[lazyrhino]

Some of you may have seen a few previous posts on here from me before regarding my progress in the world of BMW E-Sys coding and associated retrofits, but I'm posting to request some advice from the more mechanical bods among us as electronics are more my bag!

My lovely M235i has been running beautifully since I took delivery of her just over a year ago now (November 2014 I believe), but this weekend just gone I had to top her up with a whole litre of oil for the 2nd time - naturally I'm now a tad worried, considering the car is so young.

I first topped her up with a litre of engine oil mid 2015, with around 8k miles on the clock - I received an 'oil level at minimum' warning, and responded with this top up straight away. I didn't really think anything of it at the time, but now that I've just had to repeat this process again at just 16k miles, I'm starting to get concerned.

Following advice from others on here before, I was pretty religious with the whole 'break in period', and apart from the occasional 'put your foot down' moment, I treat her well - I don't thrash her about on a daily basis. She tends to mostly do motorway miles nowadays (70mph average), around 60 miles a day.

The car tells me its due for its first service in around 3k miles anyway, so I'm tempted to have a word with my dealership about it and see if they'll book it in a little earlier, but I thought I'd appeal to the wisdom of those on here first!

Has anyone had a similar experience to mine? Or can anyone shed any light on what could be happening here?

Hopefully it's nothing to worry about!

Any advice is certainly much appreciated! Thanks in advance!

[overcoil]

So 1-liter (about 1-quart) every 8-k miles. Probably falls within a manufacturer's allowance.
1) I would swipe my finger around the exits of each exhaust pipe to feel/see if there is an oil film.
2) After its first required oil change w/filter that would be the milestone to determine if your getting oil usage at the same rate.
3) I would mention it at service time obviously - but I wouldn't be concerned.
4) Sure others will tell you they have no need to top off in similar mileage, however 60miles @ 70mph / 5-days a week, your probably burning some sacrificial oil and I think it's perfectly acceptable.

[lazyrhino]

Originally Posted by ScottSinger

So 1-liter (about 1-quart) every 8-k miles. Probably falls within a manufacturer's allowance.
1) I would swipe my finger around the exits of each exhaust pipe to feel/see if there is an oil film.
2) After its first required oil change w/filter that would be the milestone to determine if your getting oil usage at the same rate.
3) I would mention it at service time obviously - but I wouldn't be concerned.
4) Sure others will tell you they have no need to top off in similar mileage, however 60miles @ 70mph / 5-days a week, your probably burning some sacrificial oil and I think it's perfectly acceptable.

Thanks Scott, really appreciate your reply. You make a good point, I haven't actually checked the BMW manufacturer's allowance for the N55 engine - I will check it tonight.

1. Very very difficult to check for an oil film around the exhaust exits at this time of year thanks to the simply atrocious weather in the UK (so much rain you wouldn't even believe), though when it's been dry previously and I've been cleaning the car, I've never noticed an oil film. I've only ever seen/removed a very minor build up of black/sooty exhaust residue.
2. Good advice - I'll see how it drinks after its first service (includes full oil and filter change).
3. I'll be sure to raise it at service and see what they think.
4. I've always been under the impression that most engines on the 'larger' side of life will tend to burn a little oil when under the sort of load my car is usually exposed to, so thanks for confirming that.

Again, thanks for your advice!

[Pparana]

Originally Posted by KurtCrisco

Some of you may have seen a few previous posts on here from me before regarding my progress in the world of BMW E-Sys coding and associated retrofits, but I'm posting to request some advice from the more mechanical bods among us as electronics are more my bag!

My lovely M235i has been running beautifully since I took delivery of her just over a year ago now (November 2014 I believe), but this weekend just gone I had to top her up with a whole litre of oil for the 2nd time - naturally I'm now a tad worried, considering the car is so young.

I first topped her up with a litre of engine oil mid 2015, with around 8k miles on the clock - I received an 'oil level at minimum' warning, and responded with this top up straight away. I didn't really think anything of it at the time, but now that I've just had to repeat this process again at just 16k miles, I'm starting to get concerned.

Following advice from others on here before, I was pretty religious with the whole 'break in period', and apart from the occasional 'put your foot down' moment, I treat her well - I don't thrash her about on a daily basis. She tends to mostly do motorway miles nowadays (70mph average), around 60 miles a day.

The car tells me its due for its first service in around 3k miles anyway, so I'm tempted to have a word with my dealership about it and see if they'll book it in a little earlier, but I thought I'd appeal to the wisdom of those on here first!

Has anyone had a similar experience to mine? Or can anyone shed any light on what could be happening here?

Hopefully it's nothing to worry about!

Any advice is certainly much appreciated! Thanks in advance!

picked mine up at factory, right to autobahn, ring and spa. Shipped back and pretty much only goes to track days and the occasional date night. Burns not a drop. Friend has 15 m3 was religious on the break in, burns about equal to yours. Was actually at the dealer for the oil change and this lady came in and said she was there for her "monthly" quart. So whatever it's burning bmw will say it's a ok.

[Liquidpaper]

It's normal. I track mine and had to add oil at 5k and then 15k. The harder you run the car, the more oil it burns.

[allthatisntnow]

Normal here as well. I put a litre in about 5k ago after the minimum oil level warning and its already consumed half of that according to the oil level check. Its a relatively large displacement turbo engine (by uk standards at least) and the turbo needs its share of oil too to keep operational. Turbos run the oil temps up higher than normal aspiration of the same cylinder count/ displacement.

My service indicator (for first oil change) is going to land at 20k miles (32k km) or sometime in February. Its condition based servicing, so perfectly safe, but i know a few people who'd be having kittens at those oil change intervals. I just think of it as, if the car consumes 2 litres of oil between services its giving itself a 1/3 oil refresh regardless

[lazyrhino]

Thanks for all the responses!

Sounds as though I'm certainly not alone then - it seems regardless of how you run the car, oil consumption will occur, just the harder you drive it, the more it burns it would appear!

I did wonder about whether the turbo could be wanting a fair bit originally, due to the design of the engine, so I'm glad someone else can confirm that theory!

Sounds like I don't need to be concerned overall then!

Really appreciate the advice!

[DanG]

If you have had yout car for over a year it is past due for a service. The service indicator is one year from the date of manufacture or mileage based, which ever comes first. Check your service indicator on startup or in the idrive menu.

[Legal Bill]

Some may disagree with me, but I change my own oil on my 330i and I do it between 7,000 and 8,000 miles. I will do the same with my M235i when I get it. I think the car's electronic oil monitoring program is set to tolerate more particulates than I care for. BMW (and other manufacturers offering free maintenance for the warranty period) are much more concerned with the cost of maintenance than they are with the life of your engine. As long as they get you past the warranty mileage or age, what do they care if their extended oil service shortens the life of your engine to, say, 100K miles?

My point is, if I were in your shoes, I would not be topping off as I would be changing the oil right at the point that your low level warning comes on. Here is one of many articles on the subject:

http://blog.**********s.com/15000-mile-oil-change-myth/

[snaketh]

Originally Posted by Legal Bill

Some may disagree with me, but I change my own oil on my 330i and I do it between 7,000 and 8,000 miles. I will do the same with my M235i when I get it. I think the car's electronic oil monitoring program is set to tolerate more particulates than I care for. BMW (and other manufacturers offering free maintenance for the warranty period) are much more concerned with the cost of maintenance than they are with the life of your engine. As long as they get you past the warranty mileage or age, what do they care if their extended oil service shortens the life of your engine to, say, 100K miles?

My point is, if I were in your shoes, I would not be topping off as I would be changing the oil right at the point that your low level warning comes on. Here is one of many articles on the subject:

http://blog.**********s.com/15000-mile-oil-change-myth/

Your link was redacted by the forum (why?) but I found it on a google search. Interesting reading. I've always changed my oil and filters at 7000 or 12 months. Friends say I'm going overboard but I'd love to see an argument and data that says 15k is fine.

I want my engines to do 200k.

[allthatisntnow]

Originally Posted by snaketh

Your link was redacted by the forum (why?) but I found it on a google search. Interesting reading. I've always changed my oil and filters at 7000 or 12 months. Friends say I'm going overboard but I'd love to see an argument and data that says 15k is fine.

I want my engines to do 200k.

It all depends on usage. If someones putting that kind of milage (200k) on a vehicle in 4-5 years, then it probably is reasonable to shorten the service intervals a bit. For me to put 200k on a car id have to keep it for the better part of 15 years. After 10 years i wouldn't think a vehicle on DD duty owed me anything. Yearly, condition based servicing will do me just fine. I think driving style and mechanical sympathy with regards to making sure oil is up to temp etc has the greatest impact on vehicle longevity.

[Legal Bill]

Originally Posted by snaketh

Your link was redacted by the forum (why?) but I found it on a google search. Interesting reading. I've always changed my oil and filters at 7000 or 12 months. Friends say I'm going overboard but I'd love to see an argument and data that says 15k is fine.

I want my engines to do 200k.

I don't know why it was deleted and I am sorry if I broke a forum rule.

The advice I am sharing was substantiated by a tribiologist who worked for several oil and lubricant companies over the years. He used to post on the S2000 forum and share the results of oil analysies, both over time and as compared to other brands of oil. It all came down to metal content in the oil. Some oils are better at preventing wear than others, but no oil brand can stop engine wear. The longer your oil is in the car, the more metal it contains. The more metal particles in the oil, the more friction on the rotating parts. Now keep in mind, we are talking about a microscopic level of analysis. You can't filter the particles out with a cheesecloth. These are particles small enough to get past your oil filter. But they are solids none-the-less and they are not doing your engine internals any good.

Now some of the modern synthetics prevent wear better than the old dino based oils. But the manufacturers trade on that characteristic to use ever thinner oil weights to reduce drag and increase fuel economy. So some of that wear protection is reduced. It is hard to know where to draw the line, but I'll do mine at 7,000. It seems to be a good compromise between the old "every 3500 miles" of my youth and today's 10,000 to 15,000 miles from the manufacturer who is picking up the bill AND hoping you buy a new one sooner rather than later.

If you really want to do your own research, just send a sample of your oil after 7,000 miles for an engine oil analysis. They will send you a nice report with the metal composition and a few lines about the wear they are seeing based on those metals. Then send a sample after 10,000 and 15,000 and see what comes back. I'm sure it wouldn't be too hard to warm up the engine and then siphon out a bit of oil through the oil fill cap. The sample size needed is very small.

*****************************=engine+oil+analysis&tbm=shop

http://www.blackstone-labs.com/

[DfVgyCjmFQnu]

I have an m235i US Spec with Enzo ECU tune and Enzo catless downpipe.

I got the "engine oil level low" warning at 4000 miles and again at 9000 miles.

I was worried about this as well. Seems like I'm just driving it hard and the increased stress from the ECU tune is likely eating up more oil. I'll just top it off and not worry then.

[Boosted_six]

Originally Posted by Ligament

I have an m235i US Spec with Enzo ECU tune and Enzo catless downpipe.

I got the "engine oil level low" warning at 4000 miles and again at 9000 miles.

I was worried about this as well. Seems like I'm just driving it hard and the increased stress from the ECU tune is likely eating up more oil. I'll just top it off and not worry then.

How did you run the car in?

[lazyrhino]

Originally Posted by DanG

If you have had yout car for over a year it is past due for a service. The service indicator is one year from the date of manufacture or mileage based, which ever comes first. Check your service indicator on startup or in the idrive menu.

This is the first I've heard of this? Haven't heard about the service interval being a year or a certain mileage (whichever comes first).

Even so, maybe I'll call my dealership and get it booked in - can't do any harm I suppose. Thanks you!

[allthatisntnow]

Originally Posted by KurtCrisco

This is the first I've heard of this? Haven't heard about the service interval being a year or a certain mileage (whichever comes first).

Even so, maybe I'll call my dealership and get it booked in - can't do any harm I suppose. Thanks you!

Uk condition based servicing is 2 years or 20k miles for the m235i.

Mines just been in for its first oil service. They also replaced some trim in the brake fluid reservoir as part of "product improvement/ enhancement" or some bs. Basically i think it was part of a (non urgent) recall as it was done under warranty.

[lazyrhino]

Originally Posted by allthatisntnow

Uk condition based servicing is 2 years or 20k miles for the m235i.

Mines just been in for its first oil service. They also replaced some trim in the brake fluid reservoir as part of "product improvement/ enhancement" or some bs. Basically i think it was part of a (non urgent) recall as it was done under warranty.

Agreed. I had the first service done a couple of weeks back just before I'd hit 20k miles.

They checked the issue for me and said that the oil consumption is perfectly normal for the engine, in fact, expected if anything.

I had a plastic panel at the top of the engine bay replaced under this whole 'Product Improvement/Enhancement' thing as well. I spoke to a friend of mine who works for the dealership - he confirmed it's just a fancy and less embarrassing way of explaining a non urgent recall.