oil level down a bit

[mangledlftthumb]

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Hi,

I've got ~15K kms (10k mi) on the car w/ the next scheduled visit in December. Last week, on the ride in to work, I noticed the oil level was down a bit. If the MIN mark = 0% and the MAX mark = 100%, the level's at ~80% (so down 20%). iDrive reports engine oil level as "OK". I've checked a couple times since and it's holding there. Note: the car was at 100% 'til now.
So the question is, should I bother to top it off (and if so w/ what - e.g. BMW synth 5W-30??) or wait 'til the regularly scheduled time (when they'll do all of that and more). I continue to monitor it either way.

Thanks,
--Antonio

[nachob]

It's regular BMW synth 5w 30. I would top it off at the dealer the first time so they can show you how much to add since there is no "@$)( dipstick. Yes it can tell you to add a quart but the guys that deal with it can share insights. On a different note, 15k miles is a looooooong time. You are probably the only one waiting that long. Remember it's 15k miles OR 1 year for free change in us. If a year has gone by just change it now IMO. This car has TWO turbos cooking the oil in the bearings. If you can't find BMW oil, Castrol long life syntec 5w-30 should work also. Good luck.

[Em/1]

Originally Posted by nachob

It's regular BMW synth 5w 30. I would top it off at the dealer the first time so they can show you how much to add since there is no "@$)( dipstick. Yes it can tell you to add a quart but the guys that deal with it can share insights. On a different note, 15k miles is a looooooong time. You are probably the only one waiting that long. Remember it's 15k miles OR 1 year for free change in us. If a year has gone by just change it now IMO. This car has TWO turbos cooking the oil in the bearings. If you can't find BMW oil, Castrol long life syntec 5w-30 should work also. Good luck.

Agree, but he has "only" 9000 miles on the care and probably only 7800 on this oil...Good time to change!

[octainejunkee]

mine seems to use a litre roughly every 3000miles,
ive done four bottles of oil in 15,000miles lol

[greygoose]

Mine was down to the halfway mark when I changed the oil after a year (14,500 miles). A litre every 3,000 miles sounds like a lot.

[octainejunkee]

i always drive slow until the oil gets upto 100c, oil never goes over the 125c, i don t hit the limiter or anything and it doesnt leak or smoke so im not sure why it uses so much either?

[Romo]

Originally Posted by mangledlftthumb

Hi,

I've got ~15K kms (10k mi) on the car w/ the next scheduled visit in December. Last week, on the ride in to work, I noticed the oil level was down a bit. If the MIN mark = 0% and the MAX mark = 100%, the level's at ~80% (so down 20%). iDrive reports engine oil level as "OK". I've checked a couple times since and it's holding there. Note: the car was at 100% 'til now.
So the question is, should I bother to top it off (and if so w/ what - e.g. BMW synth 5W-30??) or wait 'til the regularly scheduled time (when they'll do all of that and more). I continue to monitor it either way.

Thanks,
--Antonio

No, don`t bother to top it off..........the system tells you the level is whit in save margins (OK=OK !), also the system tells you when to add oil and in what amount.
If the level is low a yellow oil warning light will light up, it warns you you to add some oil ( most cases 1Liter), the I drive will show it also on screen.

Constantly monitoring is what the system will do automatically, you just drive and enjoy the ride..........

[1978.530i]

I changed mine at the 1200 mile run-in service. Since then, after driving the next 3800 miles (a total of 5,000) I got the warning light saying I needed to add a quart.

[CarJunkie]

Originally Posted by 1978.530i

I changed mine at the 1200 mile run-in service. Since then, after driving the next 3800 miles (a total of 5,000) I got the warning light saying I needed to add a quart.

The same thing happened to me. I had to add a quart within 2-3 k of my run-in service.

I then changed the oil at 6000 miles and have gone 3000 since then with a lot of spirited driving and two autocrosses. It is just now getting to be 1/2 quart low. I probably will change the oil again before I need to add any.

[edwardio]

Originally Posted by octainejunkee

mine seems to use a litre roughly every 3000miles,
ive done four bottles of oil in 15,000miles lol

Same as that :-)

[firechicken99]

Originally Posted by CarJunkie

The same thing happened to me. I had to add a quart within 2-3 k of my run-in service.

I then changed the oil at 6000 miles and have gone 3000 since then with a lot of spirited driving and two autocrosses. It is just now getting to be 1/2 quart low. I probably will change the oil again before I need to add any.

Originally Posted by edwardio

Same as that :-)

I believe its been well established and exhausted by now that for some of us our engines consume a bit more oil than others. Nothing to worry about, top it off and enjoy the ride!!!

[1978.530i]

I now understand why my exhaust tips are black!

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by firechicken99

I believe its been well established and exhausted by now that for some of us our engines consume a bit more oil than others. Nothing to worry about, top it off and enjoy the ride!!!

I think it also really depends on how you drive. If you are really driving hard and on boost all the time... you'll go thru more oil than just cruising around at speed. At least that is what I have noticed when driving on the Autobahn. Also the longer you go with OCI... the more chance there is to go thru some oil. I think this is due to oil dilution with D.I. fuel injection. That is why I change my oil more often that BMW says too.

[octainejunkee]

think im going to change my oil every 6000 from now on.
it doesnt feel right leaving it so long.

[firechicken99]

Originally Posted by Dackelone

I think it also really depends on how you drive. If you are really driving hard and on boost all the time... you'll go thru more oil than just cruising around at speed. At least that is what I have noticed when driving on the Autobahn. Also the longer you go with OCI... the more chance there is to go thru some oil. I think this is due to oil dilution with D.I. fuel injection. That is why I change my oil more often that BMW says too.

I change mine approximately every 3k-5k miles or 3 months. I work out of state so its become a "weekend" car if im even so lucky to take it out, and I choose to drive my car more aggressively (HPDE's, AutoX, "spirited" street drives )so personally, the $70 is worth the piece of mind

[vito747]

Sorry to hack the threat but, is 5-30 better or 0-40??? both are approved and from my point of view 0-40 can´t be worst so has to be better... what do you think?

[ozinaldo]

Originally Posted by vito747

Sorry to hack the threat but, is 5-30 better or 0-40??? both are approved and from my point of view 0-40 can´t be worst so has to be better... what do you think?

They are both approved oils, together with 0-30 if i remember correctly (check the manual), this means that you can safely try any of them and see which one fits your driving/car better. The car comes from the factory with 5-30 but here in Chile we have only Mobil 1 0-40 as BMW approved oils (LL-1) easily available and after the first oil change I found the car function and stay in optimum temperature better with the 0-40, not worse. Like I said as long as it is a LL-1 oil just go ahead and try any of them, there is no absolute better in this, at least not for every type of climate.

[vito747]

Originally Posted by ozinaldo

They are both approved oils, together with 0-30 if i remember correctly (check the manual), this means that you can safely try any of them and see which one fits your driving/car better. The car comes from the factory with 5-30 but here in Chile we have only Mobil 1 0-40 as BMW approved oils (LL-1) easily available and after the first oil change I found the car function and stay in optimum temperature better with the 0-40, not worse. Like I said as long as it is a LL-1 oil just go ahead and try any of them, there is no absolute better in this, at least not for every type of climate.

Thnks! here in spain we have castrol 5-30 and 0-40 but now some dealers are using SHELL which I don´t like... Mobil 1 or Castrol are my preferred brands

[ozinaldo]

Originally Posted by vito747

Thnks! here in spain we have castrol 5-30 and 0-40 but now some dealers are using SHELL which I don´t like... Mobil 1 or Castrol are my preferred brands

You better check if the oil you will use actually has LL-1 (long life) rating that makes it BMW approved, for example not every 0-40 has that rating and therefore not BMW approved. Maybe not a huge issue but if you want to stay safe you need to check that. I would go with Castrol brand myself if it would be available here but Mobil 1 is all we got and that's doing the job.

[Shaunski]

I had a similar issue with the display saying that the oil was below minimum. I spoke to the Service guys and minimum is actually at 5L of oil with 6L as max. Hope that helps

[ayao]

Originally Posted by ozinaldo

You better check if the oil you will use actually has LL-1 (long life) rating that makes it BMW approved, for example not every 0-40 has that rating and therefore not BMW approved. Maybe not a huge issue but if you want to stay safe you need to check that. I would go with Castrol brand myself if it would be available here but Mobil 1 is all we got and that's doing the job.

Only caveat here is that I think that LL-4 is used for the low-sulfur fuel utilized in Europe ... Everywhere else is high-sulfur content fuel and LL-01 engine oil.

http://www.1addicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=541486

[Dackelone]

Originally Posted by Shaunski

I had a similar issue with the display saying that the oil was below minimum. I spoke to the Service guys and minimum is actually at 5L of oil with 6L as max. Hope that helps

You know that the N54/N55 engine holds 6.5L of oil.