2 years & 30,000 miles), but then I also do 6000-7000 mile oil changes anyway.
 
mine had a trace of mayo on the oil filler cap a week ago when i changed the oil i put it down to the damp weather , ive had this in my last few cars nothink to worry about
the oil consumption could be more worrying though
 
I had the mayo on the filler cap once or twice in all my cars, usually in the cold weather doing a few short runs. Clean it off and see if it comes back firstly.

Where did you have your car serviced? Mine used to use a LOT of oil imo, around 1L every 1000miles and around 600 miles when taking it on blasts. Last service i did myself and made sure i stuck in a genuine BMW oil filter, the old one wasn't. This is because I found some leakage around the oil filter housing lid. Lo and behold, 3500miles on and the dipstick is still showing full :thumbsup:

I think the M54 doesnt burn oil as such, it just 'loses' it from a variety of places - Oil filter lid, oil filter housing (where bolts onto Engine), rocker cover gasket etc.

Hope you find it mate!
 
The mayo presence could just be condensation - especially with the short stop start journeys.
The oil consumption is another matter though. Sounds very thirsty to me...
Have you suffered any coolant loss ?
If you have, might point to a head gasket failure ?
 
have you got any oil in the coolant ? if you have nt i would nt think head gasket , are you sure you have nt got any oil leaks ?
 
The mayo is water and i'd be surprised if it were just condensation; high oil use can be a number of things. Are you aware of the oil being burnt or the car dropping oil.
What car and engine/age/mileage?
BMW's seem to burn oil, my 35i is using around 1 litre per 8000 miles, every dealership i have spoken to (3 so not that many) tells me this is usual.
What type of oil has been put in the car?
If the wrong synthetic has been used it can affect the seals making them more porous and allowing oil to burn at a faster rate.
I'm no expert so can't give definitive answer but sounds like you need this looked at asap
Good luck

PS i thought the title of this post was a euphemism for something else, wish it had been :( I hope it turns out to be something simple to rectify.
 
1 litre of oil usage for every 5-6,000 miles is normal (N52 engine), but 3 litres are too much.
 
Ive used 1500ml in 10000miles.

I had the old mayo under the cover when i looked the other day, but i put it down to it being -15 outside and the short runs i was doing. cleaned it off and it hasnt come back.
 
Thanks for the replies guys, I'll try and answer all of the questions:-

The car is a 2005 3.0 (pre-facelift) with about 62K on the clock.
The car was "serviced" by the supplying dealer when I bought her in May so should be all genuine BMW parts.
I've topped up with Castol Edge 5W30 fully synth. It appears to meet the BMW spec according to other forumites :)
Don't know about using coolant, I'll admit I've never RTFM to find out how to check it (every other car I've owned had a visible coolant header tank, this doesn't)
The car has never left oil anywhere on the road
There's no visible sign of it burning oil (i.e. blue smoke)

Tomorrow morning I'll stick the extra litre of oil in, note down the exact mileage and book her into the dealership, by the time I get an appointment I'll no doubt have covered a few hundred miles and should see evidence of excess consumption. I'll also clean off the dipstick and filler cap and check the coolant.

I will get to the bottom of this, I'm not funding an oil habit that needs an extra litre every other time I go to the petrol station!!
 
roofless said:
PS i thought the title of this post was a euphemism for something else, wish it had been :(
Click to expand...
:rofl:
Try live yoghurt :D

Oh, and my ///M hasn't used a drop of oil in the last 13k miles, even on the track
Hope you find the solution
 
Well that's the oil topped up, coolant is totally clear and all of it is present.

Have also booked her in for a more thorough check over at the dalership in two weeks time, they want me to keep a log of the oil consumption, I've no doubt that they will reckon that a litre every 3 weeks is normal!
 
Just checked the dipstick again, although was unable to avoid doing it whilst the car was parked on a slight slope, with the rear end pointing down it, I think this may have affected the results.

This time there was a huge amount of oil at the very top of the stick, well above the maximum, then a gap, and then the oil where I expected it to be, just on the maximum marking. There was some mayo right at the bottom of the stick and also some right at the top.

I opened up the filler cap again and it was once again coated in a film of mayo, there was also water clinging to the inside of the cap which looked clear, my guess is that this is definitely condensation from the cold weather. I'll check again tonight on the flat when I get home from work and see what the true oil level is.

Unfortunately I don't think I've done enough milage since re-topping the oil to be sure about whether it is using a lot yet!
 
Blown head gasket can be detected by a simple chemical test of the coolant fluid:

'Exhaust gas test: A BHG will normally leak exhaust gasses into the cooling system. This makes the radiator water acidic, and this can be detected by a chemical test.To use it you run the car with the radiator cap off, and suck the water vapour from the radiator through the tester. A BHG will show up as a colour change in the test liquid. This test is very sensitive to exhaust gasses, and will easily prove the existence of a BHG.'
 
Well picked the car up from the dealers the other day, my roof doesn't stick anymore so that's one positive! :thumbsup:

On the oil side of things, they have topped the oil back to maximum (but the guy on the desk didn't know how low it was when it came in :headbang: ) so now I just do another 600 miles and see what the level is like when I take it back.

I'm going to have check under the bonnett tomorrow in the daylight as I couldn't help but notice that the car smelled of burning when I drove it last night, possibly just a minor spill that's dropped on a hot bit though.
 
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