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      01-02-2015, 05:36 PM   #1
Mauricio Palacios. MD
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N55 Oil consumption

Hello friends I have almost 1700 miles in my 435i. I checked the oil level in the iDrive and it tells me it is 0.25 qt. below they Max level. I added 250 ml (1/4 qt. aprox.) and made a 150 miles travel. After that, I checked the oil level again and it is still the same. I added another 0.25 qt. now I've added 0.5 qt (total). And the oil level in in the display is still the same. Are these amounts of oil consumption normal? I don't want to add more oil because I don't want to exceed the max level. When I drive in highways or mountain roads, I usually like spirited drive (3500-6500 rpm, 100-140 mile/h). I think that could be the reason for the high oil consumption. Thank you very much for your opinions.

Last edited by Mauricio Palacios. MD; 01-03-2015 at 07:44 AM..
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      01-02-2015, 06:44 PM   #2
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Mauricio Palacios. MD View Post
Hello friends I have almost 1700 miles in my 435i. I checked the oil level in the iDrive and it tells me it is 0.25 qt. below they Max level. I added 250 ml (1/4 qt. aprox.) and made a 150 miles travel. After that, I checked the oil level again and it is still the same. I added another 0.25 qt. now I've added 0.5 qt (total). And the oil level in in the display is still the same. Are these amounts of oil consumption normal? I don't want to add more oil because I don't want to exceed the max level. When I drive in highways or mountain roads, I usually like spirited drive (3500-6500 rpm, 100-140 mile/h). I think that could be the reason for the high oil consumption. Thank you very much for your opinions.
What about a dipstick reading?
You know......low tech method.
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      01-02-2015, 07:09 PM   #3
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Damon44 View Post
What about a dipstick reading?
You know......low tech method.
That would be excellent, dear Damon. Don't You know that our cars don't have dipstick anymore? I don't trust electronic sensors very much. Good evening.
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      01-02-2015, 10:26 PM   #4
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Just replied to your other post on oil consumption. n55 love oil.
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      01-03-2015, 06:01 AM   #5
Mauricio Palacios. MD
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Thank you very much for your responses, dear friends…

Updated: 2,904 km, +0.5 qt Mobil 1 0W40 and still 25% less than max. I only hope that I didn't added too much… In case that, like some some of you are telling me, the actual level can take time to be registered.




Last edited by Mauricio Palacios. MD; 01-03-2015 at 06:21 AM..
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      01-03-2015, 10:44 AM   #6
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A general rule of thumb is to only add oil at 1 quart increments. Trying to fiddle with amounts less than that can be difficult because the sensor may not be as accurate as needed when reading such small differences in oil level
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      01-03-2015, 12:19 PM   #7
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Hi

Mine uses normally a liter pr 3-5000 miles. It all depends on the driving style and says you noticed your self the harder you drive your car the more oil it consumes.

However I noticed an bug in the software after I had a software upgrade last fall. I check the oil frequently and wait to fill it up until the car wants a whole liter. However last time it did not recognize the refilling at all before the day after. As if the car had to shut it completely off before reinitializing the sensor.

Best regards
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      01-03-2015, 10:16 PM   #8
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My car recently asked for 1l of oil after ~8000km, I was very surprised as my previous cars has consumed almost no oil (Toyota and Nissan).

I would only add oil if the car ask for it and the goal is not to drive with the oil at max, that's why its called max. Follow the car instructions and you will never get in trouble with the warranty.
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      01-04-2015, 06:44 AM   #9
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It's telling you that the oil level is Ok. Why do you want to put more. The computer will tell you if you are low.
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      01-04-2015, 10:00 AM   #10
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16K miles on my 2013 335i, no oil consumed between changes (every 7500 miles or annually).
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      01-04-2015, 04:33 PM   #11
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I had to add 2L of oil (in 1L increments, aka it happened twice), before my first oil change.
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      01-05-2015, 05:09 AM   #12
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Unhappy

Quote:
Originally Posted by Mauricio Palacios. MD View Post
That would be excellent, dear Damon. Don't You know that our cars don't have dipstick anymore? I don't trust electronic sensors very much. Good evening.
I honestly did not know fellow Physician. Having had the car only 6 weeks as yourself, I barely know the myriad of gauges.
My time under the hood is obviously negligible.....but no dipstick????
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      01-05-2015, 08:37 AM   #13
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Damon44 View Post
I honestly did not know fellow Physician. Having had the car only 6 weeks as yourself, I barely know the myriad of gauges.
My time under the hood is obviously negligible.....but no dipstick????
Not at all… The only way to measure the engine's oil level, is electronically, using the iDrive system. Excellent week!
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      01-06-2015, 12:30 PM   #14
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Saludos!

I had to add almost a quart of oil when I reached approximately 5300 miles. I followed the manufacturers procedure for break-in (from the owners manual) and researched mildly online to learn that SOME oil consumption is normal for the N55 motor.

I'm already at 19,000 miles and I'm about half a quart low on oil. Will top it off again today.


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      01-06-2015, 02:01 PM   #15
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Right when I hit about 5,000mi I had to add a quart as well. My Car started barking at me to add 1 Quart so I did. problem solved. I also think the scheduled 10K Miles oil change is ridiculous and should be done every 3-5K especially since our cars are forced induction.
I always keep a quart or two in the trunk just in case.
I had this same issue on my E92 335i so its not uncommon. I think if you smell burning oil that's a diff story altogether.

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Originally Posted by Hernandiaz11 View Post
Saludos!

I had to add almost a quart of oil when I reached approximately 5300 miles. I followed the manufacturers procedure for break-in (from the owners manual) and researched mildly online to learn that SOME oil consumption is normal for the N55 motor.

I'm already at 19,000 miles and I'm about half a quart low on oil. Will top it off again today.


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      02-05-2015, 07:16 PM   #16
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I got a minimum oil level warning @ 9000 miles today on my way to work. This thread makes me feel a little better about it.

According to iDrive I'm about 2000 miles away from an oil change and the car says the oil quality is fine.

I know a quart of oil isn't expensive, but this is a little annoying. I wonder if the dealer will just complete the first covered oil change now or not. will call them tomorrow.
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      02-06-2015, 02:18 PM   #17
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On my N54 I had to add a 1 litre of oil before I got to the oil change intervals for my first 2 oil changes. After that the engine didn't use up as much oil. My N55 has 7500kms on it and I would guess by my oil level I will need to add a litre before I will get to my oil change interval for sure.

Follow the idrive computer! When it beeps and says "add oil" then you add 1 bottle of oil. BMW has always put a spare one in my trunk. After every free oil change the dealer replaces the spare oil every time. It is very easy. No guessing about do I add half a bottle...3/4 a bottle. Just wait till it tells you to add add oil and add the whole bottle as per the owners manual.

A mechanic friend of mine said he sees more issues with people OVERFILLING oil these days. As he told me...if the engineers have it set up to "beep" when it needs a full bottle then that is perfect. No problems with over or under filling.
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      02-06-2015, 06:05 PM   #18
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Quote:
Originally Posted by ryanSTL
I got a minimum oil level warning @ 9000 miles today on my way to work. This thread makes me feel a little better about it.

According to iDrive I'm about 2000 miles away from an oil change and the car says the oil quality is fine.

I know a quart of oil isn't expensive, but this is a little annoying. I wonder if the dealer will just complete the first covered oil change now or not. will call them tomorrow.
They will not. They are strict on the CBS.
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      02-06-2015, 09:00 PM   #19
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Blubaron79 View Post
They will not. They are strict on the CBS.
I think 2,000 miles might be a little much, but had about 1,000 before mine was due and had the free oil change completed. As for the oil burning, I have almost 19,000 miles on my 435i ( a little over 7 months of ownership) and my car has used .25 quarts of oil which occurred during the first 3,000 miles. I should say that I did do the relatively hard break-in procedure during the first 3,000 miles which may or may not have contributed to the lack of oil burning.
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      02-06-2015, 09:01 PM   #20
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Vegetable
Quote:
Originally Posted by Blubaron79 View Post
They will not. They are strict on the CBS.
I think 2,000 miles might be a little much, but had about 1,000 before mine was due and had the free oil change completed. As for the oil burning, I have almost 19,000 miles on my 435i ( a little over 8 months of ownership) and my car has used .25 quarts of oil which occurred during the first 3,000 miles. I should say that I did do the relatively hard break-in procedure during the first 3,000 miles which may or may not have contributed to the lack of oil burning.
At 1,700-1200 miles they will let you change it I think.
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      02-08-2015, 02:15 PM   #21
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Feddersen View Post
I check the oil frequently and wait to fill it up until the car wants a whole liter. However last time it did not recognize the refilling at all before the day after. As if the car had to shut it completely off before reinitializing the sensor.
I had a similar experience today. I added a liter of BMW oil from the dealer yesterday after getting the minimum alert. I re-checked the oil level electronically today and it again said I was at minimum level. I called BMW roadside, ... just for the heck of it and to ask for advise. The rep was nice and fairly clueless. I ran the check 2-3 additional times and it was showing low every time.

I drove 10 miles to the next town, checked again, and it had reset and is showing mostly full. kind of a pain in the butt, but sounds like somewhat normal N55 experience here...

I'm at 9000 miles
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      04-12-2015, 01:35 PM   #22
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Damn..... i thought the oil consumption problem from the N54 had been fixed with the N55...
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