Oil - it may or may not be a problem

S

Shandy

Member
 South Cumbria
Hello chaps and chapesses....

So - I've had a bit of a look about on the forum and can't find anything relating to what might be my "problem" (if it's an issue at all). A couple of times (in my two week ownership) I have noticed a small, short-lived puff of blue smoke on start-up. Only when warm, not from cold. It's a 2007 2.5 with about 60 thousand miles.

Now, I used to own a BMW K100RS motorbike, which had a straight four engine installed "on the horizontal": The crank was by your right foot and the head was by your left. Leaving it on the sidestand resulted in a little oil seeping past the piston rings and burning off on start-up. No problem at all and no indication of imminent engine failure. Even though it looked catastrophically bad.

But this "upright" straight six is a bit of a different animal... Could this puff of smoke indicate valve guide wear (at 60 thou miles in a modern engine)? Is it nothing to worry about?: "They all do that, sir"... Or is there another issue with this engine that I know nothing about?

As I said, it's happened twice in about two weeks. And I've probably done about 7-800 miles in those two weeks (yeah - I know... but it's such good fun).

Cheers
Shandy
 
Hi Shandy, these engines are built to last, however oil burning seems to be commonly caused by blocked breather systems (ccv) this is brought on by to many short journeys & not changing the engine oil often enough.
It's not 100% down to this if course but if it started to drink oil I would check it out.
Regards
 
I would not be concerned if it's not drinking oil. It's been very cold and most will make a small amount of smoke for a second on start up if you look carefully in the mirrors in the right light conditions.
Although an M54 engine, mine does it in winter if left a day or so and it gets cold. It never needs a top up between 7,500 mile oil changes, so not issue.

Valve guide wear would be seen on overrun, piston ring, breathers, etc. more likely on start up.
 
Echoing above. The oil change intervals are too long IMHO - you probably don't have much to worry about but it's good that you're paying attention to the small things.

Here's what I would do if I were you:

Oil and filter change but DIY so you know that EXACTLY the right amount has gone in. If you need to invest in a jack, stands, sockets and filter removal tool these will pay for themselves the first couple of uses.

Monitor the consumption - I know it's not so easy from the dash but each graduation is about 200 ml so see if it drops and note when.
Keep going for 6 months/5k and see how you get on unless your 1L top up comes on.

Do another oil and filter change to see how much comes out. If it's less than a litre short then it's unlikely you have anything urgent to worry about.

I had noticed mine was starting to eat oil at the rate of about 1L per 5k and looking back it had always consumed some. Over Christmas I changed the CCV and there has been no more consumption (or at least massively reduced). As you have a later model you might find the CCV is integrated which I'm assuming makes the job a fair bit more expensive.
 
Thanks very much for your replies. It doesn't seem to be drinking oil, but then, it's only been a week since I found out how to check the oil level!

Scooba_Steve, I'll do the oil and filter change this weekend and keep an eye on things.

Thanks again - you're a very helpful bunch!
 
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