As of last month, my 2006 si is one year old with less than 7,000 miles. A couple of days ago, my oil indicator came on when I shut the car off. I checked the level with the dash button and it indicates to add 1 quart, which I wll do. Is this "normal"?

A little burning early on is normal. Cars tend to burn a little oil while being broken in.

It's normal. One quaart every 7,000 miles or so is probably less than most other cars out there but on them, if you change oil every 5,000 miles you don't see it, but when you go 15,000 - 17,000 miles between changes, you will have to add oil (Castrol 10w-30 or 10w-40 full synthetic).

I switched to Amsoil and oil use is gone.

The oil level sensor is a very common failure part too. If you have a dipstick (I'm assuming you don't since it's an '06) I would check that first before adding oil.

Here's what I would do. Add 1 quart of oil, warm up the car, and check to see if the oil level has come back to normal. If you continue to get the oil low warning after adding a quart, take your car to the dealership since it's more likely at this point to be a sensor failure, and adding any more oil in the car may result in over-fill causing damage to the engine.

I think I read somewhere in an official BMW document that the capacity between MIN and MAX on the read-out is around 1 liter, and from what I've heard around the paddocks the BMW crank case can take up to 1 additional liter over the max before "whipping" becomes a problem, so even if it's a sensor failure and you're within the normal operating range of the oil level, adding 1 additional quart won't really hurt the engine but continue to add past that point might be a problem.

I have an 07 with the in dash electronic oil level check. It has I think 5 total blocks on the gauge, mine is down 2 notches, I've had my car for 10 months now, but I have 9000 miles. OP: Did yours tell you to add 1QT? Or did you assume that light on meant add 1QT? Thanks, just checking so I know what to do when it shows up.

As of last month, my 2006 si is one year old with less than 7,000 miles. A couple of days ago, my oil indicator came on when I shut the car off. I checked the level with the dash button and it indicates to add 1 quart, which I wll do. Is this "normal"?

As the others have said, some oil burning is normal over that distance.

But don't add the oil yourself. Here's what you do: Take the car to your dealer. You're entitled to a free oil service once a year or 15K miles, courtesy of BMW. Get it changed.

Thanks for the suggestions. I did add the quart of oil. Upon starting, the sensor was still saying +1, so I drove it for a few minutes and checked it again. Then it said OK. I then went to my dealer and was told what some of you have said. 1 quart in 7,000 miles is considered normal. Since I have less than 7,000 miles in a year, I'm scheduled to take the car in for a 1 year service. They'll change the oil, filter, wiper blades, and check it out.

I change my oil more frequently than the recommended 15K miles. Changed it at 4k and measured what I had drained. It was a bit less than 7 qt. With new filter I filled with 6 qt. just to see if the indicator would light up. It did after the oil warmed, and I added the final 7th quart. That was my crude method of determining if the electronic dipstick works.

My dealer changed the oil & filter today, along with checking out the other fluids. While I was waiting, he gave me the keys to a new 325xi coupe. It's faster than my si roadster, but that's ok. While I really like the 3 series coupe, the folding hardtop just doesn't cut it for me. It was good to get back in my little red roadster and put the top down.

thats because a new 325xi (e90) has a 2996 cm3 engine