X6 using oil

[Tonymo]

new to Forum. But have owned several BMW's.

currently have a 2012 X6, have owned it since it was new. Just approaching 100K miles. Body in great shape, runs well.

My concern is oil usage. It used about 1 qt of oil every 4,000-5,000 miles for most of its life. The past few years , the oil usage has climbed and now uses a qt about 700-1,000 mi.


car has always had synthetic oil, changes every 5,000-7,000 mi.

what can be done to lesson oil usage (oil burn?)

Thanks for any suggestions

[E36M3LX]

new to Forum. But have owned several BMW's.

currently have a 2012 X6, have owned it since it was new. Just approaching 100K miles. Body in great shape, runs well.

My concern is oil usage. It used about 1 qt of oil every 4,000-5,000 miles for most of its life. The past few years , the oil usage has climbed and now uses a qt about 700-1,000 mi.


car has always had synthetic oil, changes every 5,000-7,000 mi.

what can be done to lesson oil usage (oil burn?)

Thanks for any suggestions

Hopefully a mod can tow this to another sub-forum and you will get more answers.

Exactly what oil brand and weight are you using? You are considered high mileage now, make sure you're using good oil and maybe try bumping up the viscosity. If you care about the car and it has higher miles, I would not recommend 7k miles on an oil change, 5k miles max.

1 quart per 1k miles isn't too bad. I've had great luck with liquimoly additives. Do some research and maybe give them a try.

[darknezz7]

All I can say is I work on newer bmws everyday and all the newer ones past 2008 dont last much longer than 100k, particular n55 motors like yours. If they dont suck the belts into the crank or seize the bearings from the variable oil pump or the vanos bolts dont fall out first they just fall apart a fast death.

The best advice is probably to trade it in on a new bmw if you want to keep having bmws and not replace the engine soon.

5k max oil intervals, liquimoly 5w40 is all we use for those engine. bmws 12k service interval and 5w20 oil is just to get fuel economy and keep cost of ownership maintenance down and to destroy the car so you buy another.


Also you could be burning it though PCV system or the many oil leaks these cars get.