oil consumption ?

maurice the martian · Post by **maurice the martian** » Tue 01 Feb, 2011 11:55

After this weekends cruise i checked the oil level and found i needed to top up with about 1/3 pint,The cruise was 450mile round trip and about 230ish miles of near rev line driving,so that got me thinking, is that normal,exessive or what?Zeds on 68000,at the moment.
Cheers Maurice.

Jamezee · Post by **Jamezee** » Wed 02 Feb, 2011 01:03

I seem to have been putting in 1lt every 1,500 miles or so. Since the last inspection one though this seems to have decreased. I suppose it depends if you are towing one of these uncle Maurice......

Titan · Post by **Titan** » Wed 02 Feb, 2011 08:06

That doesn't sound too bad Maurice, especially with the "rev" line driving

Ours typically consumes 0.5 litres / 3,000 miles of normal use.
(Thats' approx 1/6th pint per 500 miles)

I understand this to be "acceptable"
Does anybody else concur or wildly disagree?

Post by **Robert T** » Wed 02 Feb, 2011 10:18

The 6 cylinder engines do use a little oil and need topping up. The 4 cylinders use less and rarely need topping up - am trying to remember if I have EVER put any in mine - I think I might have put a little bit in when I was running it in!

Cheers R.

Z3cade · Post by **Z3cade** » Wed 02 Feb, 2011 10:55

I disagree... My 2.8 is on 101k and doesnt use a drop.......? ive done about 8k since it was serviced and the oil on the dipstick hasnt moved. I always check my oil in the morning so its had all nite to settle.
Maybe different oil has an effect? i use Millers oil

CoachOz · Post by **CoachOz** » Wed 02 Feb, 2011 12:01

We have 3, 2.8 BMW's including the Zed and none require top ups between changes. The two E39's have about 130k on them and the one we have owned the longest has changes at 20-25,000 without top ups. I can't speak for the Zed long term as have only had it a couple of months but appears not to have used any oil since the last change almost a year ago. It is on 80,000 klms. The cars are driven pretty gently and would rarely be taken over 5,000 rpm

SpaceMonkey · Post by **SpaceMonkey** » Wed 02 Feb, 2011 12:51

Had this issue with so called oil hungry, high revving Honda K20 lumps in the past. Some do burn oil & some don't I'm a firm believer it's to do with the running in & allowing the engine to get to temp before giving it the beans.
Neither of my Honda K20s used a drop & I drove those pretty hard.

I'll be check the M later as it was serviced about 500 miles ago.

Mike Fishwick · Post by **Mike Fishwick** » Wed 02 Feb, 2011 13:18

Oil grade (SAE) does have a lot to do with consumption, as does the API classification.

Many engines burn a bit if run on oil with a cold viscosity of '0' such as 0-30 etc, and do not burn anything on a slightly thicker oil such as 5-40.

An API classification of SG and above usually reduces oil consumption when compared to SF - but most modern oils are SJ.

Also, an engine which has been treated with kid gloves when new, and run in on synthetic oil will not bed in its piton rings properly, and will burn oil until about 40,000 miles at least - many Z4 owners have found this.

Consistant red lining an engine will also cause oil consumption - did you REALLY do so for half of your recent 'cruise?' If so, don't worry about oil consumption, as you will probably lose your licence before you need to top up the engine again!

Z3cade · Post by **Z3cade** » Wed 02 Feb, 2011 13:24

Correct me if im wrong but isnt oil consumption to do with wear on the piston rings?
maybe the running in stage of the engine has abig part to play like spacemonkey says...
Or maybe different engine cc engines just use more than others????
Be interesting to find out the facts!

SpaceMonkey · Post by **SpaceMonkey** » Wed 02 Feb, 2011 13:35

Higher revving engines tend to use a bit more than the lower revving engines.
The B-series Honda engines can burn ALOT, the K20 Honda engine can also if not bedding in properly. And iirc the Audi RS4 V8 can burn a fair amount of oil too. But all of these rev in excess of 8000rpm.

GazHyde · Post by **GazHyde** » Wed 02 Feb, 2011 13:38

2.0 6cyl - I haven't put a drop in mine in the 11 months / 4.5k miles driven so far... and that includes a reasonable bit of red lining!

Gio · Post by **Gio** » Wed 02 Feb, 2011 15:42

I've only had to top up a little as it comes upto service, but a friend who has a 5 series is topping his up all the time.

Geoff H · Post by **Geoff H** » Wed 02 Feb, 2011 15:56

My 2.8 doesn't use any oil between services. The dipstick level never moves off the top level

Z3cade · Post by **Z3cade** » Wed 02 Feb, 2011 16:42

Geoff H wrote:My 2.8 doesn't use any oil between services. The dipstick level never moves off the top level

There seems to be a running simularity between the 2.8s....

Zed Carer · Post by **Zed Carer** » Thu 03 Feb, 2011 21:08

Another 2.8 that hasn't used a drop in 3 years. It had an oil change in March 2008 just before I bought it at 69k and I did an oil change in May 2010 at 80k next one due in 2012 assuming that I manage to stick to around 5k per year.

The Z4 however uses a litre between services - it has needed 1/2 lt every 5,000 miles. The electronic "dipstick" is not that accurate