BMW 3-Series E90 (2005 - ) - 08 3.0 325D oil consumption

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Sat 19 Apr 2008 16:55
08 3.0 325D oil consumption - Ubi
I have my first technical issue with the 325D and I'm not really sure how to deal with it in the short term.

The car has only covered about 200 miles in its short life since new. Out of idle curiosity I checked the oil level today at the dipstick. It was at the minimum mark. I didn't check it when I took delivery, taking it for granted that BMW and its dealers would know more about putting oil in a car than I would ever find of interest. This may have been a tactical error. Neither I did not bother to find out the manufacturer's recommended oil. I had intended to follow HJ's running in advice and leave it untouched for a year.

1) Does the minimum oil level indicate underfilling at PDI;
2) Or, Excessive oil consumption;
3) And if 2 is true how is that usually manifested (other than at the dipstick)? There is no oil on the garage floor; I don't see any black smoke when driving.


I can probably arrive at a answer to 1) and 2) by putting in some more oil and observing the results. What oil to buy? I have a tub of Castrol Magnatec 10/40 which has been sitting on a shelf in the garage unused for about 4 years because my previous Audi didn't use any oil at all between services. Should I still use that ?

Maybe I should just have bought a banger and it would have been less of a worry.

Advice gratefully received.

Edited by Webmaster on 11/05/2008 at 12:39

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Sat 19 Apr 2008 17:38
08 3.0 BMW oil consumption - 659FBE
My advice can only be the obvious:

You have no data as to the starting oil level of the engine so as yet, you have no idea whether or not the engine is good, bad or indifferent. With all engines, especially those from a reputable maker, give it the benefit of the doubt.

Absolutely and without fail, find out the precise specification of the oil required and use it.

Top it up to maximum on the dipstick following any stipulated requirements (hot or cold, wait 5 mins etc etc) and with the vehicle on level ground.

Check the oil level weekly.

659.
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Sat 19 Apr 2008 17:45
08 3.0 BMW oil consumption - Ubi
Thank you for the well meaning response.

Edited by Ubi on 19/04/2008 at 17:46

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Sat 19 Apr 2008 19:22
08 3.0 BMW oil consumption - Pugugly
Did you check it according to the manual ? From my experience it takes at least the length of a mug of tea to drain to the sump, otherwise readings can be totally erratic.
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Sat 19 Apr 2008 19:23
08 3.0 BMW oil consumption - Pugugly
And only use BMW spec oil - details in the manual. Usually cheaper at the dealer than Halfords !

Surprisingly.

Edit:

I have two brand new litres in my garage, I wish you and they were closer !


According to Castrol which was the OE fill on my last few diesels

EDGE TURBO DIESEL 0W-30

Edited by Pugugly on 19/04/2008 at 19:41

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Sat 19 Apr 2008 23:43
08 3.0 BMW oil consumption - Ubi
It was a good hour after switching the engine off until I checked the oil. The engine was still very warm. Unless I have missed it in another section my manual is very vague about oil specs. I was at Costco this morning and could have bought oil if I'd known about this.

Surprised and disappointed to be mucking about with oil at this stage in its life.

What do you say about the shelf life of oil? I have 5 litres of Castrol Magnatec in my garage which has been untouched for about 4 years. Is that still usable?
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Sat 19 Apr 2008 23:45
08 3.0 BMW oil consumption - Pugugly
Don't use it......this is a brand new engine....!
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Sun 20 Apr 2008 00:37
08 3.0 BMW oil consumption - Ubi
Cheers mate, I'll pick up 5 litres of Edge tomorrow.

And I thought could forget about maintenance for three years!
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Sun 20 Apr 2008 01:09
08 3.0 BMW oil consumption - Dynamic Dave
HJ's FAQ No.14 & 15

www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/faq.htm?id=32

www.honestjohn.co.uk/faq/faq.htm?id=13

Expect the engine to use some oil until it's properly run in.
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Sun 20 Apr 2008 01:29
08 3.0 BMW oil consumption - Ubi
Thanks again. Y'know, if it wasn't for this place I'd just be fodder for the agent.
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Sun 20 Apr 2008 08:51
08 3.0 BMW oil consumption - midlife - what crisis?
This may be a complete red herring, but when I had a Rover 75 (with a BMW diesel engine) the dipstick always showed empty when pulled out. To read the correct level, you had to clean it and re-insert, then withdraw it again to show the true level. This was memtioned in the handbook. What does yours say?
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Sun 20 Apr 2008 10:49
08 3.0 BMW oil consumption - Ubi
Thanks for the suggestion.

In all I checked it four times, with 30 minutes separating two pairs of checks. Unless the dipstick is wrongly calibrated I'm pretty satisfied that the reading was consistently on minimum.

I will pick up some Edge 0W/40 from Costo this morning. This is BMW's recommended oil to meet the LL04 standard. I should have checked the car when I got it. Old as I get, I never learn.
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Sun 20 Apr 2008 12:25
08 3.0 BMW oil consumption - quizman
Ubi, you don't say how long you have had your car. Short runs are very bad for a new car. If I were you I would take it for a good long run, give it some revs, don't worry about babying the car, it will be a better car if you give it some thrape.

Well done on getting the Edge 0W-40, or should it be Edge Turbo Diesel 0W-30 which is the reccommended oil on the Castrol site for BMW diesel cars.

Costco might stock the Edge TD 0W-30, but if they don't I would go to Halfords, they stock a good range of Castrol and I have always found them to be a good firm. Not the cheapest but they are handy.
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Sun 20 Apr 2008 12:34
08 3.0 BMW oil consumption - quizman
Ubi, I have just read your post on the discussion site. Yes you definately need to take the car for a good long journey to run it in properly. It will be a much better car afterwards.

Do not use the Magnatec oil in the BM, it is only semi-synthetic and a new BM needs fully synthetic.

And yes recommended has only one c!
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Sun 20 Apr 2008 13:45
08 3.0 BMW oil consumption - Ubi
Went to Costco again this morning. It's about four miles away by dual carriageway so the car does get a little run and I keep the transmission in S to let it rev more freely. But try as I might I cannot bring myself to welly a new engine.

The only Castrol Edge oil they had was 5W/?? which clearly isn't suitable They did have Mobil1 0W/40 for Turbo Diesels but I decided to hang on and get the recommended oil tomorrow.

And I am very glad you queried my proposed choice of oil. It should of course be the Castrol Edge Turbo Diesel 0W-30 meeting LL04.

Onwards, ever upwards.

Edited by Ubi on 20/04/2008 at 13:45

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Sun 20 Apr 2008 13:51
08 3.0 BMW oil consumption - Pugugly
I always found that oil was marginally cheaper (per litre) at the Dealers than at Halfords. You really want to know why it was delivered with so little as well (well I would !) - maybe you'll shame them in to letting you have a free litre or so.

Check the boot in case there's a complimentary litre of top-up in there !
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Sun 20 Apr 2008 14:07
08 3.0 BMW oil consumption - Ubi
I have eMailed the BMW dealer about this. Unfortunately I don't think a reliable explanation will ever emerge.

I'm not fussed about getting anything free but it would be nice just to get what I paid for - a £30k car whose audio doesn't sound like a war time Home Service broadcast and whose engine doesn't consume expensive oil at the rate of 1litre per 200 miles. (I accept that this last comment is borne out of frustration and may prove to be misplaced, in which event I will withdraw it.)

I am indebted to everyone who has helped me with their responses here.
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Sun 20 Apr 2008 16:18
08 3.0 BMW oil consumption - quizman
>>>But try as I might I cannot bring myself to welly a new engine


I'm a farmer and on a new tractor you should go ploughing or power harrowing, which will make the new engine work hard. I am not suggesting that you should hammer it to death, but give it some work.
I know how you feel about wellying, but like wives and children, they go much better with a good workout. (I nearly said with a good thrashing).
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Sun 20 Apr 2008 23:15
08 3.0 BMW oil consumption - dv

A good thrashing is a bit over the top, but it is the case that you get ONE chance to bed in the piston rings properly, and driving too gently won't do it.

Let the engine warm up, then use gradually increasing amounts of power, dropping back to trundle - what you are doing is getting the rings to make contact at the slightly different angles they adopt at the different power levels. No full throttle, and no lo-speed chug chug.

dv.
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Mon 21 Apr 2008 08:33
08 3.0 BMW oil consumption - Ubi
HJ recommends a 3k limit for the first 1000 miles. I have been taking it up close to that engine speed regularly before allowing it to settle back to about 1500 rpm. I never allow any engine to labour.

Is this what you are recommending?
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Mon 21 Apr 2008 11:12
08 3.0 BMW oil consumption - Dynamic Dave
Is this what you are recommending?


See the links to HJ's FAQ's I posted earlier in this thread.
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Wed 7 May 2008 10:36
325D Oil consumption - Ubi
Update to a previous post. Within a couple of weeks of taking delivery of a new E90 I discovered the oil level was already on minimum. I added the best part of a litre of the recommended BMWLL04 spec oil. A dipstick check showed the oil level now to be on maximum. Several weeks later the oil level hasn?t moved.

Two possible conclusions: 1) Not filled correctly by BMW dealer at PDI; 2) Excessive oil consumption in first couple of hundred miles? driving.
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Wed 7 May 2008 11:09
325D Oil consumption - Brit_in_Germany
BMW bean counters at work? If the car will not suffer damage running it on min, why should they pay out for the extra litre.
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Wed 7 May 2008 11:18
325D Oil consumption - Ubi
Could be. The extra litre financed by the mug who bought it.
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Wed 7 May 2008 12:41
325D Oil consumption - 659FBE
This is a well known trick - I had a Ford which was supplied new with the gearbox 0.5 litre short of oil (a large percentage of the total volume of oil). Of course, the main dealer who serviced it didn't top it up either - it was only when I became responsible for its upkeep that the level was corrected. It never ever needed any more oil and the gearbox never gave any trouble.

Oil to advanced specifications is expensive. Car makers have had decades of practice in the art of cost reduction. Now that cars have dashboard warning of low level, it's an obvious ploy.

It looks as though my entirely well meant advice earlier in the thread was valid.

659.

Edited by 659FBE on 07/05/2008 at 12:42

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Wed 7 May 2008 14:29
325D Oil consumption - Gromit {P}
In the dealer's defence, if the car is on a long-life service programme (and I *think* all BMWs are, as delivered), the oil shouldn't be topped up until the dipstick reads minimum. Otherwise the computer gets confused about signalling when the next service is required.

So, if the oil was mid-way up the stick when delivered (you can imagine the sump being filled on the production line, then settling while in storage and during delivery), the dealer would be correct to leave it alone. He might have brought the matter of oil burn during running in to your attention, though, with some advice on when to top up and what spec to use.
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Wed 7 May 2008 16:37
325D Oil consumption - 659FBE
Oil is incompressible - it doesn't "settle" like cornflakes or instant coffee. The makers are very well aware of the precise volume of oil they dispense into each unit - engine or gearbox.

As an aside, at the last automotive gearbox plant I visited they filled the transmissions and then briefly inverted them to lubricate all the parts before final test. Transmissions from this maker (French) were always filled to the correct final level.

659.
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Wed 7 May 2008 20:29
08 3.0 325D oil consumption - independantmillionaire
I can give you the answer to this one. When I bought my BMW last year I found that the sump was overfilled.

Take it straight back, complain nicely and they will take it back into the workshop and do the job properly. Also the complaint will be logged which is helpful should any oil relating problems arise. Who knows in another short time it might be back to minimum.

i know as a fact that my BMW dealer never look at dipsticks.
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Thu 8 May 2008 15:01
08 3.0 325D oil consumption - piston power
A few years ago when i worked for a nissan fork lift truck dealer every new forklift that came in from spain had 1.5ltrs of oil low on the dipstick.

It took 5ltrs inc the filter we had to top up every time, my point is these manufacture's save a small fortune saving a litre or so of oil in every engine.

But this should have been picked up on the pdi & topped up.
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Sun 7 Nov 2010 07:05
08 3.0 325D oil consumption - neil.hunter14

I've been driving BMW Diesels for a few years, and have had several models including the 118d, 120d, 123d, 318d and now a 325d (E92) 6-cyl 3 litre.

All of them have shown a reasonable amount of oil-burn in the first 1000 miles or so (up to a litre). After that, they burn no more oil in my experience.

What I have also noticed more recently, on the cars fitted with the Professional Computer/Sat-Nav Display system, is that the oil-level there may show FULL, when you go into vehicle settings, but the dipstick shows it's on minimum. The last 325d I had did this. It was on minimum on the dip-stick, so I topped up with around 500ml of LL04 oil. The dipstick came close to maximum (but not over it), but the Computer said it was overfilled, and I should go to a dealer immediately. I did that, but they said it was a common fault.

The two do not match up at all which is very confusing.

Going back to the types of oil used, the Handbook specifies very clearly the Specification. In BMW's case it will either be Longlife01 or Longlife04 and they recommend Castrol Oil.

If you buy a Halfords or other brand, check that the oil meets the LL01/04 specification but a litre top-up kit from a BMW dealer was cheaper than Halfords, and the correct oil 100%.

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