Minor Oil Consumption

ChowderHead · 12-25-2002, 12:26 PM

98 M3, I have noticed that when I drive the car hard that it seems to consume up to a quart of oil between oil changes. I regularly change oil within 3000 miles, is this something that I should be concerned with or a typical characteristic with this engine? I bought it as a certified vehicle still covered under warranty, please advise.

Jared at Pelican Parts · 12-26-2002, 11:59 AM

I have heard that a quart of oil for every 1000 miles is pretty normal. It doesnt seem like this wouls be a problem, unless you have noticed a loss in power, indicating that the rings are worn and the engine is burning oil. How many miles do you have on the car? Is it smoking at all?

Wayne 962 · Wayne 962's Garage

A quart for 1000 miles is normal for an air cooled engine like the 911 - not really a water cooled engine like these BMWs. However, I believe that a quart per 3000 is not too bad either, especially if you are driving the car hard. Increased performance means increased heat, which means that it will consume a bit more oil.

Try using a thicker oil - since you're in SoCal you never have to worry about cold starts where the thick, sludgy oil will muck up your radiator. A real thin, slick oil will flow well - almost too well, and tend to get past seals and rings...

-Wayne

Jared at Pelican Parts · 12-26-2002, 02:54 PM

What grade of oil are you currently using?

ChowderHead · 12-26-2002, 06:11 PM

Regarding the repsonses to my oil consumption questions. I am using Chevron Delo 15w40. My engine has 43,000 miles. I am in the desert , but the winters are a bit cold. It gets down to the mid twenties in the winter, but will usually get up to around 60 by mid day. The summer is hotter than blazes.usually in the low 100's.
Thanks for the responses, by the way I just added the stage four Dinan chip w/ cool air intake , high flow throttle body, high flow air meter and the stainless free flow exhaust.
It runs great, once it warms up does not seem to smoke just wanted to get advice on using a bit more oil.

Wayne 962 · Wayne 962's Garage

Use the heavy weight in the summer, and the thinner oil in the winter - that would probably be best for consumption and your engine. That is the reason they make different weight oils - for the different seasons...

-Wayne

umnitza · 12-27-2002, 07:31 AM

Don't use a thicker oil.

I had this same problem and most likely you need to do some maintenance. Valve Cover Gasket and Rear Main Seal are common leak points.

Wayne 962 · Wayne 962's Garage

Lightweight oils are generally too thin at operating temperatures. That is why they make the heavier-weight oils...

Read these two articles and decide:

http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/techarticles/Borrowed/mult_synthetic_faq.htm

http://www.pelicanparts.com/bmw/techarticles/Borrowed/mult_oil_article.htm

-Wayne

yelcab1 · 01-03-2003, 02:50 PM

I change my oil on the 98 M3 every 4K to 5K miles. I normally have to add a quart inbetween, so I would say that is also normal too on your car.

I do not have excessive black soot on the plugs, no blue smoke on the exhaust, and it passes emission with flying color. So, I would just enjoy it and forget about it.

ChowderHead · 01-04-2003, 05:58 PM

Thanks for the reply.
I just spoke with the service rep at Riverside BMW. He told me about the same thing. He said his BMW used about 5 qts. over the last 9,000 miles and that is normal. He also advised against using a lower viscosty oil even in the winter months. He advised sticking with 15w40. He said that is what they run in them in Germany(He has been to the factory) and it is alot colder there than it is here.

Wayne 962 · Wayne 962's Garage

I guess it does depend upon the car too. If a car suffers from low oil pressure, you can add a thicker oil to beef up the pressure slightly...

-Wayne

20PSI 240SX · 01-13-2003, 05:09 PM

warrenty might not pay unless its 1 qt per 1000 miles. i think i read that somwhere......
shaun,
your "e" bmw service advisor...with a fast 4 cyl nissan

Jared at Pelican Parts · 01-14-2003, 01:38 PM

This reminds me of something I heard about certian M3 motors having Nikasil cylinder bores, and the high sulphur content of US and UK gasoline was causing the Nikasil to corrode, cauing damage to the cylinder walls. I think that BMW dealers had a recall program going on where they would replace the ngine with a new one up to a certian mileage. Does anyone know about this?

20PSI 240SX · 01-15-2003, 05:05 AM

this was on older 740 engines. bmw was indeed replacing some. but that was a long time ago. you wouldn't get one replaced now.

blw · 01-27-2003, 03:34 AM

My experience was that my E46 M3 went through about a quart every 1500 or so miles if I drove it pretty hard, closer to 2000 miles if I loafed around. Two dealers said that this is typical, and that some folks use that much in 1000 miles or so.

adamnitti · adamnitti's Garage

hate to be redundant, but this is pretty normal for our cars. many have found that different brands of synthetic oils actually influence the degrees of consumption. i use the bmw synthetic 5W30, and i don't notice this problem on my car. i've heard others from the bimmerforums board say the same thing. go figure... bottom line is, i don't think you have anything to worry about.