[Three_thirty_I]

Wow, disgusting situation indeed! Well, can pretty much say that I am in the same boat as far as a problem that has persisted and was not sorted out by the agents while the car was still under motorplan - the pinging issue that is. It really has negatively affected my feelings towards the brand and what these cars stand for. Sadly I think these N52's are great engines if all is fine, but the moment they start to pick up niggles you are stuffed as far as relying on the agents to fix the problem - I think in most cases this is why they just replace engines.

With regards to oil consumption, these engines are known to use oil to a certain extent, and like the old concept of the more fuel is burned usually relates to an increase in oil consumed, but in terms of manufacturer specs (not sure if it is the same over there), in the manual it states that as much as a litre (quart) every 1000km (600 miles) is within tolerance! This seems to be a general spec across most brands apparently. With my Isuzu diesel, the manual states a litre of oil used per 100 litres of diesel is acceptable - crazy! But in reality this thing hardly uses a drop between services.

Now with my 330i also being a '05 model, but with low mileage (currently 69k km), I have also seen oil consumption since taking ownership in mid 2010 when it only had 46k km, of course was also a CPO and I am the second owner. But when I took delivery and started to get the know the car I noticed that the oil level on the electronic dipstick was on the 50% mark, and a few months later dropped to 25%, and then by the end of the year it was asking for a litre. My calculations told me that it had then done roughly 6500 km since the last service, and therefore in this time consumed a litre of oil. Topped up and next time around which was a month or so before its next service it asked for another litre, this time having done 8100 km. Engine serviced and then the pinging issues started with a few months left on motorplan, changed the oil a few weeks ago after doing more than 10k km and the oil level was still on the 25% mark for a few months, so probably just off minimum in reality, but better than before and hoping that this trend continues!

Generally, my driving style is more economy based than driving the nuts off it, especially with the pinging problem, but it does get the occasional WOT to clear out the cobwebs, and is never used for short trips such that the engine is not allowed to reach operating temperature etc

Now the thing is, oil consumption and oil leakage are of course two very different things. Oil consumption means the oil is of course being burnt as part of the combustion process due to blow-by gases or worn rings etc. But an oil leak such that you are losing a litre in a relatively short period of time/mileage, you would have to somehow see traces of it, and by this I mean on your garage floor, unless it is dripping on the exhaust and burning off, and then you would smell it!

What amazes me about this thread (and others where people are having mechanical issues) is the lack of back up service from the various agents, and let's face it, these are not cheap cars and things like service plans, motorplans, CPO cost lots of money to have, so why are they failing us so regularly?!