Addressing Oil Consumption (Or Not)

[Cory]

One of our E36M3's eats about one quart of Mobil 1 15W50 every 1000 miles. It otherwise runs great - no leaks, no odd exhaust, etc. Everyone says that that's "acceptable" although our other E36M3 seems to comsume almost no oil at all (probably less than a quart every 4000 miles).
Is there maybe a common problem that can be addressed or maybe do a complete rebuild one day or maybe just add a quart every 1000 miles and deal? Personally, I'm not into it.
If a rebuild, who's the best dude alive in the Philadelphia, PA area?

[habbie]

if the car runs fine a quart of oil now and again is a whole lot cheaper the a rebuild

[hc1001]

i am also concerned about the massive oil consumption... on my 325i, it does not consume any oil. but on the M3, it eats a lot of oil... im not exactly sure how much mines is consuming but i think its more than a quart every 1K miles... i also notice my M3 engine runs really really hot compared to the 325i. maybe somethings wrong with my engine, i need to run a compression test.

[Thrasherlife]

could a failing head gasket cause excess oil consumption?

[habbie]

more like unproperly seated/worn rings.

[HellBilly]

How hard do you drive it? The harder you drive it, the more oil you burn

[Cory]

How hard do you drive it? The harder you drive it, the more oil you burn

Very, very conservatively and the previous owner was a pretty easy driver too.
Added:
I'm a maintenance freak and the previous owner was even more anal than me about maintenance.

[HellBilly]

Very, very conservatively and the previous owner was a pretty easy driver too.

Well ill just say that no 2 engines are created equally. If it runs good, dont worry about it.

$4.00 every 1000 miles isnt so bad.

[hal9000]

Then check for oil leaks. Oil pan and valve cover gaskets are common points.

[oraph]

if an engine eats a lot of oil(not leaks) that means it's worn..period.. no matter how hard you drive it (unless it's a race ready car). That could be because the engine was not taken care of properly or used hard for an extended period of time. Some do it from the factory.. probably due to improper way they were put together.
My 95M burned no oil when i ran standard 20w50 in it. I then switched to 10w30 mobyl Synth and it still burns no oil at 80k.. i consider myself lucky in that regard.
The more miles an engine has the higher the chance that it has worn out parts in the engine.. weather it be worn pistons rings/ etc.. If it burn a quart.. every 4k.... that's a lot. Go with heavier oil.. you'll most likely burn less.. i am currently going through this w my jeep with 138k on the clock.

[M3RACER]

My M3 also loves to cosume Mobile 1 oil. A couple of weeks ago while at Pep boys I bought this stuff "Resoline", which is an oil additive. I added the qaurt of Resoline after I did an oil change and then went on a 9 hr drive. After the 9 hr drive I drove the car on a track for about 1 1/2 days, maybe a total of 1 1/2 hours of hard driving. I checked the oil level and had only dropped about 1/2 a quart which was excellent considering my car will consume a little more than 1 quart per 1 hour driven on track. Give it a try and see how it works for you.

[=BA=]

It will also depend on how the car is taken care off..... Ie pulling off your driveway and inmediately go WOT to redline obviouslt kills it.... My M3 see's regular hard driving, but still only consumes about 1/2 a litre on 10.000 KM.

Also a little bit of oil consumption is not bad, all engines do that. Some people like to think they shouldn't consume oil at all.

[jkevinward]

I bought my son a 2004 325i with the sport package (used with 89K miles.) Started having oil consumption after the first 1,400 miles. Turned out to be failing vent valve for the crankcase (PVC system) and related hoses. Cost $450 to fix at a licenced BMW affiliate. -Kevin

[dRock13]

my last M3 consumed absolutely no oil. My current one does about the rate you mentioned.

[Mad Dog 20/20]

it happens.
Does the motor run well/strong? If so, not an issue.

[BCM M3]

I always thought my M3 consumed an abnormal amount of oil (more than 1 qt/1000miles), until I changed the valvecover gasket and magically my oil consumption went away. I had a very very small leak at the gasket that wasn't enough to drip, but would make me slowly lose oil over time. Check to see if there is any oil staining on the passenger side of the block that might indicate a small leak. Hope this helps!

[Volf]

This car does consume some oil. I wouldn't call it a normal amount, but not crazy either. Maybe you need to get the cylinders honed and install new rings. That would probably help a lot. Not cheap though. No blue tinted exhaust?

Mine eats about a quart every 2k or so.

[tejawxyz]

Mine used to eat a lot, atleast a quart every 1000 miles on 5w 30 oil. But when I changed over to 10w 40, It barely eats that much. IDK if the thickness has anything to do with it, but you can give it at try.

[fun2drive]

2 M3s
278K miles no oil use what so ever so a "worn engine uses oil" is wrong.
80K miles on my other M3 uses no oil
I suspect glazed rings. If this was my car I would replace he valve cover gasket and check my plugs to be sure seats or ring blow by is not the issue.
Use mineral oil for the breakin and see if it stops. Might be too glazed to fix that way.

[liilpa09]

these cars are notorious for burning oil, especially lighter weight oils. I used to run 5w30 and would eat it up like crazy...switched to mobil 1 15w50 and it doesn't burn a drop. Either way car is running good so I'm not too worried about it

[Anatoly]

I believe it's says in the manual that 1 quart / 1000 miles normal.

[Stück]

I believe it's says in the manual that 1 quart / 1000 miles normal.

BMW services literature for these cars states up to 1qt/1500 miles is acceptable/normal consumption.

That much consumption is very common in my experience working on tons of these cars, although some consume more and others not at all.

There is a reason why there is a sticker on your instrument cluster that reminds you to check the engine oil level frequently.

[mvancE30]

what weight oil is used? i use 10w30 and have seen this problem.

[Volf]

There is a reason why there is a sticker on your instrument cluster that reminds you to check the engine oil level frequently.

PSSSSH! GTFO w/ your common sense.

[JETninja]

Mine has me a tad worried, Oil Consumption has gone way up, yet no drips and no obvious smoke. (keep tips polished, normal build up on them) Car runs fine. I know the Valve Cover gasket needs replacement (several spark plug hole rings are leaking) and pans weeps but no drips....but man the oil is going a lot faster. I do drive over 1500 miles a month....182K on the Car atm. May setup a leak down test to check it out...