Engine oil

[happygirl]

I have had my X1 for nearly 5 months and already I had to take my back to have the engine oil topped up! It seems as if it is burning a lot of the engine oil!

Is anyone else having this problem?

[yohans]

I'm not seeing this. In fact I had my first service at 15,000 km recently without needing any oil during that time. It may have been topped up at the service but was definitely NOT changed.

What mileage have you done, and what sort of driving do you do?

[BManiac]

I've just added half litre after 8500km

[mozdal]

Clocked 23000 kilometers (exactly 1 year today) and oil change is 2000 km away, not needed to add oil in that period.

[CEric]

Mine is even worse and it has a petrol engine. I had it delivered on July 29 and it has run for only about 2600km. I got a low motor oil warning just the past Tue. Called BMW service and I was told to top up the oil level by 1L. Maybe the oil level wasn't full when it was delivered.

[El_GrindCore]

for what I see here, the ones with the oil problem are both from Australia...

maybe something went wrong over there???... just wondering...

[skopos29]

I own my X1 18i s dive since Feb 11 and just reached 5000km. The oil light just flash and they told me that it needs to add oil. I think this is funny for a new car. I had a Honda for 10 years and never needed to add oil. I am very disappointed

[mario486]

All engines use oil however miniscule that may be. Its difficult to comment on individual cases without more info but if I could list a few points:

1. All new engines use oil until the rings, valves etc are run in. This is particularly true for diesels for which a pint in the first 3000 miles is not unusual.

2. Oil consumption should drop significantly after the run-in and stay very low for most of the engines life. It can climb again when the engine has high miles and requires a rebuild. Again, expect diesels to use more oil than petrols due to higher compression ratios.

3. Viscosity of the oil also matters, lower means higher consumption. Synthetic oils also have higher consumption.

4. You may not have to top up the oil on a well run in car but it will be topped up during the services so you may not notice it.

5. Driving style also affects consumption, just like with fuel.

6. Driving roads with steep gradients regularly will also significantly increase oil use.

With all of this in mind, and please this is a generalisation, I would say a pint or so of oil every 10k miles on a diesel and 20k on a petrol is normal. Anything significantly over this is not and you must have it checked out.

[Exotic Hadron]

Hi gentlemen,

How did you manage to know that it's time to visit your BMW dealer for the vehicle check?
My board computer tells that the suggested checkup date is in the future and no checkup is necessary in at least the next 10 month.
My dealer told me there is no way to know the date for me to visit the dealership until which I should finish the vehicle checkup to avoid losing the warranty.
That sounds pretty strange to me. If they know when I purchased the car, why should I go to the dealer only to provide the key for them to check the vehicle checkup date?
They told me 'Yeah, despite that your Board Computer tells that the next checkup is planned for 2012 you have to come to visit us and change oil. No we can't tell you the end date until which you should pass the checkup.'

Heck, my documentation reads that I can change oil myself and I don't need visit the dealership unless I want to or the BC tells me do so. I wonder, what's the use in BC then? What's the use of the dealership if they can't tell when I have to visit them?

What's your experience?

And, by the way, what's the oil brand / name they use to refill the oil tank?

[manicm]

Hmm, ok I have the petrol sDrive18i. I'm just under 4000ks and I do about 50/50 city/highway driving and have not topped up once. Oil indicator is still at healthy level. Also, I'm surprised other 18i owners have to top up often - maybe you're doing mostly city driving? High revs?

[Lost in France]

The 2.0d manual in France, I've been told not to come back for 2 years or 30,000Kms for the first service (inc. oil change)...normal or not?

[mario486]

Originally Posted by Lost in France

The 2.0d manual in France, I've been told not to come back for 2 years or 30,000Kms for the first service (inc. oil change)...normal or not?

Yes, it's normal unless the service indicator tells you otherwise. Do keep an eye on your oil level though, you may need to top it up in the beginning.

[Exotic Hadron]

Originally Posted by Lost in France

The 2.0d manual in France, I've been told not to come back for 2 years or 30,000Kms for the first service (inc. oil change)...normal or not?

I talked to Munich recently and they told me that you do NOT have to visit your dealership for service checkup unless you feel needing it or the Board Computer tells you do so by displaying yellow (attention) or red (warning) signs.

My oil level is a tad lower than half of the progress bar and it stays there for a much longer period than that when it dropped down to that value.

I believe this is because of the measurement technique. I may be wrong, but if it measures the oil level by measuring its electrical conductivity (however, I though it's an insulator), conductivity may change as oil becomes doped with scavenged fractions. Sounds like a nonsense but who knows?
Or probably the Board Computer measures dielectric permittivity, which is typically two times higher than that for air, that is 2.

Anyways, what I wanted to say is that I would not trust the indicator in terms of displayed consumption dynamics.

[Douggie]

Originally Posted by Exotic Hadron

I talked to Munich recently and they told me that you do NOT have to visit your dealership for service checkup unless you feel needing it or the Board Computer tells you do so by displaying yellow (attention) or red (warning) signs.

My oil level is a tad lower than half of the progress bar and it stays there for a much longer period than that when it dropped down to that value.

I believe this is because of the measurement technique. I may be wrong, but if it measures the oil level by measuring its electrical conductivity (however, I though it's an insulator), conductivity may change as oil becomes doped with scavenged fractions. Sounds like a nonsense but who knows?
Or probably the Board Computer measures dielectric permittivity, which is typically two times higher than that for air, that is 2.

Anyways, what I wanted to say is that I would not trust the indicator in terms of displayed consumption dynamics.

Yes, I always wonder why do car manufactures like to be creative and fancy in replacing the oil dipstick with a "high-tech" oil level sensor. Nothing beats a simple and cheap oil dipstick! Tried and tested for almost a century!

[Exotic Hadron]

Does anybody know what brand/type of oil they (BMW official service centres) use for engine? Isn't not that I would go for changing the oil myself but having contact local service, who knows...

[DUH CAR]

Originally Posted by Exotic Hadron

Does anybody know what brand/type of oil they (BMW official service centres) use for engine? Isn't not that I would go for changing the oil myself but having contact local service, who knows...

Someplace in the manual it says that they recommend Castrol. It also goes over the different grades that can be used.

[Exotic Hadron]

Originally Posted by DUH CAR

Someplace in the manual it says that they recommend Castrol. It also goes over the different grades that can be used.

Thanks. No-no, I am rather interested in viscosity and so on.