# 330 zhp 1 quart low.



## Guest (Apr 27, 2004)

salvo said:


> yeah...my non-zhp is consuming oil...about 1 quart during the first 3K and now some more at about 5.5k. you guys put 5w-30 or 40?


 Your car comes from the factory with 5W30 synthetic blend.


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## photo2000a (Mar 9, 2004)

*why burn'n*



TD said:


> Your car comes from the factory with 5W30 synthetic blend.


anyone know the technical reason why these cars are burning oil?? i kinda forgot if i ever knew really ciourious


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## rwg (May 10, 2002)

TD said:


> Your car comes from the factory with 5W30 synthetic blend.


Synthetic blend? Or full synthetic?


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## Guest (Apr 27, 2004)

rwg said:


> Synthetic blend? Or full synthetic?


 I believe the BMW synthetic is a blend.

I have no idea what was originally in my car. But it's got Mobil 1 0W40 in it now.


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## wrwicky (Jan 17, 2003)

TD said:


> I believe the BMW synthetic is a blend.
> 
> I have no idea what was originally in my car. But it's got Mobil 1 0W40 in it now.


BMW 5w-30 is a true full synthetic like the Red labeled Castrol 0?w-30 (made in Germany sold in US), and Mobil 1 0w-40. That's one of the reasons why so many of us use them.

During the warranty maintenance period I prefer to use the BMW oil so that I'm not switching brands every change (assuming that's what the dealer uses). BTW I change my oil at 7500 miles between dealer changes


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## wrwicky (Jan 17, 2003)

mswaz said:


> My zhp has 3400 miles on it and discovered today that it was a quart low on oil. Is this a common situation? Have other experienced this problem or do I have a problem with the car?


This is NOT a ZHP thing. My ZHP may have used a fraction of a quart during the first 1100 miles but has not burned a drop in the following 19,000.

Many people have experienced consumption (or perhaps slight under-servicing) of their initial batch of oil. I feel very strongly that it is not NOT correct for the car to continue to burn oil after that period. The vast majority of modern engines do not consume a significant amount of oil and a lot of those motors are no match for yours.

If I had to guess, I'd bet the differences in experience are based on break-in procedure (yours is complete for good or ill) and oil change intervals.

However, there are alot of BMW owners who have fed their engines oil for 100,000 miles or a lot more, so don't lose a lot of sleep over it.


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## rwg (May 10, 2002)

TD said:


> I believe the BMW synthetic is a blend.
> 
> I have no idea what was originally in my car. But it's got Mobil 1 0W40 in it now.


Interesting. I thought it was a full synthetic. I have the MINI oil in bottles in the garage. I will look and see if it says anything on the label. I also use the Euro spec 0w-40 in everything else.


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## wrwicky (Jan 17, 2003)

wrwicky said:


> *BMW 5w-30 is a true full synthetic like the Red labeled Castrol 0?w-30 (made in Germany sold in US), and Mobil 1 0w-40. That's one of the reasons why so many of us use them. *


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## Patrick330i (Sep 30, 2002)

mswaz said:


> My zhp has 3400 miles on it and discovered today that it was a quart low on oil. Is this a common situation? Have other experienced this problem or do I have a problem with the car?


I haven't had to add oil too much, but I do keep a 5 qt. bottle of oil in the garage. The first time I had to add oil was somewhere near 3500 miles as well. Normal. Check it from time to time like others mention as you may need to add from time to time in all likelihood. I have only had to add oil one time since before the Inspection interval. Twice between inspections isn't bad at all.


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## rwg (May 10, 2002)

TD said:


> I believe the BMW synthetic is a blend.
> 
> I have no idea what was originally in my car. But it's got Mobil 1 0W40 in it now.


The MINI oil says "100% synthetic" on the label. I suspect that the MINI oil and the BMW oil are the same stuff in different packages, but who knows. I will check the BMW label next time I am at the dealer, just for fun.


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## Raikkonen (Jan 20, 2004)

I am glad I read this thread this week. I took my car in with 7500 miles on it and they topped it off. The guy said it was 1 quart low... This makes zero sence to me. If they know they are running low they should let peoeple know to wacth for it!


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## philippek (Jul 31, 2003)

Perfectly normal for BMW engines in general, and M54s specifically. I top mine off every 5000 miles or so.


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## Raikkonen (Jan 20, 2004)

That is still crazy. BMW should have more engine quality than to need that done. Very odd to me. You don't see Lexus or Acura owners topping off...


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## Patrick330i (Sep 30, 2002)

Raikkonen said:


> That is still crazy. BMW should have more engine quality than to need that done. Very odd to me. You don't see Lexus or Acura owners topping off...


I have two Acuras right now, a 1995 Integra and an MDX. I prefer the engine in my bimmer by far. There is NO comparison.  So now you know, keep an eye on it. If you forget, your light will come on.


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## Raikkonen (Jan 20, 2004)

I agree and prefer the engine to my TL. However, I would have liked a warning if they knew the problem existed.


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## Orient330iNYC (Jul 30, 2002)

not to point out the obvious, but checking fluids and tire pressure are STANDARD things you need to do as part of car ownership.
they shouldnt have to warn you, you should know to check.
thats why there's a manual and a dipstick.


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## eelnoraa (Oct 13, 2003)

Raikkonen said:


> That is still crazy. BMW should have more engine quality than to need that done. Very odd to me. You don't see Lexus or Acura owners topping off...


Because in Acura and lexus, you change oil every 3000 miles, you are not likely to see oil consumption there. If you do 15K oil change for them, I guess they may or may not be worse than BMWs.

eel


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## Raikkonen (Jan 20, 2004)

"not to point out the obvious, but checking fluids and tire pressure are STANDARD things you need to do as part of car ownership.
they shouldnt have to warn you, you should know to check.
thats why there's a manual and a dipstick." 


No that si what you do when you buy a 6 year old used American car. I have never been a drop low on my Acura or any other can I have owned. I don;t buy $40k+ cars to check my own oil.


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## Epi330 (Feb 28, 2004)

Raikkonen said:


> I don;t buy $40k+ cars to check my own oil.


You don't have to - these cars are equipped with low oil warning lamp (and it does work, as I found this out by myself ).


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## swchang (Oct 5, 2003)

Orient330iNYC said:


> not to point out the obvious, but checking fluids and tire pressure are STANDARD things you need to do as part of car ownership.
> they shouldnt have to warn you, you should know to check.
> thats why there's a manual and a dipstick.


Added a quart today. Oil light came on as I was parking. ~3800 miles for me.

What fluids should you be checking monthly? I know everyone says to "check the fluids monthly," but I've always only checked oil and tire pressure...

BTW, what funnels do y'all use? Plastic? Disposable paper? I feel an urge to get one, since I spilled some oil all over my previously-pristine engine while topping off this morning. :bawling:


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## Nefilim (May 17, 2004)

wrwicky said:


> This is NOT a ZHP thing. My ZHP may have used a fraction of a quart during the first 1100 miles but has not burned a drop in the following 19,000.
> 
> Many people have experienced consumption (or perhaps slight under-servicing) of their initial batch of oil. I feel very strongly that it is not NOT correct for the car to continue to burn oil after that period. The vast majority of modern engines do not consume a significant amount of oil and a lot of those motors are no match for yours.
> 
> ...


So how did you break in your engine ?


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## stylinexpat (May 23, 2004)

*Bush must go! Good man..*



TD said:


> Your car comes from the factory with 5W30 synthetic blend.


Worst war criminal yet to date. Wish Hitler was around for him and Shaon of Israel..


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## LDV330i (May 24, 2003)

This evening the yellow oil light came when I shut the car down (4,300 miles) at the gym. Did not know what it meant so I check the manual and I realized it was not critical. When I got home and shut the engine down the light did not come on. I checked the oil level and it is showing less that 1/16" below the full line so I do not believe there is any need to top it off.  I will go ahead and pick up some synthetic oil to keep it handy.


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## swchang (Oct 5, 2003)

stylinexpat said:


> Worst war criminal yet to date. Wish Hitler was around for him and Shaon of Israel..


This comment does not belong here.


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## wrwicky (Jan 17, 2003)

Nefilim said:


> So how did you break in your engine ?


Constantly varying RPM/load/speed - Just pretend you're one of the other maniacs out there always cycling the gas pedal. Making some good steady pulls up the rev band starting from 2000 RPM or so and then letting the car decellerate on the motor to create some good vacuum and make sure the rings and cylinders were completely broken in, and that whatever junk that could be exhausted, was. Then, I changed the oil at the end of the break in period to send all of the debris on its way.

I think the motorcycle tuner @ mototune.com has a lot of valid ideas and tried to implement as many as I comfortably could. Check his site out


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## swchang (Oct 5, 2003)

LDV330i said:


> This evening the yellow oil light came when I shut the car down (4,300 miles) at the gym. Did not know what it meant so I check the manual and I realized it was not critical. When I got home and shut the engine down the light did not come on. I checked the oil level and it is showing less that 1/16" below the full line so I do not believe there is any need to top it off.  I will go ahead and pick up some synthetic oil to keep it handy.


Below the min or the max line? If it's below the min line, I'd add a quart.


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## LDV330i (May 24, 2003)

swchang said:


> Below the min or the max line? If it's below the min line, I'd add a quart.


 Yes, below the max line. I do not know what is the threshold that causes the yellow light to come on. :dunno: According to the manual when the yellow light come on when the car is turned off you should top of the oil at your next refueling stop. If the red oil light comes on while driving it means that the oil level has fallen below the critical minimum at your are supposed to stop immediately.


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## LDV330i (May 24, 2003)

BMWNA sure sends you running around in circles when trying to find out about approved oils. A big label under the hood says to check bmwusa.com for a list of approved oils. After digging around in that site the information is only available under Owner's Circle. There is says check your manual or talk to your BWW center.


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## Hou330izhp (May 25, 2004)

LDV330i said:


> BMWNA sure sends you running around in circles when trying to find out about approved oils. A big label under the hood says to check bmwusa.com for a list of approved oils. After digging around in that site the information is only available under Owner's Circle. There is says check your manual or talk to your BWW center.


I think that under my hood it actually says to use Castrol synthetic 5w-30 / 5w-40.


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## swchang (Oct 5, 2003)

LDV330i said:


> Yes, below the max line. I do not know what is the threshold that causes the yellow light to come on. :dunno: According to the manual when the yellow light come on when the car is turned off you should top of the oil at your next refueling stop. If the red oil light comes on while driving it means that the oil level has fallen below the critical minimum at your are supposed to stop immediately.


Ah, good info to know. My yellow oil light came on as I was parking, I believe, so I hadn't shut the engine off yet. However, when I checked the dipstick, the oil level was significantly below the minimum line. Maybe I hadn't waited 5 minutes yet, I dunno, but I added a quart anyway. When I checked again later in the afternoon, about 15 minutes after parking at my apartment, the level was above the max line.

BTW, refueling stop = getting gas, I suppose?


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## yamato (Feb 11, 2003)

mswaz said:


> My zhp has 3400 miles on it and discovered today that it was a quart low on oil. Is this a common situation? Have other experienced this problem or do I have a problem with the car?


how do you know it is 1 quart low? i only know the oil level should be between the two notches in the oil stick.

actually oil is every where in my oil stick everytime I check it, how do we get an accurate reading?

Thanks.


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## epc (Dec 24, 2001)

In the manual there's a page that shows you how to read the dip stick (because the BMW stick has to be so different from everybody else's). There it also tells you if the oil is at a certain level, it's about a quart low. From what I remember.


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## Nefilim (May 17, 2004)

wrwicky said:


> Constantly varying RPM/load/speed - Just pretend you're one of the other maniacs out there always cycling the gas pedal. Making some good steady pulls up the rev band starting from 2000 RPM or so and then letting the car decellerate on the motor to create some good vacuum and make sure the rings and cylinders were completely broken in, and that whatever junk that could be exhausted, was. Then, I changed the oil at the end of the break in period to send all of the debris on its way.
> 
> I think the motorcycle tuner @ mototune.com has a lot of valid ideas and tried to implement as many as I comfortably could. Check his site out


Interesting, I haven't actually met anybody who has followed that style of engine break in on a car engine. It certainly makes me a little nervous, flying in the face of convential wisdom. Of course, conventional wisdom needs to be challenged to make progressive in life. Personally I'm doing pretty something like this: http://forums.audiworld.com/a4/msgs/154153.phtml with the addition of a lot of engine braking in 1st & 2nd gear. Also taking things just a tad slower than the pace described there, I'm at 5500rpms with 950mi on the odo but full throttle I try to keep under 4750rpm for the 1250 mi period. It makes sense to let the engine spin in first gear with as little as possible load to higher & higher revs. Right now the engine feels a tad buzzy for a BMW I6 doing these low load 1st gear high rev runs. It seems smoother under load but I haven't gone over 4750rpm or so under load so it's tough to say. Also do my high load runs in higher gears so I can keep the revs in check. I hope the engine smoothes out as it continues to break in.

One thing I haven't yet decided is when I'm going to change the oil. I did around 7500mi on my Audi and will probably do that again or 5000mi. I'm definitely changing the transmission and diff fluid at 1250 mi.

I'm quite curious how your engine behaves at 20k mi after the break in you followed, does it rev smoothly and eagerly to the rev limiter? How many miles did you experience a change in the engine? Did it get much smoother? I remember in my Audi the engine changed (tapering off rapidly after the initial 1000mi of course) even up to around 5000 mi, increasing in responsiveness and smoothness.

Sorry for the ramble


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## yamato (Feb 11, 2003)

epc said:


> In the manual there's a page that shows you how to read the dip stick (because the BMW stick has to be so different from everybody else's). There it also tells you if the oil is at a certain level, it's about a quart low. From what I remember.


i read the manual but i can't even read the oil level reliably. oil is everywhere. i can even find some oil above the plastic tip of the oil stick, according to the manual I must be seriously overflow.

Should the oil level be the lowest level where a drier spot can be found? I don't think there is anywhere completely dry in the plastic tip.

i do my oil check after the car is cooled.

thanks.


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## swchang (Oct 5, 2003)

yamato said:


> i read the manual but i can't even read the oil level reliably. oil is everywhere. i can even find some oil above the plastic tip of the oil stick, according to the manual I must be seriously overflow.
> 
> Should the oil level be the lowest level where a drier spot can be found? I don't think there is anywhere completely dry in the plastic tip.
> 
> ...


Pull the dipstick out, wipe it down. Stick it back in, then pull it out again. That should give you an accurate reading.


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## yamato (Feb 11, 2003)

swchang said:


> Pull the dipstick out, wipe it down. Stick it back in, then pull it out again. That should give you an accurate reading.


That's how i do it every time. I found oil every where in the stick when I pull it out again. There are places which are drier than the other though.


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## swchang (Oct 5, 2003)

yamato said:


> That's how i do it every time. I found oil every where in the stick when I pull it out again. There are places which are drier than the other though.


I dunno then. I guess you have (more than) enough...


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## wrwicky (Jan 17, 2003)

Nefilim said:


> Interesting, I haven't actually met anybody who has followed that style of engine break in on a car engine. ...
> I'm quite curious how your engine behaves at 20k mi after the break in you followed, does it rev smoothly and eagerly to the rev limiter? How many miles did you experience a change in the engine? Did it get much smoother? I remember in my Audi the engine changed (tapering off rapidly after the initial 1000mi of course) even up to around 5000 mi, increasing in responsiveness and smoothness.
> 
> Sorry for the ramble


First let me say that I tried to incorporate some of those mototune principles and stay within BMWs procedure as best I could. I did not have the faith to go whole hog with the aggressive break-in.

My engine runs fantastic and pulls VERY smoothly, and is accellearating very quickly approaching redline. The engine has always been smoothen as silk, but it has freed-up some to where it pulls a little better off of the bottom, revs alittle quicker, and got slightly improving gas mileage tapering off around 15-20k miles.


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## euroPower (Jun 16, 2003)

After DIY my oil change couple days ago, my oil level is on the max mark now. 

Should I pumped some oil out? I heard excess oil will damage the engine..


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## wrwicky (Jan 17, 2003)

euroPower said:


> After DIY my oil change couple days ago, my oil level is on the max mark now.
> 
> Should I pumped some oil out? I heard excess oil will damage the engine..


No, The max line is what most people strive for as the optimum level. Anywhere between there and a quart low is probably great for street use.


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## norihaga (Aug 25, 2004)

Alamo said:


> Engine. It does not seem right when an engine burns oil. I would think the piston rings did not seat correctly during the break in period. My understanding is the break in period for most cars is about 500 miles. And during that break in period you really don't want to keep the car at a constant speed for too lond.


Exactly my thinking - these engines are very sensitive to bedding-in procedures, which would account for the wide variation in results people report - i.e. never uses oil, used oil for first few 1000 miles, uses 1 quart every 600 miles. Since most people these days are familiar with cars that don't benefit from careful break-in procedures (I started out riding bikes, so I'm used to it), a lot of cars don't bed their rings in/break in the bores "properly".

On the other hand, it could also be a case of the design and mfg. tolerances BMW allows. Maybe some engines are always going to be 'loose', and it's just a matter of serendipity - just like whether your interior trim falls off. 

But unless you've heard different regarding long-term effects on the 3-series, I don't think this is necessarily an issue, except maybe for emissions. My old Yamaha TRX-850 has a very 'agricultural' parallel twin engine, and most of them burn a liter of oil or so every 600 to 1500 miles. Aside from the fact that you occasionally have to clean the plugs off (when you check/adjust valve clearances), it's not an issue. It's a feature, not a bug.


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