New to BMW, quick questions.

[katrina]

Hello, I recently bought a 95 525i a couple months ago. It has roughly 215,000 miles on it. It runs really good I even took it on a 1500 mile road trip with no problems, also got 33 mpg's!!

1. It doesnt really have any signs of burning oil, no smoke or smell, but it keeps telling me that my engine oil is low. I put in 2 quarts 2 months ago and it is really low already. I don't have any oil spots in the driveway or anything either. How do I figure out what is wrong and how do I fix it?

2. Sometimes when I am going up hill and there is stress on the engine, the car will bounce between 2 and 3 thousand rpm's. It doesn't happen often but what is this?

Thanks in advance.

[Chinman]

1. How far did you drive in those 2 months? Depending on the # of miles driven that much oil consumption can be normal, especially with 215k on the clock.

2. Sounds like either the transmission is shifting back and forth between 2 gears, or it is slipping.

[David325e]

Check transmission fluid level. Is the car actually burning that much or do you have a bad sensor. And it could be normal.

And is that the MPG calculated by the OBC?

[katrina]

We drove probably 1500 miles or so in the last 2 months.

The mechanic said its a clogged fuel filter that is causing the weird transmission thing.

How do you check transmission fluid? I was going to drain it and put new in but I heard it could be a bad idea?

I calculated mpg by hand. The obc recorded 29 but I got roughly 33.

[5senses]

We drove probably 1500 miles or so in the last 2 months.

The mechanic said its a clogged fuel filter that is causing the weird transmission thing.

How do you check transmission fluid? I was going to drain it and put new in but I heard it could be a bad idea?

I calculated mpg by hand. The obc recorded 29 but I got roughly 33.

How far is Crossville from Nashville.. i've got a bmw mech on speed dial if interested..

[katrina]

It's only about 2 hours but I am currently unemployed and my husband is a full time college student so we have absolutely no money. My parents are good friends with a mechanic and he is the one that usually worked on my previous cars, but he is a country boy and isnt too fond of bmw's. :rolleyes

[5senses]

Good luck with the country boy mech... tell hubby give u some college $$$ to take care of the bimmer.. is unemployment coming through? im going through an appeal @ the moment for mine.. Overall try to get a haynes manual or bently manual.. just saw a free haynes manual on bmwclubmalaysia but u gotta register to b a member !!!!!

[katrina]

haha ok. His financial aid got lost somehow so he is dealing with that right now. We have been waiting 2 months. I still have my unemployment. I didn't have to go through any appeals or anything. When it ended, I just kept calling and they keep sending me money.lol

[5senses]

lucky u... they've been avoiding me since 9/1 !!!!!!!
but seriously save up for 1 of those manuals and keep looking for answers on Bf.c... you'll find all sorts of info here

[katrina]

Great. Thanks.

[moroza]

How many miles in those 2 months? As mentioned, 2 quarts could be normal.

It sounds like the auto transmission is shifting between two gears. The owner's manual mentions that it'll do this, and the solution is to shift down to 3 or 4 (I forget how many speeds yours has) and force it to stay in the lower gear.

Any country boy mechanic can change a fuel filter on one of these cars. It's two rubber hoses with plain old band clamps going to a roughly beercan-sized metal cylinder in the left rear wheel well. The part costs some 10-20 bucks, the labor is about 15 minutes. I'd ask him to do it, partly to let him actually get a look at the mechanicals of these cars and disspel any mystique of "ooh, it's a BMW; can't touch it with mortal hands and tools."

[misswin]

Hey, another girl! Welcome!

Like the boys have said so far, lurk the threads for awhile, subscribe to the ones that look like they may be able to help... and DIY as much as possible, or it gets very expensive very quickly. :)

[katrina]

Thanks all for the help. My husband is a car guy but he has a honda. I'm trying to learn as much as I can so I have something to do while he is working on his car. :awink I'm sure if I can't do it, he can. It's just he doesn't know much about bmw's.

[garethashenden]

Welcome, assuming it's an auto... Mine did the same thing. Not too often at first, but it got more common. Don't abuse it or rev in neutral and it should last a little longer, but at 215 it's not uncommon for the autos to fail, actually 150-170 is more common.

[M Quick]

The BMW manual says that it is normal that the engine can consume up to 1 quart of oil every 1000km /which is about 600 miles? So 2 quarts of oil over 1500 miles seems very normal.

And don't change the transmission fluid, it's like playing the lottery when your car has those miles on it, either it runs great or it fails directly after you drive it for a couple of miles.

We never changed any transmission fluid on any BMW that hadn't been changed frequently, as it may cause major problems. The fluid is a lifetime transmission fluid, so it should keep up. You can fill it up a little with new oil though, aslong as it's not more than ½ quart of oil. That is, if your tranismission doesn't have enough oil in it. Otherwise it's pretty hard to fill it up! Hehe.


Problem #2 is likely due to the transmissions shifting between two gears and could be fixed with topping it up with a little transmission fluid. Sometimes if it is a little low of fluid, when you're going uphill the fluid won't lay flat in the tranny which makes it act like that. But that may not always be the cause.