[DfVgyCjmFQnu]

I have a 2015 m235i Coupe RWD with an Enzo ECU tune and Enzo catless downpipe. I'm very happy with the Enzo tune, performance, and customer support.

I've been getting low oil warning lights every 2-4k miles. Resolves with adding oil.

I suspect the increased pressures and demands and heat on the engine from the tune likely uses more oil than normal, hence the frequent need to top it off. Does this sound right? Do you guys running fairly aggressive tunes find you need to add oil regularly? thanks.

[ocN55]

No, this is very abnormal. I'm running a flash tune and hardly burn any oil.

I'd get in touch with your tuner asap.

[Drpoomanchu]

Not on Flash but Jb4 and havnt burned any noticable amount for 1000mi on castrol edge 0w40 Euro. Have someone drive behind you and check exhaust. Blue exhaust = oil. Could be turbo seal also.. Try running on wastegate low boost and compare or do a leak down test & compression test... Good luck bud but def not norm...

[DfVgyCjmFQnu]

Hmm, concerning.

I'm also needing to refill the coolant every week. Related issues?

[Luminous]

Originally Posted by qafwfk7pNkou

Hmm, concerning.

I'm also needing to refill the coolant every week. Related issues?

I've never had to top off coolant but adding a quart of oil every 2-4K miles is not something I'd be concerned about. The more boost you run the quicker you'll burn through oil. According to BMW anything below 1 liter per 750 miles is considered "normal" oil consumption. Just as a reference, my car is making ~550whp and I push it pretty hard with lots of WOT runs and I'm adding a quart every 1-1.5k miles. If I baby the car or run low boost I don't have to top off as frequently. Turbos burn oil. I noticed a definite increase in consumption going from stock turbo to the pure stage 2.

[DfVgyCjmFQnu]

Originally Posted by Luminous

I've never had to top off coolant but adding a quart of oil every 2-4K miles is not something I'd be concerned about. The more boost you run the quicker you'll burn through oil. According to BMW anything below 1 liter per 750 miles is considered "normal" oil consumption. Just as a reference, my car is making ~550whp and I push it pretty hard with lots of WOT runs and I'm adding a quart every 1-1.5k miles. If I baby the car or run low boost I don't have to top off as frequently. Turbos burn oil. I noticed a definite increase in consumption going from stock turbo to the pure stage 2.

Luminous, thanks. If you are adding a quart every 1-1.5k miles with the amount of boost you are generating I think it looks fairly proportional to the amount of oil I"m burning with much less boost. Thanks for the heads up.

[DfVgyCjmFQnu]

Looks like I am burning oil at an acceptable rate per BMW:

"BMW said oil consumption is normal on all engines, and consumption within specifications doesn't mean there's excessive engine wear. The company said some regular BMW motors can consume up to a quart every 750 miles, and M series performance engines can use up to 2.5 quarts per 1,000 miles under certain conditions. The company says it has a service campaign to check and possibly replace some parts in the 4.4 liter V8."

http://www.autoblog.com/2015/07/02/c...-too-much-oil/

also

https://www.bmwcca.org/forum/index.p...sumption.6378/

and

http://www.cheatsheet.com/automobile...tml/?a=viewall

[PeterPure]

My car consumes 1l every 3000-4000km since I owned it new and untuned. Adding stage1/stage2 turbo did not change this. It's normal. My car now has 90000km and still no issues with it. So I wouldn't be concerned. Some engines use more oil than others....

[EEBreh]

How did you break it in?

[DfVgyCjmFQnu]

I dropped it off at the dealer today to look into the coolant leak. It sounds like the oil issue is normal for my car. I realize some of you think is is abnormal but the majority of evidence points toward normal oil usage. Thanks everybody.

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

I was going to say it likely isn't the tune. Any other tune can add the same boost and your results would likely be the same. If there is no obvious leakage it may be considered normal. Without a leak down test it's hard to say. I've had several cars that burned oil in the past, not necessarily BMW but they all ran like a top. Some engines do simply burn up more oil then others.

You may want to consider a different brand oil or even heavier weight. What do you currently use?

[Bmw doubles]

Originally Posted by EEBreh

How did you break it in?

Improper break-in would cause you to burn oil inefficiently

[EEBreh]

Originally Posted by Bmw doubles

Improper break-in would cause you to burn oil inefficiently

+1. I broke mine in properly and I barely use anything. I change my oil every 6k miles and I have a little over 20k.

[Pparana]

Originally Posted by EEBreh

+1. I broke mine in properly and I barely use anything. I change my oil every 6k miles and I have a little over 20k.

I do not know about that, other than about 300 miles after delivery my car has been on track for at least 50% of its miles, On euro delivery it went to 3 days and 400 track miles. Ate the tires, pads rotors. Car has 13k on it now, heavily tuned, running meth, high boost and I never have to add oil. Granted I change the oil every 3-5 k but the line never drops.

I think it is more of a build tolerance, synthetic is very good at finding its way around, so prob up to a certain amount is no problem, within tolerances. Nothing to worry about.

If your burning more oil at high boost, your turbo is leaking.

[EEBreh]

Originally Posted by Pparana

I do not know about that, other than about 300 miles after delivery my car has been on track for at least 50% of its miles, On euro delivery it went to 3 days and 400 track miles. Ate the tires, pads rotors. Car has 13k on it now, heavily tuned, running meth, high boost and I never have to add oil. Granted I change the oil every 3-5 k but the line never drops.

I think it is more of a build tolerance, synthetic is very good at finding its way around, so prob up to a certain amount is no problem, within tolerances. Nothing to worry about.

If your burning more oil at high boost, your turbo is leaking.

I changed my oil at 1600 miles. Filter was filled with small meta shavings. Your engine may be fine now or may have been broken in within the few hundred miles but based on my experience with older Porsche engines you take a big gamble not properly breaking metal components in. Better safe than sorry. YMMV.

[Taunto]

it appears everyone has answered your problem quicker than i got to.
Working as a licensed tech for BMW we come across the oil consumption complaint all the time.

Are you running any sort of Catch Can? - if not i would recommend it, since it can help you out in the long run if u do plan on keeping the vehicle for a while.
Also do u Daily your car? What kind of traffic do u normally drive in? is it stop and go and is fairly steady in town traffic? or all highway?

If you do a lot of Stop and go driving, I would re-frame from using the START/STOP feature. Have seen Turbo's fail to this Since the oil heats and up and then when the vehicle shuts off its just boiling and not getting as much cooling as it needs - excessive amount of this will actually cause the turbo to fail fairly quickly.
I have seen a couple like this here in Edmonton, but have heard this being a big problem with customers in the Vancouver Area as well (some N55 engines, but mainly N63 engines)

[XutvJet]

OP:

1) What type of oil do you use? For the 2016 M235 they started requiring 0W-30 vs 5W-30. In general, 0W-30 oils (especially Castol Euro 0W-30) is more robust than the 5W-30 recommended in the pre-2016 cars.

2) What type of driving do you do? It's been my experience that lots of highway driving leads to more consumption.

3) Proper "break-in" to quell oil consumption is a farce.

4) Power mods like you have can and often do create more consumption, especially if you do a lot of lower rpm, fuller throttle pulls. The additional boost can allow oil to move up through the sealing rings of the pistons.


I only have 4,500 miles on my 2016 M235. I was somewhat gentle on it for the first 1,000 miles or so, but I did do some light to moderate throttle pulls up to 5,000rpms or so. The motor has consumed a bit less than 3/4 quarts in that time.

My 2012 WRX consumed 1/2 QT every 3,000 miles, with the early miles below 10,000 consuming a bit more.

My 2003 G35 consumed 1/2-3/4 QT every 4,000-5,000 miles.

My wife's 1998 and 2007 Legacy wagons consumed 3/4-1 QT every 5,000 miles.


Oil consumption, especially in turbo cars, is quite common, especially today's turbos where the automakers are using low friction rings. Consuming 1QT every 2,000-4,000 miles likely isn't an issue at all. If the consumption starts creeping up, then consider doing a consumption test.

[DfVgyCjmFQnu]

Originally Posted by Taunto

it appears everyone has answered your problem quicker than i got to.
Working as a licensed tech for BMW we come across the oil consumption complaint all the time.

Are you running any sort of Catch Can? - if not i would recommend it, since it can help you out in the long run if u do plan on keeping the vehicle for a while.
Also do u Daily your car? What kind of traffic do u normally drive in? is it stop and go and is fairly steady in town traffic? or all highway?

If you do a lot of Stop and go driving, I would re-frame from using the START/STOP feature. Have seen Turbo's fail to this Since the oil heats and up and then when the vehicle shuts off its just boiling and not getting as much cooling as it needs - excessive amount of this will actually cause the turbo to fail fairly quickly.
I have seen a couple like this here in Edmonton, but have heard this being a big problem with customers in the Vancouver Area as well (some N55 engines, but mainly N63 engines)

Hi, thank you for the reply.

I do not have a catch can. I daily drive my car in the pacific northwest. Lots of elevation changes. 60% stop and go traffic 40% highway cruising. Bad traffic. Lots of hard stops and hard accelerations.

I do not use the start/stop feature, I hate it. That feature is for spineless pussies.

Can you elaborate on what you mean by coming across the oil consumption complaint all the time? Do you mean it is a normal issue?

[Taunto]

Originally Posted by qafwfk7pNkou

Hi, thank you for the reply.

I do not have a catch can. I daily drive my car in the pacific northwest. Lots of elevation changes. 60% stop and go traffic 40% highway cruising. Bad traffic. Lots of hard stops and hard accelerations.

I do not use the start/stop feature, I hate it.

Can you elaborate on what you mean by coming across the oil consumption complaint all the time? Do you mean it is a normal issue?

I mean like we come across customers who say OH since my last oil Change ive had to add a Liter of engine oil... Some people are unaware that Turbo's Use oil from time to time and some oil consumption is common/normal.

On the other hand we come across N63 Engines were the Turbo seals are leaking and the vehicle needs new turbo's...(along with everything else that goes wrong on that engine)

To be honest N55 Engines are usually the least common with complaints about engine oil consumption... its usually N63, and N20(which usually ends up being a Oil return line from the turbo)

So your oil consumption concern is fairly Normal IMO and I wouldn't get to concerned with it unless it goes worse.

Heck, We even place a 1L bottle of engine oil in the back of the Vehicle on all our brand new vehicles for this main reason lol.

Out of the new engines/F-chassis cars...i dont think ive seen a single oil consumption complaint on a diesel yet....but those engines are bulletproof.

[DfVgyCjmFQnu]

Originally Posted by XutvJet

OP:

1) What type of oil do you use? For the 2016 M235 they started requiring 0W-30 vs 5W-30. In general, 0W-30 oils (especially Castol Euro 0W-30) is more robust than the 5W-30 recommended in the pre-2016 cars.

2) What type of driving do you do? It's been my experience that lots of highway driving leads to more consumption.

3) Proper "break-in" to quell oil consumption is a farce.

4) Power mods like you have can and often do create more consumption, especially if you do a lot of lower rpm, fuller throttle pulls. The additional boost can allow oil to move up through the sealing rings of the pistons.


I only have 4,500 miles on my 2016 M235. I was somewhat gentle on it for the first 1,000 miles or so, but I did do some light to moderate throttle pulls up to 5,000rpms or so. The motor has consumed a bit less than 3/4 quarts in that time.

My 2012 WRX consumed 1/2 QT every 3,000 miles, with the early miles below 10,000 consuming a bit more.

My 2003 G35 consumed 1/2-3/4 QT every 4,000-5,000 miles.

My wife's 1998 and 2007 Legacy wagons consumed 3/4-1 QT every 5,000 miles.


Oil consumption, especially in turbo cars, is quite common, especially today's turbos where the automakers are using low friction rings. Consuming 1QT every 2,000-4,000 miles likely isn't an issue at all. If the consumption starts creeping up, then consider doing a consumption test.

Howdy,

1. I am using BMW Twin Power Turbo 5w30 Motor Oil. Should I now switch to 0W-30?
2. I daily drive my car in the pacific northwest. Lots of elevation changes. 60% stop and go traffic 40% highway cruising. Bad traffic. Lots of hard stops and hard accelerations.
3. I took it easy on the car for the first 1000miles I think. The tune was installed after the first 1000 miles.

Thanks!

[Kolyan2k]

Originally Posted by qafwfk7pNkou

Looks like I am burning oil at an acceptable rate per BMW:

"BMW said oil consumption is normal on all engines, and consumption within specifications doesn't mean there's excessive engine wear. The company said some regular BMW motors can consume up to a quart every 750 miles, and M series performance engines can use up to 2.5 quarts per 1,000 miles under certain conditions. The company says it has a service campaign to check and possibly replace some parts in the 4.4 liter V8."

http://www.autoblog.com/2015/07/02/c...-too-much-oil/

also

https://www.bmwcca.org/forum/index.p...sumption.6378/

and

http://www.cheatsheet.com/automobile...tml/?a=viewall

It's normal per BMW simply because they want to cover their asses.

On my other 2 cars, I burn about 1qt per 7-8k miles none turbo. My N54 335i didn't burn oil either

[amw896]

Anyone else notice that the guy they interviewed in that article said it's common to burn oil if you don't drive it hard enough?

Good thing I give her some rips when I ding operating temp!!