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Thread: Using oil but no leak

  1. #1
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    Cool Using oil but no leak

    Absolutely no leak so must be in valve guides. Adding half quart oil 800 miles. Car has 100k 2003, runs great 32 mpg, no smoke except cold morning startup. Question, do I pay $2500 for valve guide/ring job or keep driving until I see blue smoke or engine missing? Thanks.

  2. #2
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    I would think a new engine (installed) is not much more than that. Since you have no leak or smoke, I would probably continue driving it as is. With full warning that you engine may have a serious problem that will one day go kaput.
    Cyrus Mistry

  3. #3
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    I'd drive it till it dies then engine swap

    As above poster said, thats so close to the price of an engine plus swapping it that I don't see why that would ever be worth it to do.

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  4. #4
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    Probably not the valve guides, First suspect would be the crank case vent valve and you should replace it with only oem and the 4 hoses as well. The valve can be checked with a slack test and also a smoke test. When this valve is defective it can cause a lot of strange oil consumption issues including, but not limited to pushing oil thru the intake manifold, brake booster, idle air, its certainly a lot cheaper to replace this valve, especially on the M54 as thats not the motor that has valve guide issues. The hose at the bottom of the valve turns to goo and will clog oils return to the sump. The valve also has a nipple which has a rubber cap on it, some techs connect a vacuum line from that nipple to one thats plugged on the back of the intake manifold. As long as that motor doesnt get overheated its on of BMW's most reliable engines...ever. M30 people will probably try to disagree but that motor had issues with cracked heads and wiped cams.

  5. #5
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    Thanks the engine replacement sounds good.

  6. #6
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    Quote Originally Posted by recipe View Post
    Thanks the engine replacement sounds good.
    Sorry, but I'm a little confused by your reply, in fact if you are on the East Coast and decide to swap out your perfectly good engine I'll take it off your hands.

  7. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by ptarditi View Post
    Sorry, but I'm a little confused by your reply, in fact if you are on the East Coast and decide to swap out your perfectly good engine I'll take it off your hands.
    lol, unbelievable...

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  8. #8
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    Confused? A previous post said $2500 is what you could buy a rebuilt engine for 'if' it came to that. It hasn't come to that as yet but good to know choices.

  9. #9
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    Drive it.

  10. #10
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    Half a quart every 800 miles is normal ... you might not like it, but almost every manufacturer considers anything up to a quart for every 1000 miles normal.

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by recipe View Post
    Confused? A previous post said $2500 is what you could buy a rebuilt engine for 'if' it came to that. It hasn't come to that as yet but good to know choices.
    Sorry for the "confused" if you go back and follow from what you originally posted, to my second reply it seems that replacing the motor was what you were going to do.

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