M4 Oil consumption help?

[mrgicm]

Hello,

Just 2 weeks ago I bought a 2014/2015 M4 with 7.000 miles, the car was imported from USA to Germany and fully converted to euro spec (lighting,miles to km etc) all the small things necessary to register the car in germany. Before I bought the car I checked the VIN at BMW dealer and no red lights where there, the history was ok.

Since than I did around 2.000km (1.200 miles) and the oil minimum warning came on, so I went to the BMW dealer and bought 1 liter of oil and immeadetly scheduled for a service since the car had a low number of miles.

After pouring around half a liter of oil in the engine, I warmed up the engine drove a couple of miles and it was still showing minimum, than I poured the other half liter and it was showing full immeadetley.

Since than I have done around 500miles of normal driving and again its just over minimum???

The car is 100% stock and I am very worried about it, do you guys have any experience with oil consumption??

Especially since the car is performing normal and nothing out of the ordinary?

Thank you very much for your help

[al3xander]

get it in for service and see what they say. Could possibly be a bad oil level sensor causing the light to come on

[nicknaz]

Originally Posted by al3xander

get it in for service and see what they say. Could possibly be a bad oil level sensor causing the light to come on

In which case there could be an overfill scenario, and that needs to be resolved too

[Invictus]

When you fill it up is there a visible indication that it is full? Can you see the top of the oil or are you going on the sensor alone?

If it were just a bad sensor, filling it more and more would likely cause it to overflow.

Is there a puddle of oil under the car?

Is there bluish/oily exhaust?

Do you smell burning oil?

Is the engine making odd sounds or running irregularly?

Is the engine overheating?

In any case, get it to a dealer.

[Oliver Queen]

I think it says it's normal for a car to use I think it was either 1.0 or 0.9 quart of oil every 600 miles in the manual somewhere, so they might just say it's normal and send you on your way if the sensor is not bad

[Kidscollege$]

Originally Posted by HSingh7BMW

I think it says it's normal for a car to use I think it was either 1.0 or 0.9 quart of oil every 600 miles in the manual somewhere, so they might just say it's normal and send you on your way if the sensor is not bad

I hope you meant 6000 miles...

[Oliver Queen]

Originally Posted by Kidscollege$

I hope you meant 6000 miles...

I'm sorry I got the car's mixed up, it says that in my other car's manual, I don't think it says that in the m3 manual, I apologize.

[mrgicm]

Originally Posted by Invictus

When you fill it up is there a visible indication that it is full? Can you see the top of the oil or are you going on the sensor alone?

If it were just a bad sensor, filling it more and more would likely cause it to overflow.

Is there a puddle of oil under the car?

Is there bluish/oily exhaust?

Do you smell burning oil?

Is the engine making odd sounds or running irregularly?

Is the engine overheating?

In any case, get it to a dealer.

There is no puddle under the car and no engine signs of anything.

There is no smoke and the temperature is keeping great even after flooring it a couple of times through gears.

I am scheduled for tommorow at the dealer.

I thnik they will just make an service and tell me to monitor the oil level now that the oil has been changed.

[dzvero]

Originally Posted by Kidscollege$

I hope you meant 6000 miles...

Even 6000 miles should not bur 1 quarter ~1l oil , thats little be too much imho

[romanonj]

Get an oil change, and use that as your baseline. Can be an oil leak, can be burning. Fresh oil change will help establishing if there is a problem.

I have had n52 engines in my old x3 and 330i, identical motors, one burnt quart every 7500 miles, the other one consumed 1 quart every 1200 miles. It was annoying for sure as the car had less than 100 k on it. Dealers don't think it's a problem unless it's consuming quart of oil every 750 miles.

[mrgicm]

UPDATE:

Just got off the phone with my dealer and they say that they see a some grease and oil drops from the oil cooler and that it needs to be replaced. Apparently it was slightley pressed against a curb or something?!

So they can not measure the exact oil consumption until the cooler is replaced, so I will order a new oil cooler.


The biggest BS is that they are denying me any kind of warranty because the car is from USA and imported in Europe. (I was not trying to get the cooler replaced under warranty).

They say since the side markers have been removed the car has been tempered with so there is little to no chance I have a valid warranty.


However since there were just a few grease spots (no puddle) and I was missing a quart over 600 miles I doubt its from that, but seems I have to go step by step.

[mrgicm]

So I have replaced the oil coller what the dealer said it had some oil drops and done a oil change.

Unfortunatley still the same, I have done 500 miles and half a quart is missing??!!

I think that is a bit much. I will go there on monday again and insist they take a look at it under waranty.

[Oliver Queen]

You might be facing this http://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1249588 maybe they will take a look if you point it out

[mrgicm]

Originally Posted by Kara Zor-El

You might be facing this http://f80.bimmerpost.com/forums/sho....php?t=1249588 maybe they will take a look if you point it out

Thanks, I just got back from the delaer and they scheduled me for next week and said the only thing they can do is do an oil change and block the oil drain plug and the oil cap and mesure how much is the consumtion and go from there.

But unfortunatley they say if if uf to 1 quart to 1000km BMW doesnt think it is a problem.

I told them about the valve cover leak in the post above and they say nothing can be seen from their check.

the car performes great, pulls hard and no codes or faults.

Dont know what to think, should I insist on the dealer or just come to peace with it because its driving me nuts )

Not even my E46 M3 has nearly that much consumption and it has some miles on it..

[Oliver Queen]

Originally Posted by mrgicm

Thanks, I just got back from the delaer and they scheduled me for next week and said the only thing they can do is do an oil change and block the oil drain plug and the oil cap and mesure how much is the consumtion and go from there.

But unfortunatley they say if if uf to 1 quart to 1000km BMW doesnt think it is a problem.

I told them about the valve cover leak in the post above and they say nothing can be seen from their check.

the car performes great, pulls hard and no codes or faults.

Dont know what to think, should I insist on the dealer or just come to peace with it because its driving me nuts )

Not even my E46 M3 has nearly that much consumption and it has some miles on it..

I personally believe a car shouldn't burn oil at all, or just a very small amount in normal driving circumstances. I think car companies put that 1 quart burning limit to safeguard themselves in case the motor needs to be rebuilt. I would hate to worry about putting a quart every 500 miles which will get annoying, there's something wrong, the dealer probably won't do anything about it since they assume that consumption is normal. Your car will continue to run fine as long as you keep feeding it oil lol

[AYTifosi]

If I a reading this right, they denied replacing the oil cooler under warranty because the car is a US car? If so, my bigger concern would be no warranty. I wouldn't want to drive the car at all until that's resolved.

[mrgicm]

They have denied me warranty because they had no record of first 1.200 mile service being done.

I sorted that thanks to a forum member who sent me the us history of the car.

So waiting on their response now.

[Gearhead999s]

Mine has never needed an oil addition between oil changes including a fair bit of track use.I do anout 75-8000 kms between changes.

[mrgicm]

Originally Posted by Gearhead999s

Mine has never needed an oil addition between oil changes including a fair bit of track use.I do anout 75-8000 kms between changes.

Does it stay on full when you measure it after 7-8 tkm or does it drop a bit?

[dzvero]

Try with another dealer if possible, dont forget to get your money back for the oil cooler - it was likely fine.

[MSport_Jon]

Her buddy... Try us spec bmw friendly dealerships in Germany

Autohaus Euler in Kaiserslaughtern
Autohaus Rhein in Wurzburg
AutoHaus Hoffman in Regensburg
Autohaus Praller in Duerling

They help folks with us spec cars all the time and under European warranty...

[mrgicm]

Originally Posted by MSport_Jon

Her buddy... Try us spec bmw friendly dealerships in Germany

Autohaus Euler in Kaiserslaughtern
Autohaus Rhein in Wurzburg
AutoHaus Hoofman in Regensburg
Autohaus Praller in Duerling

They help folks with us spec cars all the time and under European warranty...

Thank you, If I cant deal with my local I will contact them.

By the way this forum has been so helpful and its members truly help another.