I'm looking for any information on why my 335i can't seem to keep the oil level up. At 4,000 miles I took it in to see if anything was wrong with it b/c it was telling me that I need to add a quart of oil, they just said that b/c of it being turbo it burns small amounts of oil so they topped it off and everything was fine. Now 8,500 miles on my 335i and the oil light is back on saying again that I need to add a quart. I'm no expert but I don't think a low psi system like what's in my car is the cause. Please help if you know what's wrong or have had problems like this yourself. I also drive it pretty hard so that might have something to do with it.

this is normal, consider yourself lucky. 15000miles per oil change just is still too much for me to handle. i would do a oil change.

This freaked me out on my '02 MB C230 also. I was used to driving Japanese cars (Honda, Nissan) which really don't use any oil. My MB "consumed" about a quart every 4 thousand miles. So it always gave me a low oil warning well before the 10k service interval was due.

I still don't buy that it's "normal" but I've learned to live with it since it's "common".

I think BMW would consider a quart every 4000 miless "normal." I have read on various forums that they consider a quart per 700 miles "normal." To me, that would be excessive, but according to other posts, that is their published specification.

Turbo vehicles naturally burn more oil... and at a 4K mile interval that may not be as strange as you think. Do you drive your car hard?

My 2002 WRX burned about a quart also @ 4000 mile intervals in stock form. I switched to a forged Version 7 STI engine from Japan, and it burned NOTHING, even at a 5000 mile interval...

Each car and engine is different, and the fact it has "twin" turbo's probably just adds to the problem. It does sound frustrating though, especially since the dealer wants 15K intervals, which BLOWS MY MIND... especially on a turbo-charged vehicle. That is going to be some BLACK oil when it comes out.

Make sure the problem isn't an oil sensor. Common on the E92 - ours went the first day we owned the car. One quart /700 miles is definitely excessive. For the life of me, I can't understand why BMW didn't put a dipstick in these cars. My 996 has a computerized oil level check like the BMW, but comes with a dipstick as a double check on the system.

The lack of a dipstick is my MAJOR complaint of my E92. My 2nd major complaint is the lack of a spare tire. A manual way of checking the oil level (dipstick) is essential in a car, in my opinion. This is a major oversight in the new series of BMW engines. It looks like they are going the "No-Dipstick" route in all their new models.

Thanks for everyone giving me the info I needed, at least now I know that it is a common problem. I'm just glad something isn't wrong with my engine.

The lack of a dipstick is my MAJOR complaint of my E92. My 2nd major complaint is the lack of a spare tire. A manual way of checking the oil level (dipstick) is essential in a car, in my opinion. This is a major oversight in the new series of BMW engines. It looks like they are going the "No-Dipstick" route in all their new models.

Agree - really, how difficult would that be to engineer a damn dipstick into the block of these engines?? When my wife's sensor read "0" on day 1 she raced to a dealership to have it checked. Since it was Saturday, and the service dept. was closed, they threw in a quart of oil - light went out for about 5 miles, then returned. When she returned to our dealer on Monday, the car had been overfilled (no damage done) and it needed to be completely drained and refilled when the sensor was replaced. Yeah, they used BMW syn oil, but what an unnecessary PIA!!

Changing your own oil will cost you about $40 and 30 minutes, or you can have it done for ~$75-$90; I did mine right after break in and will do it every 7500 miles. Probably unnecessary, but peace of mind right - sounds like it might not be a bad idea for you either woody.