BMW oil consumption, oil/climate or OCI to blame?

[wolfestone]

I realize there's been a million "what oil should I put in my bmw" threads, but I have a slightly different set of questions I wasn't able to answer by searching alone.

I own an e46 (m54 motor), with 65k miles on it. It's been in the florida climate since new. The car is using about 1 quart of oil every 1400 miles, which has gradually worsened over the last 25k.

Before I owned this car, it had an oil change at 15k, then at 32k and 37k, with BMW/castrol 5w30 oil. I have changed the oil every 5k miles since with BMW/castrol 5w30.

Now, here's my question: I am about to replace this car with a new 328i (n52 motor). This will be the first car I've bought new, and I want to keep it a long time without running into the same oil consumption issues I have now. It appears the oil is burning off, and is getting past the rings. I'm aware this is within what bmw deems 'normal'.

It's been recommended to me that I switch to a 10w40 oil due to the hot climate. I've questioned this with one synthetic oil supplier who advised against it.

What I really want is to make an educated guess as to whether the oil consumption issues on my current car were more likely caused by the long OCI for the first 30k miles, by the bmw/castrol 5w30 not being ideal for this hot climate, or by something else entirely.

As of now, I'm looking at either the BMW LL04 oil (5w30?), redline 5w30, redline 5w40, or redline 10w40.

I've been comparing the viscostity @100f ratings, and see the BMW 5w30 is thicker at temperature than redline 5w30.

The scenario I'm worried about is that I pick the wrong oil, and even with regular changes end up again in a few years with a car that uses a lot of oil.

I would really appreciate any advice on how to best select an oil that will fit my needs the best. Cost is less of a factor than the best wear protection.

 

[bmwtechguy]

First, tell us how you drive, such as, perhaps lots of short trips around town? With that few miles on the M54, does not sound like you do many long trips. If most of your trips are shorter ones, like 10 miles or less, I do not see a need for a heavier oil than BMW recommends.

Also, you should not need the LL-04 oil as it is more for the diesels that have the particulate filter. I would stick with an LL-01 oil and change every 7500 miles or one year for what I think your type of driving might be. GC would be a good choice, even though it is a 0W-30. Redline would be a fine choice as well, but does not have the LL-01 endorsement. The BMW oil is a good oil, but I don't think anyone should go the full distance BMW allows on any of these oils unless a large portion of the miles are interstate/non-severe use, and certainly not more than one year oil change intervals max.

 

[FL_Rob]

With a brand new engine,Mobil 1,Ultra,Rotella T6,in 5w30/40 is MORE protection than you'll ever need,Overkill?Yes.Peace of mind?Priceless.
An Edit:If cost really is no object,Motul 300v,or Redline 5w40.Superduper overkill.

 

[oliveoil]

I use German Castrol 0-30 in my e36 M3 and go 7-10K depending on the time I have. The BMW 5-30 is a fantastic and very stout oil. With one court added every 1400 miles 15K OCI's should be no problem on the old car. The oil is always refreshened. (Most bmw's use oil). But I'd change the oil in the new car at 5K and then do another when the car reaches 10K,and then just do regular 7-8k oci's.

 

[FL_Rob]

Ok ,I did some checking ,GC'green',is the only one that would keep up with the above mentioned oils so you can add that to a very short list as well.

 

[Craig in Canada]

Your oil consumption is not likely because your OC habits have worn out the engine.

You probably have a bad CCV (pretty common) and it's simply being burned. If you haven't tested or replaced the CCV, check it.

60k mi is nothing on an M54.

 

[shanneba]

+1 on the bad CCV, also check the valve cover gasket for leaks, most likely at the exhaust side rear of the engine.

I ran the BMW 5w-30 and Castrol Syntec 0w-30 in my M54 in Houston for 5 years with no issues and no oil use in 5000 mile OCIs.
I switched to Red Line 5w-40 mostly for better protection for AutoX and track days where my oil getting to about 235F.

I have 82000 miles on it and it doesn't use any oil on 7500 mile OCIs with the Red line 5w-40.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: wolfestone
redline 5w30, redline 5w40, or redline 10w40.

You're not concerned about potential warranty denial issues due to not using of approved oil (LL01)?

I'd stick with either M1 0w-40, GC, or BMW 5w-30, at least during the term of the warranty.

 

[Bobert]

High speed driving on the highway can also affect oil consumption. My VW owners manual states it's normal to consume oil during high speed driving. Otherwise it doesn't use any or very little for around town driving or shorter highway trips. If you take extended trips with speeds over 70mph your engine might consume oil.

The type of oil can also affect consumption. My particular car would drink Mobil 1, but other brands it didn't consume as much. High mileage oils tend to be better at controlling consumption as well. It's just a matter of experimenting and finding which oil works best.

 

[wolfestone]

Thanks guys, to answer some questions:

The CCV was ruled out as being the cause. I've replaced it along with all the associated piping. I replaced the valve cover and spark plug gaskets a while back, when I also replaced the vanos seals. There's definitely no leaks. The oil consumption has gradually increased over time, seemingly unrelated to any parts I've replaced.

The vast majority of my trips are ~25 miles, most of which is highway or at least 50+ mph. The last 2 miles or so are city driving. I wouldn't say I beat on the car but I push it fairly regularly, once it's warmed up.

Warranty compliance is somewhat of a concern to me, but I don't want to use a significantly inferior oil just for that reason. I also would prefer to stick with the same oil from the start.

I plan to do a break in service on the new car at 1200 miles (engine oil, filter, diff fluid, transmission oil) and then every 5-7k after that.

I looked into the european formula (german?) castrol syntec once before, used the 0w30 in an oil change, and even contacted the supplier here in FL. I was told that the 'gold' european formula is now made in the USA. edit: upon reading the GC thread I see that there's gold GC which still says "made in germany" on the bottle. Any definitive answer as to whether this is a group IV?

If I were to stick to an 'approved' oil, does that basically limit me to castrol syntec 0w30, bmw 5w30, and mobil 1 0w40?

I won't pretend I understand this in any depth either, but how important is the fact that the bmw oil is a group III, whereas redline is reportedly a group V oil?

From what I've read here, I also understand that it's better to have a closer viscosity range too (5w30 versus 0w40) as there's more 'oil' and less viscosity modifiers present. Is this accurate?

After spending some more time reading, I'm leaning a bit more heavily towards the 0w30 german-made syntec.

I really appreciate the help.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: wolfestone

I looked into the european formula (german?) castrol syntec once before, used the 0w30 in an oil change, and even contacted the supplier here in FL. I was told that the 'gold' european formula is now made in the USA. No idea how accurate this is though.

It says "Made in Germany" on the back, so I doubt it's made in USA. Regardless where it's made, if it carries the BMW LL01 spec, it's good to go.

Quote:
but I don't want to use a significantly inferior oil just for that reason. I also would prefer to stick with the same oil from the start.

They're all good oils. I wouldn't call them 'inferior'.


Quote:

If I were to stick to an 'approved' oil, does that basically limit me to castrol syntec 0w30, bmw 5w30, and mobil 1 0w40?

Pretty much. Pennzoil and Valvoline also make appropriate LL01 oils, according to this BMW publication, but good luck finding them in store.

 

[wolfestone]

Just re-read the GC thread and realized I must have ended up with the 'us' stuff. The 0w30 syntec I had definitely didn't say made in germany, but I see the photos in the GC thread which show the bottle that does indeed say that. I was obviously misinformed on that one, thanks.

I'm trying to find a working link to the GC datasheet, and see how it compares to the BMW oil. I'm still quite confused as to whether or not the german castrol is a group IV?

 

[castamir]

In my opinion, the best option is to use German Castrol 0w30 on your new car, and change the oil every 5000 miles, while letting BMW change your oil once a year because BMW offers free oil change once a year or approximately every 15,000 miles.

I notice that the original BMW oil burns a little between intervals on my Z4. This is why BMW includes an extra LITER of oil in the trunk in case the oil light comes.

From my experience, the Mobil 1 0w40 also burns a bit of oil at around 6000 miles. Funny thing was that it never burnt any oil until almost precisely the 6000 miles.

The German Castrol 0w30 seems to burn noticeably less, but it still burns nonetheless. My personal OCI is around 7000 miles due to the stop and go city traffic.

The Valvoline and Pennzoil BMW Longlife oil are very difficult to obtain from what I see. German Castrol and Mobil 1 0w40 are easy to obtain and are always on sale at Autozone.

 

[bmwtechguy]

While the different groups of the base oil have different performance characteristics, the performance of the end product is what really matters, right? And in the case of the 3 oils you are looking at for warranty and your particular engine, each of those oils will give great service and prevent wear/deposits. The dealer will be changing your oil for "free" for the first few years. Many people who want to keep their engines spotless inside or error on the safe side have chosen to do their own oil changes in between the dealer ones.

I believe the consumption you have on the M54 may be related to lengthy oil change intervals during the first part of it's service. I have seen this happen at times. OTOH, the engines that have had more frequent service don't usually have consumption issues.

 

[wolfestone]

That's promising to hear that the long OCIs my car had early in it's life might well be at least partly to blame. I know they certainly didn't help things, and I fully intend to give the new car more frequent oil changes.

I've spent some time reading up on all the developments with the GC, including the different VOA tests between the 'green' and the 'gold' GC. I don't doubt that the green GC was excellent oil, but based on the different VOA and some of the UOA's I'm a bit hesitant to assume that the gold is as good. Would anyone happen to know where I might find some more definitive info on this?

When I replaced the valve cover gasket on my M54, there was a thin brown/red residue coating the inside of the valve cover, and also on the intake cam cover. The mechanical parts in the head were spotless, no signs of any buildup and not stained nor varnished. Is this residue more likely to be caused by the choice of oil, the long OCI, or is it simply inevitable no matter what?

I haven't definitely narrowed it down to these two, but what factors should I be looking at to determine whether GC 0w30 (gold) or bmw 5w30 is the better oil for my requirements?
Does the GC (gold) exhibit the red staining?

As for the oil groups, I was under the impression that a group IV synthetic would work better at higher temperatures than a group III, and keep the engine cleaner for longer. do I have this wrong?

Thanks for all the advice, I do appreciate it.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: bmwtechguy

I believe the consumption you have on the M54 may be related to lengthy oil change intervals during the first part of it's service.

What would be the actual explanation for this? I'm not saying it can't happen, but I just can't picture the cause-effect association here in my mind.

FYI, my M54 had lengthy intervals during its first 4 years/30k miles, and it is not consuming any oil right now at 65k miles.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: wolfestone
I've spent some time reading up on all the developments with the GC, including the different VOA tests between the 'green' and the 'gold' GC. I don't doubt that the green GC was excellent oil, but based on the different VOA and some of the UOA's I'm a bit hesitant to assume that the gold is as good. Would anyone happen to know where I might find some more definitive info on this?

I don't believe you'll find definite info on this, unfortunately. Green GC has undergone some scrupulous testing by some BITOG members here. These tests have not been repeated for Gold GC. And the $20 VOAs and UOAs that you're seeing just aren't elaborate enough to answer your question.

Quote:

When I replaced the valve cover gasket on my M54, there was a thin brown/red residue coating the inside of the valve cover, and also on the intake cam cover. The mechanical parts in the head were spotless, no signs of any buildup and not stained nor varnished. Is this residue more likely to be caused by the choice of oil, the long OCI, or is it simply inevitable no matter what?

Are you talking about the plastic baffle at the top? If so, some red coating up there is normal - there just isn't enough oil splash there to wash it off, but condensation frequently occurs resulting in discoloration, regardless of what oil is used.

Quote:

I haven't definitely narrowed it down to these two, but what factors should I be looking at to determine whether GC 0w30 (gold) or bmw 5w30 is the better oil for my requirements?

Considering that the dealer will be using BMW 5w-30 in there, I would just stick with it for the intermediate oil changes as well... I don't like the idea of switching back and forth between two oils every 5-7k miles due to potentially competing chemistries, but it's probably not that big of a deal.

Quote:

As for the oil groups, I was under the impression that a group IV synthetic would work better at higher temperatures than a group III, and keep the engine cleaner for longer. do I have this wrong?

As bmwtechguy mentioned, you need to focus on the oil composition as a whole (base, add pack, etc.), not just on whether it's majority group X, Y, or Z. Group III/III+ oils have come a long way and offer excellent protection/performance these days when paired up with an appropriate additive package.

 

[Trajan]

Originally Posted By: Quattro Pete
Originally Posted By: wolfestone
redline 5w30, redline 5w40, or redline 10w40.

You're not concerned about potential warranty denial issues due to not using of approved oil (LL01)?

I'd stick with either M1 0w-40, GC, or BMW 5w-30, at least during the term of the warranty.


With 65K miles, unless he was able to extend the warranty, there won't be any. (Unless they changed form 4yr/50k when I wasn't looking)

Good choice of oil though.

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: Trajan


With 65K miles, unless he was able to extend the warranty, there won't be any. (Unless they changed form 4yr/50k when I wasn't looking)

Good choice of oil though.

I thought he was asking about the car he is about to get...

Originally Posted By: wolfestone
Now, here's my question: I am about to replace this car with a new 328i (n52 motor). This will be the first car I've bought new

 

[castamir]

There are a many people who have claimed to have engine failures warranted by BMW dealers while they were using non BMW approved oils. If running non-approved oil is a preference, you could always change it back to BMW approved oil before claiming any sort of warranty work.

The BMW touring race cars use original BMW engine parts and non-approved redline oil. These engines run more reliably with constant oil pressure than many of the BMW approved oil.

I know people who use non-BMW LL01 approved oils such as Mobil 1, Royal Purple, Castrol Edge oils in their new BMW without any mechanical issues whatsoever. Furthermore, BMW allows non-BMW approved oils to be used for top ups between oil change intervals. Topping up with high quality SM synthetic oils should be less harmful than running low or partially low on oil.

With that said, I personally use only GC and M1 0w40 on my Z4 because I am all talk.