Excessive oil consumption - Cause?

[Andrew9682]

In the last 6,000 miles I have burned 4 quarts of oil. I have owned the car for about 55,000 miles and since I have had it I will consistently burn about 1 quart about every 3,000 miles. I currently have about 150k miles on the car. I haven't done anything any differently lately and I am using the same oil that I always use (Castrol Syntec 5w40). I also haven't noticed any smoke coming from the exhaust. One thing that I have noticed though in the last 1k miles or so is a very slight VANOS rattle. Could that be related? Also this may be a different thread but is it worth going with Dr. VANOS over just replacing the seals?

Thanks,
Andrew

[hcaleman]

Have you pulled your coil cover to see if you see oil all over the valve cover? I've been consuming a bit, outward appearances look clean, pulled the coil cover the other day and saw that I'm definitely leaking oil from what appears to be a spark plug tube seal.

I've got a spare valve cover that I'm getting powdercoated and new valve cover gaskets and bolt seals. Should take care of the job. Check your vanos supply hose too.

[e30hijinks]

Replace CCV

[m3mobbin]

Replace CCV

I had this problem and replacing the air/oil separator did the trick.

[das borgen]

Replace CCV

+1

http://www.dvatp.com/bmw/diy/icv_ccv/

[Uraharasan]

And here I thought my quart every 1k miles was normal...

[Andrew9682]

I replaced the valve cover gasket about 10k ago.

I just replaced the CCV on my GF's 03 530i, is it much different on the S52 than it was on the M54?

Any thoughts on the VANOS?

[jgrotkier]

Mine burns oil at a pretty high rate. Probably 1 quart every 2000 miles depending on what I use.

I also have the vanos rattle when its hot out.

I always thought the oil consumption was normal. Every car I've owned and driven hard has burned some oil.

[das borgen]

I replaced the valve cover gasket about 10k ago.

I just replaced the CCV on my GF's 03 530i, is it much different on the S52 than it was on the M54?

Any thoughts on the VANOS?

look at the DIY I linked

I think it s easier

on the M52/S52....the intake mani doesn t have to come off

[jgrotkier]

On a side note, does anyone know the ccv part number for a 95 M3? I can't find it anywhere on realoem or pelicanparts.com

[LuxoM3]

FWIW - don't get your hopes up TOO high...

My old 1996 M3 used about 1 quart for every 1000 miles.
My 1995 M3 used about 1 quart for every 1500 miles.

Some M3's use oil. Some don't. The old M5s from 2000+ use one quart every 500-750 miles.

5w is a bit light though for the M3. Try 10w-40. It's a little heavier.

Also, your valve cover WILL leak some oil. Check over the passenger side, where the valve cover meets the head. Run a paper towel along the seam. Betcha it'll be wet with oil.

It's PIA but the M3's have a pretty lousy valve cover design.

[YAOGinanM3]

On a side note, does anyone know the ccv part number for a 95 M3? I can't find it anywhere on realoem or pelicanparts.com

There isn't really a CCV per se just a valveless breather junction at the valvecover.

HTH!

[E36BMW3series]

I wipe more oil off my dipstick than my car burns. I swear that thing never goes though oil and I drive it hard all the time.

Royal Purple 0w or 15w - 40 for what it's worth.

[jgrotkier]

There isn't really a CCV per se just a valveless breather junction at the valvecover.

HTH!

That I saw.

Thanks!

[Braymond141]

FWIW - don't get your hopes up TOO high...

My old 1996 M3 used about 1 quart for every 1000 miles.
My 1995 M3 used about 1 quart for every 1500 miles.

Some M3's use oil. Some don't. The old M5s from 2000+ use one quart every 500-750 miles.

5w is a bit light though for the M3. Try 10w-40. It's a little heavier.

Also, your valve cover WILL leak some oil. Check over the passenger side, where the valve cover meets the head. Run a paper towel along the seam. Betcha it'll be wet with oil.

It's PIA but the M3's have a pretty lousy valve cover design.

W stands for Winter. What does the Winter startup viscosity rating have to do with a running engine that is burning oil? He needs to increase to 50 or 60, not the Winter rating.

[powder]

W stands for Winter. What does the Winter startup viscosity rating have to do with a running engine that is burning oil? He needs to increase to 50 or 60, not the Winter rating.

What? No!

The two numbers are measurements of that oil's viscosity at different temperatures.

[krayon]

From Wikipedia:

The Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) has established a numerical code system for grading motor oils according to their viscosity characteristics. SAE viscosity gradings include the following, from low to high viscosity: 0, 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 40, 50 or 60. The numbers 0, 5, 10, 15 and 25 are suffixed with the letter W, designating their "winter" (not "weight") or cold-start viscosity, at lower temperature. The number 20 comes with or without a W, depending on whether it is being used to denote a cold or hot viscosity grade. The document SAE J300 defines the viscometrics related to these grades.

[powder]

Looking at SAE J300 (NOT wikipedia), it defines maximum cold cranking viscosity and maximum pumping viscosity @ specified temperatures. These define the first number of the naming scheme. The second number is defined by the kinematic viscosity, measured at a much higher temperature.

The W is simply a low temperature grading.

While I cannot link to SAE J300 as it is a protected document, I will point you at SAE's history where they repeatedly refer to the W number as the low temperature viscosity measurement, not the "winter" classification.

[NHmfree]

W stands for Winter. What does the Winter startup viscosity rating have to do with a running engine that is burning oil? He needs to increase to 50 or 60, not the Winter rating.

I was under the impression that whatever thinning agent is added or processes that is done to make the oil such a low weight at start up makes it more susceptible to burning. I could be wrong, but I'm switching from 0w-40 to 10w-40 to see if it makes a difference in my car.

[Balthazarr]

I was under the impression that whatever thinning agent is added or processes that is done to make the oil such a low weight at start up makes it more susceptible to burning. I could be wrong, but I'm switching from 0w-40 to 10w-40 to see if it makes a difference in my car.

It's the additives that get used up in normally wearing engines for the most part; not the oil.
So I think you are right.

[Braymond141]

Looking at SAE J300 (NOT wikipedia), it defines maximum cold cranking viscosity and maximum pumping viscosity @ specified temperatures. These define the first number of the naming scheme. The second number is defined by the kinematic viscosity, measured at a much higher temperature.

The W is simply a low temperature grading.

While I cannot link to SAE J300 as it is a protected document, I will point you at SAE's history where they repeatedly refer to the W number as the low temperature viscosity measurement, not the "winter" classification.

Multi-weight oils (such as 10W-30) are a new invention made possible by adding polymers to oil. The polymers allow the oil to have different weights at different temperatures. The first number indicates the viscosity of the oil at a cold temperature, while the second number indicates the viscosity at operating temperature. This page from the Sci.Electronics.Repair FAQ offers the following very interesting description of how the polymers work:

You said nothing different than I did. "Winter" is used to explain the products viscosity ratings more clearly to people. It is not called 5 weight 50, it's called 5W 50 or 5 Winter 50.

By the way. In most places... if it's cold enough to get the oil down to it's "cold" viscosity rating... it's probably Winter outside.

[hc1001]

W does mean winter. if you go from 5w-40 to 10w-40 oil. the latter has a higher max temp b4 the oil burns or boils. even though 40 is the second number of both oils, the 10w-40 has a higher temp limit compared to 5w-40.

FWIW, i have used m1 15w-50, rp 10-40, m1 5w-30, redline 5w-30, castrol 0w-30 and they all burn close to the same amount of oil.

[ZUUD BYE]

Here's a reference site that has "learned me some" on oil.
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/cms/

[bmwpower]

Has anyone really seen marked improvement with REPLACING the CCV?

I had a hard starting issue that was fixed by cleaning the CCV, but I was hoping I would see a decrease in the oil consumption as well, but I haven't.

Wondering if I should replace the CCV...

[WRXEATR]

You're confusing the ccv with the ICV......fyi. Clogged ICVs will cause rough starts and idles. CCVs cant be cleaned without destroying the cap.