3 series burns oil?!?!?
- Thread starter xi guy
- Start date
The 2000 Z3 2.3l I drove for a summer used oil - I had to put a quart of oil in it about halfway through the summer - at the end of the summer, the oil level was back down to the middle of the operating range. It was only a few months old at the time - I had it for the summer of 2000.
My '87 doesn't use any oil whatsoever. However, the eta engine is vastly different from the E46 engines. What types of pistons are in the E46's? Are they forged aluminum? If so, forged aluminum pistons tend to cause a little more oil blowby due to the looser clearances that have to be run to account for thermal expansion of the piston. Also, higher compression engines do use more oil to blowby just as bmwrocks said. My Camaro loses a quart about every 1500 miles to high compression blowby (and rear main seal leak![[?|]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_banghead.gif "Bang Head [?|]")
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My '87 doesn't use any oil whatsoever. However, the eta engine is vastly different from the E46 engines. What types of pistons are in the E46's? Are they forged aluminum? If so, forged aluminum pistons tend to cause a little more oil blowby due to the looser clearances that have to be run to account for thermal expansion of the piston. Also, higher compression engines do use more oil to blowby just as bmwrocks said. My Camaro loses a quart about every 1500 miles to high compression blowby (and rear main seal leak
).Newer motors using synthetics burn oil, especially performance cars
Type R integra motors are known for consuming not neccesarily burning oil but excess heat will break the oil down and will burn it off....your cyl head has a breather valve which vents this gas back into the intake tube and then the motor burns off the vapor
With a tigh clearance high compression motor lots of heat is being generated and the harder you push the car the more oil you will burn off around your valvetrain and NOT in the combustion chamber
Some hard running B18C5 motors can burn off 1 qt between oil changes....revving to 8600rpm and doing it over and over.....what would you expect the oil to do?
If you dont want to burn off the oil as quickly you can switch to a thicker motorsports viscosity like 20/50wt Mobil 1...its what I use and I burn very little oil...although I still andwill always burn it off because I rev to the moon.....good times...
Type R integra motors are known for consuming not neccesarily burning oil but excess heat will break the oil down and will burn it off....your cyl head has a breather valve which vents this gas back into the intake tube and then the motor burns off the vapor
With a tigh clearance high compression motor lots of heat is being generated and the harder you push the car the more oil you will burn off around your valvetrain and NOT in the combustion chamber
Some hard running B18C5 motors can burn off 1 qt between oil changes....revving to 8600rpm and doing it over and over.....what would you expect the oil to do?
If you dont want to burn off the oil as quickly you can switch to a thicker motorsports viscosity like 20/50wt Mobil 1...its what I use and I burn very little oil...although I still andwill always burn it off because I rev to the moon.....good times...
She uses no oil!
I did what the manual recommends and kept it civilizied until I reached the 1,200 miles mark. Changed the oil and opened her up a bit, redlining her a few times every chance I could. I then drove her cross country about 6 times in 4 months cruising around 90 - 95 most of the time (I'm talking the whole 20 - 24 hr trips one way, just stopping for gas and food), with burst up into 115 & 125 mph every now and then. I have 15,000 miles on her today. She has never used any oil and hasn't required any add between the three oil changes. I keep exceptional records, I've had three UOA's done, and have increased my OCI to 7,500 striving for 10,000. My first oil was changed using GC syntec 5w30, then Amsoil 5w30, now Amsoil S2000 0W30. I check the oil every second fill up. I just starting using Lube Control (LC) and Fuel Power (FP) to help increase fuel mileage and to keep any deposits from building up, also lowering insolubles. She purrr's like a kitten and roars when I ask her too. I couldn't be more pleased so far!
[bmwkick]
I did what the manual recommends and kept it civilizied until I reached the 1,200 miles mark. Changed the oil and opened her up a bit, redlining her a few times every chance I could. I then drove her cross country about 6 times in 4 months cruising around 90 - 95 most of the time (I'm talking the whole 20 - 24 hr trips one way, just stopping for gas and food), with burst up into 115 & 125 mph every now and then. I have 15,000 miles on her today. She has never used any oil and hasn't required any add between the three oil changes. I keep exceptional records, I've had three UOA's done, and have increased my OCI to 7,500 striving for 10,000. My first oil was changed using GC syntec 5w30, then Amsoil 5w30, now Amsoil S2000 0W30. I check the oil every second fill up. I just starting using Lube Control (LC) and Fuel Power (FP) to help increase fuel mileage and to keep any deposits from building up, also lowering insolubles. She purrr's like a kitten and roars when I ask her too. I couldn't be more pleased so far!
[bmwkick]
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vlad said:
I have a theory...![[idea]](/images/smilies/icon_smile_idea.gif "Idea! [idea]")
I have heard of several e46 BMWs, (M3 specifically), that have to add oil regularly. But I have not had to add a single drop to mine. I believe that this is based on how you break the piston rings in. Yeah, I know BMW stipulates 1200 miles, but comon, think about it...
The e46s are using a full synthetic oil, the rings won't be seated correctly in 1200 miles using this oil. A normal dino oil yes, but I highly doubt that a synthetic oil would allow the rings to seat in that mileage.
I broke my car in using BMW's recommendations, (not over 1/2 of what the red line is, lots of bumper to bumper stop and go traffic), but I did this to 4,000 miles!![[eek]](/images/smilies/eek.png "EEK! [eek]")
I really believe that you need at least 3,000 miles to fully break in an engine using synthetic oils.
I have heard of several e46 BMWs, (M3 specifically), that have to add oil regularly. But I have not had to add a single drop to mine. I believe that this is based on how you break the piston rings in. Yeah, I know BMW stipulates 1200 miles, but comon, think about it...
The e46s are using a full synthetic oil, the rings won't be seated correctly in 1200 miles using this oil. A normal dino oil yes, but I highly doubt that a synthetic oil would allow the rings to seat in that mileage.
I broke my car in using BMW's recommendations, (not over 1/2 of what the red line is, lots of bumper to bumper stop and go traffic), but I did this to 4,000 miles!
I really believe that you need at least 3,000 miles to fully break in an engine using synthetic oils.
Right around 4,800 miles my yellow Oil Light came on. I called the dealership and spoke to a Service Advisor who told me to check the oil and then to add some if it was low. The dipstick registered around the bottom of the acceptable range. He said that it was normal for all BMW's to "consume" oil. As it stands now, I am supposed to get my first service/ oil change around 9800 miles (the count-down started at 15,000). It adjusts based on driving conditions. When I added Mobil 1, it took about 80% of the quart.
According to my Service Advisor, he said BMW reports that normal consumption of oil for these cars should be 1 quart every 800 miles. I know this sounds high, but he tried to explain it. He said due to the high compression, there is "blow by"; because of the high compression oil goes into the combustion chamber.
The BIGGEST issue here is to decipher between burning and consuming. My car has never smoked, therefore probably has never burned oil. Consumption sounds like a normal occurance for BMW's whereas burning should send up red flags. Hope this helps!
According to my Service Advisor, he said BMW reports that normal consumption of oil for these cars should be 1 quart every 800 miles. I know this sounds high, but he tried to explain it. He said due to the high compression, there is "blow by"; because of the high compression oil goes into the combustion chamber.
The BIGGEST issue here is to decipher between burning and consuming. My car has never smoked, therefore probably has never burned oil. Consumption sounds like a normal occurance for BMW's whereas burning should send up red flags. Hope this helps!
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