[bahn_burner]

My car is a 2011 E90 328i 6 MT Sport. I bought the car new about 10 months ago. The oil warning light came on today with ~ 7500 miles on the car. Is it normal for the NA I6 engine to burn oil so quickly?

As per the manual, i should refill with 1 quart of OEM 5w 30 oil. I've got some Redline synthetic 5W 30 that i use on my chipped (turbo) Audi B5 A4. Is it ok to use this oil or should i stick with OEM?

I've always changed the oil religiously every 5K miles on my Audi. It's a little disconcerting that the electronic oil nanny on the bimmer tells me that the first oil change is only due @ 15K miles. I could change the oil myself but i figured i'd stick with what the car tells me and allow the stealership to change the oil since the car is under warranty.

Lastly, where can i purchase OEM oil online for a good price?

[CombatNinja]

Both of my 328is consumed about 1 qt. on the way to the first annual oil change. Neither car made it to 15,000 in the first year so this was a top it up and forget it thing. The wagon (2009 N52) has 40K on it now and uses no oil and the sedan (2011 N51) has 12K on it an is still using a tiny, tiny bit of oil. I don't have an issue with a car consuming 1 quart in a year

I always topped up with Mobil 1 5w30 because it was sold at the service station right round the corner from me. No issues.

[Tom K.]

Originally Posted by bahn_burner

Lastly, where can i can purchase OEM oil online for a good price?

http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...egoryID=164147

Why not do an interim change yourself at 7,500? Since you won't reset the CBS countdown, it won't affect your freebie at around 15k or one year.

And if you top up with Mobil 1, use the 0w40 as the 5w30 is not approved by BMW.

Tom

[laser]

You have a $6.00 problem solved by a shopping trip to Wal-Mart.

Alternately drive XX? miles back to your dealer and demand a top off .......

[M3 Esq]

Originally Posted by Tom K.

http://www.trademotion.com/partlocat...egoryID=164147

Why not do an interim change yourself at 7,500? Since you won't reset the CBS countdown, it won't affect your freebie at around 15k or one year.

And if you top up with Mobil 1, use the 0w40 as the 5w30 is not approved by BMW.

Tom

+1. Do an interim oil change at 7500. The factory oil change interval is bogus and designed no doubt to save BMW money on the maintenance. If you own I would do in between oil changes. If you are leasing and are just going to turn in the car at the end of the lease it doesn't much matter.

To answer your original question, yes the oil consumption is normal. You could just top off with synthetic.

[CUTigers]

You are still under warranty, just stop back by the dealer and they will put a quart in for you no problem.

[MidwestGolfBum]

Having owned my car since new, 65K on it now, it always used a little more oil during the first 20-25K miles. Since, it has used about 1/4 to 1/2 quart between the 15K oil changes, though I do a change every 7500 for good measure.

Was told by my SA that my car is actually on the low side for the N54 engine from what he has seen, and even less than some of the N52s that he sees regularly.

Top it off yourself or, as others have said, if the dealer is on the way to anything you are doing, stop in and get them to do it for free.

[jwalker87]

As others have said (and what I do personally), change it every 7500k if it'll make you feel better. And yes, use the 0w40 ("European Formula"), not the 5w30 Mobil 1. 1 qt of oil every 7500 miles is fine!

[Meeni]

The car is still under warranty, the dealer will to you off. It is normal to use a bit more oil for the first 15k or so. It'll settle and will not use any later on.

[krhodes1]

I certainly have no issues with using a qt of oil between changes. And I don't have too big an issue with BMWs oil change interval for a couple reasons - #1. these engines hold a LOT of oil relative to most, that in and of itself extends the change interval, there is simply that much more additive package to use up, and that much more oil to suspend contaminants in. #2. they are using BOTH a usage algorithm and an oil quality sensor to dynamically adjust the oil change interval. This is smart - if for some reason an inferior oil was used, that sensor should be able to determine that it is becoming contaminated more quickly than expected and call for an oil change sooner.

All that said, I did both a break-in change when I got it off the boat from Europe at 2600 miles (along with the transmission and diff oils too), and another one at the 50% point. And I will continue to do changes at the 8-9000 mile mark. Gives me an excuse to get the car up on my lift and give everything under the hood and underneath a good inspection and cleaning.

Tisher seems to have the OEM oil at a reasonable price, but I use Mobil 1 0w40 which meets the BMW specifications and is available pretty much everywhere. Advance Auto seems to run a pretty good special on it a couple times a year, I bought two oil changes worth the last time they did that.

[07lilredwagon]

please dont get into the mentality that you must follow the recommended oil change intervals on these or any other cars, or buy into the fact that some fluids in these cars are "lifetime fluids"....

Yes we now have better synthetic lubricants that do in fact extend our service intervals, but not even close to what BMW is telling you....there are old school beliefs that we grew up with: every 3-5000 miles, right?...well synthetics have changed this a bit, but not more than 7500 miles, please.....besides, as long as you dont use anything that will void the warranty, you can only be helping insure that your car will give you many many trouble free miles.


Break in periods are when the most metals are released into the engines. why on earth would you wait 15,000 miles!!!! I wouldnt if I just invested that much money into my car...(even if I didnt invest that much.)...

also, change the other fluids at more frequent intervals (found elsewhere on the site)...especially power steering, differential, transmission and transfer case if equipped. (you wont have to worry about those for a while, though!)


Good luck with your new car!....

JP

[ctuna]

Its pretty normal for there to be some usage till the rings settle in at
around 5k . I would still change it out to get any metal filings out of circulation in the car.
You are entitled to a once a year oil change free(regardless of what the computer says) if you haven't hit 4 years
or 50 k miles . Its in the warranty manual don't let them tell you it isn't. They tend to gloss this over and be nebulous about it.

google Mike Miller BMW for the old school maintenance schedule.

[Efthreeoh]

Originally Posted by M3 Esq.

+1. Do an interim oil change at 7500. The factory oil change interval is bogus and designed no doubt to save BMW money on the maintenance. If you own I would do in between oil changes. If you are leasing and are just going to turn in the car at the end of the lease it doesn't much matter.

To answer your original question, yes the oil consumption is normal. You could just top off with synthetic.

Oh well...

I'm so tired of this stupid argument. If BMW's oil longevity tests showed the best mileage to change the oil was at 7,500 instead of the 15,000 mile (estimate) that the CBS indicates, then BMW would just charge a few hundred dollars more and provide 4 oil changes during the "free" maintenance/warranty period instead of the two or three they do now. You are not getting free maintenance, you are just pre-paying for it; if the car required more maintenance then they'd charge you more for it in the purchase price. All the free maintenance is is a way for BMW to get your money up front and make interest on it in the bank, and then charge it out back to you years later as "free" maintenance for less value than what the money was when you gave it to them. They should give out blowjobs as a thank you to all their customers for financing the company.

I own my car, I just passed 200,000 miles. I've changed the engine oil per the CBS schedule, which has averaged 17,500 miles between oil changes. I've changed the other fluids at or near the 100,000 mile recommendations. I'm still on the original engine, original diff, original trans, and original cooling system components (except for the T-stat and water pump).

You are spewing a bunch of myth.

[Speedwagon]

I'm very hard on my E91 living in Germany. The car has about 8k on it now and one oil change and it hasn't used any oil so far. When I changed the oil I only put 6 quarts back in it, it has read 3/4 full on the display since the oil change. It was changed at 5500 miles with 0w40 ("European Formula").