Oil Consumption 2.5i

D

Disca

Senior member
 West London
Asking for a colleague where I currently worked after finding out who had the Z4 and having a general chat.

Has a 2.5i, think it was a 2004 plate that is currently going through 1 litre of oil every 1000 miles.
I personally never encountered such an issue with either of mine, 2.0 or 3.0si, but wondered if anyone else had?

Apparently there is a noticeably stronger smell of oil when the heater is on.

No worries if not but figured I may as well ask :)
 
Disca said:
Asking for a colleague where I currently worked after finding out who had the Z4 and having a general chat.

Has a 2.5i, think it was a 2004 plate that is currently going through 1 litre of oil every 1000 miles.
I personally never encountered such an issue with either of mine, 2.0 or 3.0si, but wondered if anyone else had?

Apparently there is a noticeably stronger smell of oil when the heater is on.

No worries if not but figured I may as well ask :)
Click to expand...
Leak:
Oil filter housing and/or gasket, vcg, sump gasket.
Burning:
Piston rings need replacing, ccv needs replacing.

Good luck diagnosing.
 
The bmw handbook says about 1lt per 1000 ish miles so its about right if you drive the car hard you will use more oil. Start using thicker oil like a 0w40 or 5w40 now the cars older. like the post above if its not any of them wil just be age of seals their not expensive but quite a long job so about £300+ job at indy
 
Yeah apparently the consumption is within tolerances but still sounded high to me.
Will pass on all the suggestions when I next see him :)
 
Does seem a bit high but as a starting point do you know what mileage the car has covered and his driving style. I have always found that on a high mileage car (not my Zed) topping up with 'Wynns' which is a friction reducer does seem to cut consumption considerably and the engine does sound happier.
 
I've ran these m54 engine for last 10yrs in E46's and Z4 owned 7 with 6cyl engine. Their all the same some drink oil other's dont use hardly any. Its a big 6cyl engine they need a good run out each day really not stop start short journey. Thats what clogs the CCV up and then you get bad oil consumption but thats more like 1litre per 500 miles when its really bad. 1 litre at 1000 miles is about right give the age of the pistons now. The seals harden up you could try Forte gasket conditioner but it maybe too late. Best protection is to use thicker oil now the cars 10yrs+
 
My wife's old 2.5si used to use 1L every 2k or so, which compared to my 3.0si and M which used none always seemed strange.

No leaks or anything, just one of those things I guess
 
I guess if the oil consumption is normal then the only question would be the oil burning smell when the heater is on
 
From what I have read some M54 engines use a lot, others not so much.

My 325ti has the same engine in it, had done less than 5,000 miles in 2 years before I bought it and it used a litre every 2,000 miles. But I'm doing more like 7/8K a year and since I had it serviced last year it managed nearly 6,000 before I needed to put a litre in, which does make me think consumption may be significantly affected by use.

But if there is a smell that does seem to suggest there is a leak somewhere.
 
I think the key may be the grade of oil he's using.

If I use 0w30 in my Alpina it burns it noticibly quicker than 5w40. Alpina have recently changed their recommendations for engines nearing the 100k mark to move to 5w40
 
Disca said:
I guess if the oil consumption is normal then the only question would be the oil burning smell when the heater is on
Click to expand...

that would be your gasket leaking and the oil running down the back of the engine block/manifold its well known fact they harden up very common on all 6cyl bm's. Gasket is cheap and easy diy.
 
Number5 said:
I think the key may be the grade of oil he's using.

If I use 0w30 in my Alpina it burns it noticibly quicker than 5w40. Alpina have recently changed their recommendations for engines nearing the 100k mark to move to 5w40
Click to expand...

yeah ive done this switch on my E46 for years now only using 5w40. My Z4 3.0i didnt use any oil though id always check but it probably had 2 or 3 top ups in one year compared to probably 6 or 7 times per year in my e46s. my mates 325ci is the same uses hardly any oil. There all different some use a lot some use hadly any
 
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