[StuieUK45]

Hey guys,
Hoping you can tell me not to panic as such

I got a 2017 335d (stage 1)...
I bought the car with 62k miles late last year.
In June, i took it to PSC Autocentre in Cheltenham for a full service/brake fluid change.
Mileage was 66k.
This morning, just as i got to work, my display lights up to say add 1ltr of oil as its at minimum!
My mileage is at 69k !




Shocked me, as doing only 3k miles to see that, dont seem right!
I dont have oil leaks, etc...
I added 2ltrs of oil after work , hopefully i havent overdone it ?!
I drove home, and ran the oil measure tool, which now sits at the top of the middle bar on the display (just under max)....
Dont quite get the logic on that, would have thought the bar would only register a bit higher ?

Sooooooooooooooooooo.......
On that note, do the cars consume the oil as such, or burn it off ?
My style of driving, usual drive to work stuff (u know, late, overtake, etc )
I also did an amazing drive from South to North Wales and back again a few weeks ago, which was all done in sporty mode and high rpm's!

If its not unheard of that the cars can consume oil as such, i'll take my panic hat off..

[bishbosh]

If it's says add one litre of oil, why did you add 2?

[StuieUK45]

call it a dumb blonde moment....
figured as it said oil was at Minimum and needed top up, better to give it a little more to be on safe side...

Just been reading this post, not sure of the relevance:
https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh....php?t=1676178
Similar issue though...

My initial gut feeling was, what if the garage who serviced the car didnt put enough oil in, hence seeing that Minimum warning so soon...

[JNW1]

In the over 80k miles I had it my F31 335d never used a drop of oil between services - it wasn't mapped though. And from memory I think the difference between the maximum and minimum marks on the dipstick was only the equivalent of a litre of oil so two litres as a top-up sounds excessive....

[StuieUK45]

best i goto a garage tomorrow to drain some then ! doing it myself would end up not good!

[Watsey]

Originally Posted by StuieUK45

My initial gut feeling was, what if the garage who serviced the car didnt put enough oil in, hence seeing that Minimum warning so soon...

I think is a quite likely part of the situation. I always (always) check the oil level, using the dipstick, after a dealer or indy has done an oil change and make sure they top-up if needs be. Always make sure you let the oil drain into the sump for a few minutes after turning the engine off, and that the car is standing on level ground, to make sure you get an accurate reading.

The only time any of my BMWs (3 x 330d / 2 x 320d) have used any oil was when the turbo seals on my current 330d (remapped; 100K miles) started to leak. Oil consumption went from zero to 500ml/tank very quickly and was a strong indicator that there was a problem. Replaced the turbo with OEM and oil consumption is back to zero.

[Busted]

What is the service history like? Has it had any engine work done? Who did the remap?

[martin10chk]

Oil consumption can vary a lot between the same model and for the same car at different times. So certainly don't panic. The rule is to not overfill with oil so putting 2 litres in when the light comes on is not a good idea but if the level is showing below max it would seem that it has not actually overfilled. So run for a while and see what happens to the oil level.

[StuieUK45]

All good, serviced within the recommended window.
Avon Tuning did the dyno map/gearbox (South Wales/North Bristol)...
Car was mapped back in January.
oh, and where is the dipstick on these cars ?! (guessing its all electronic for checking this and that)
**edit - https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...light=Dipstick , ah haaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Noted about looking after the engine, although BMW is new to me, previous 2 cars of past 20 years has been 200sx & R34 Skyline, so warm up/cool down is 2nd nature

I dont see any smoke, dont notice an issue at all, i did read that when the Minimum oil indicator pops up, it could mean its only 1ltr short of being max (which is why i hope i not dropped the ball by adding 2ltrs!) ...

If using excessive oil might be seals (despite no leaks or smokes), guessing its all fixable by a decent BM specialist who knows the engines....

Its going into BMW in 3 weeks for the EGR recall thing too...
Might ask if they offer a service as such which can detect potential oil issues ?

[Sasquartch]

High oil consumption can be caused by a number of things

One thing that is worth checking is the vacuum at the oil cap when the engine is running. It used to be a very common problem on the old M54 petrol engines, if the CCV (Crankcase ventilation valve) had a ruptured diaphragm it would cause a high vacuum in the crankcase and suck oil into the intake system.
I believe later engines have the CCV system integrated into the cam cover

Also, modern synthetic oils dont smoke very much so you can still be burning it and not know it, especially with a DPF to catch what smoke there is.

Of course there are a few other things that could cause it, piston rings, valve stem seals and turbo bearings can all cause high consumption, as well a leak. Have you removed the undertray to check for leaks ?

Either way it needs checking

[HighlandPete]

Originally Posted by StuieUK45

I dont see any smoke, dont notice an issue at all, i did read that when the Minimum oil indicator pops up, it could mean its only 1ltr short of being max (which is why i hope i not dropped the ball by adding 2ltrs!) ...

Going forward, you simplest checks are by the dipstick. Check on the same parking place. Get a reading/mileage as the baseline, repeat as you feel necessary, as you add some miles.

[SantaEugence]

Originally Posted by StuieUK45

All good, serviced within the recommended window.
Avon Tuning did the dyno map/gearbox (South Wales/North Bristol)...
Car was mapped back in January.
oh, and where is the dipstick on these cars ?! (guessing its all electronic for checking this and that)
**edit - https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/sh...light=Dipstick , ah haaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Noted about looking after the engine, although BMW is new to me, previous 2 cars of past 20 years has been 200sx & R34 Skyline, so warm up/cool down is 2nd nature

I dont see any smoke, dont notice an issue at all, i did read that when the Minimum oil indicator pops up, it could mean its only 1ltr short of being max (which is why i hope i not dropped the ball by adding 2ltrs!) ...

If using excessive oil might be seals (despite no leaks or smokes), guessing its all fixable by a decent BM specialist who knows the engines....

Its going into BMW in 3 weeks for the EGR recall thing too...
Might ask if they offer a service as such which can detect potential oil issues ?

Just noticed the same issue on my 330d, coincidentally also mapped at the same place.

Just had the warning light come on for the oil and it only had a service in Jan and hasn't done many miles since

[StuieUK45]

cheers for the replies all

On the flip side, 'What if' if the garage that serviced the car, what if they only filled the car with 5 1/2ltrs of oil instead of the 7 1/2th ?
Am guessing the car would run fine, it would just be running with a lower oil amount maybe ?

I ordered a mahole filter last night + 8ltrs of Castrol edge LL04 5w30 .....
Piece of mind says to get an oil change done again, and mention to the guy i will use some of the notes in this thread...
I'll dig this thread out when i get the work done and write up if any faults found, etc etc..

I used to change oil in my Nissan's every 6k miles, so if turns out on a mapped 335d that oil changes are quite often, i can live with that, i love this car, so want it to last!

[RzVrD]

I'm having the same issue on my 2014 F30 335d.
As soon as I bought the car, I rebuilt the entire engine, including servicing the turbos, just to be sure that my car will last a long time.
I also did a DPF off, EGR off, muffler delete, and the mechanic mapped an "Alpina D3 Japan" soft. The car is sitting at 350-360hp right now, and it drinks about 1L/4k km of oil.
I unpluged the downpipe with the car running, and I saw a little bit of oil coming down from the turbos.
The car never had blue/white smoke from the exhaust (only black smoke if I rev it and it's cold, which I think it's normal, considering the DPF off)
So if the entire engine has been rebuild.. what could be the issue here? The mechanic said we should open up the engine again, to take a look.. but maybe can it be a problem with the mapping?..

[TurboWeasel]

How was the block rebuilt? Rebored and rehoned with oversize pistons, or just stock pistons with a rehone?

Every time I have done a rehone with stock pistons, oil consumption was bad. The factory honing and piston clearance is as good as it gets. I've rarely ever seen a rebuilt engine burn zero oil unless the machine shop has factory standard honing equipment with a torque plate, which is why N57s don't rebuild well. The aluminium blocks can warp a little if they overheated or suffered damage. Crank bearing alignment and clearance can also suffer if they spun and overheated the journals.

If not that, it's likely turbo oil control rings. Stock turbos rely on the back pressure of the DPF and cat to control oil consumption past the oil rings.

[V330d]

My 2014 335d got a new block as part of its rebuild.
why am I buying a 340d??

[StuieUK]

i still burn through 1Ltr of oil, every 3k miles......
I service every 10k, i dont have leaks, i just come to the conclusion its 1 of those things.....