Official Oil consumption thread: Car excessively burning oil?

[Natek]

Thank you for your professional opinion ?


Steve

Anytime

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[Don Alex]

I would say you are ok. 6k miles is alot of driving before losing one quart. Take it to the dealer for the quart though so it's on record.

The manual says anything under 1500 for 1 quart is bad. Imo I find that consumption a little to much, but it's what bmw says is ok. I would be ok with anything over 3k before losing a quart. There has been a few people on this forum who got looked into even though they were closer to 2k before losing a quart.

Alright, now I feel much better. Yes I will get my oil on monday at toyota and get that oil recorded, thank you!

That sounds very reasonable. You didn’t mention if you’re stock or tuned etc, also what your driving style is.

If you’re at least stock, your engine oil consumption sounds absolutely normal. If you’re not stock, think you’re doing better than normal!

I was very scared, but now I feel better. My supra is full stock when it comes to the engine. My driving style is, I would say more aggressive then relaxed.

 

[jchadwell]

Late to the party but I changed my July build 2021 oil at 1500 miles. It did not appear to consume a drop. I put my used oil in the containers the new oil came in for transport to Autozone for recycling. I got close to 7 quarts out. I also put 7 quarts in and it tested at exactly the full mark post change. I've gone about 900 miles since, including two autocrosses, and it's still at full. I did not baby the car during break in. I did not hammer on it or run it hard before it was up to operating temp but it did see redline, spirited driving, and some hard launches mixed in.

Funny thing is I've seen similar posts about oil consumption on just about every model vehicle ever produced. Including many that I've personally owned. Yet in my, ahem, 40-ish, years of driving and owning many different vehicles, high-performance and otherwise, I've never had a vehicle that burned oil. I cannot recall ever adding oil between changes. And this includes several cars that I put more than 150,000 miles on.

I don't know, maybe I've just been very lucky. Or perhaps it's the fact that, in general, the only customers you will hear from are the minority who are unlucky and got car with an issue. The rest of us who do not have the issue are typically silent. This is why issues like this seem much worse than they may really be on an internet forum. Even here where we are hearing from some non-affected owners, the distribution is around 1 of 3 2021s potentially impacted. I would wager the number becomes pretty small when the silent majority who don't even follow internet forums gets included. Is it an issue Toyota and BMW should identify, make whatever changes need to be made to minimize future issues, and correct for those impacted? Absolutely! But it's likely not as widespread as our little corner of the internet makes it seem.

I hope I didn't jinx myself by posting this. If I start getting low oil messages every few hundred miles now, I'm coming back to delete this post...

Good luck to everyone who is having excessive consumption issues!

Quick update. I'm now at just under 3700 miles. Still at the max line. That's now up to 6 autocrosses and 2100 miles since the initial break in change and still at the max line. Using Castrol Edge 0W20.

 

[Heavy Foot]

The dealer topped up my oil a couple of weeks ago, after the low oil warning light came on. I just checked it today after 550km's (340miles), and it's already down 1 bar (1/4 of a quart). I didn't get my first low oil warning light until 7,300km's (4,500miles) If I do the math right right, the car is now consuming 1 quart for 1,400miles (2,200km's)....It's now consuming oil at a much faster rate than before.

 

[Motorknut]

The dealer topped up my oil a couple of weeks ago, after the low oil warning light came on. I just checked it today after 550km's (340miles), and it's already down 1 bar (1/4 of a quart). I didn't get my first low oil warning light until 7,300km's (4,500miles) If I do the math right right, the car is now consuming 1 quart for 1,400miles (2,200km's)....It's now consuming oil at a much faster rate than before.

I wouldn’t count on the partial drop markers to estimate exact consumption, since it can fluctuate on different measurement runs. I’d wait to see how long it takes before the car calls for a top up, and use that as your measure.

Since you just went for an oil change, it’s also possible that the fill then was slightly less than factory fill. Fact that you only got your first top up warning after >7000kms sounds pretty good.

 

[underdonk]

Out of curiosity, what engine oil weight did you run in the M3? I recall they go pretty heavy, interesting to note you still observed some oil consumption.

Hope you can share your observations on the blow by. From what I read, the B58 has significant improvements versus the N54/54.

Sorry for the delayed response - been a busy week. Ran Mobile 1 5w40 in the M3 (which remained stock) from oil change #1 until I stupidly sold it 5 years later. The oil consumption was very low, but certainly there. Always carried a quart of oil with me both when driving around town and when on long road trips. I will definitely share the results after I first drain the AOS before hitting the track in a couple of weeks. After that event, I will likely install the recirculation kit I have sitting next to me here.

I think the low viscosity engine oil has other benefits, depending on car usage. Def agree with your oil choice for track, but if the rest of us are doing relatively short trips and occasional “spirited street driving”, shouldn’t the 0W-20 oil should work well? I haven’t observed my engine oil temps ever exceeding 111 deg C, so I don’t worry about the HTHS.

In my opinion, it's a trade-off. From strictly a temperature perspective, it's definitely fine for what 99% of the people who own this car will probably do with it. However, from a viscosity perspective, I think it's contributing to some of the consumption problems in the way of blow-by, and why I installed the AOS. That's why I'm so interested in how much oil it's collecting. Going with a heavier weight oil that has a higher viscosity at higher temperatures (even if said temperatures are within normal operating parameters) should theoretically resolve that. This is all just speculation, though. Sounds like Toyota and plenty of other people are working on it. The Internet is full of anecdotal evidence of people having worse oil consumption than we're talking about here on cars new and old switching to heavier weight oils and it going away.

 

[Motorknut]

In my opinion, it's a trade-off. From strictly a temperature perspective, it's definitely fine for what 99% of the people who own this car will probably do with it. However, from a viscosity perspective, I think it's contributing to some of the consumption problems in the way of blow-by, and any I installed the AOS. That's why I'm so interested in how much oil it's collecting. Going with a heavier weight oil that has a higher viscosity at higher temperatures (even if said temperatures are within normal operating parameters) should theoretically resolve that. This is all just speculation, though. Sounds like Toyota and plenty of other people are working on it. The Internet is full of anecdotal evidence of people having worse oil consumption than we're talking about here on cars new and old switching to heavier weight oils and it going away.

In terms of excessive blow-by, I take it NOACK is the key? Cos surprisingly, a number of 5w-30 oils seem to have NOACK ratings similar to 0W-20 oils. I'm going off some oil tech analysis found online, so will be very interesting to hear about your real world observations with the AOS etc.

 

[underdonk]

I just switched to Pennzoil Euro 5w30 full synthetic. We will see if my car blows up this weekend at the track!

Did it blow up? Perform well?

 

[underdonk]

BMW’s have had this issue for years. We’ve talked to numerous BMW techs, and they all said the same thing….that the sensor is inconsistent with oil level readings.

Most wanted new update to the '22 cars: An f'ing dipstick.

 

[underdonk]

In terms of excessive blow-by, I take it NOACK is the key? Cos surprisingly, a number of 5w-30 oils seem to have NOACK ratings similar to 0W-20 oils. I'm going off some oil tech analysis found online, so will be very interesting to hear about your real world observations with the AOS etc.

I think it's one factor, with viscosity at high (but normal) temperatures also playing a role. Again, this is just my opinion and all speculation at this point. I want data to make an informed decision. Only testing by us owners and the fine folks at Toyota (and likely BMW) will ultimately be able to give us the real answer.

I'm very interested to see not only how much oil I drain out of my AOS but also if switching to a heavier weight oil will resolve the issue, as I've noted previously. Can you share the link you were looking at, please? Depending on how much of a factor this is in the equation, going with an even heavier weight oil like 5w40 would likely be a better move to resolve this specific issue. It may introduce other issues moving that far out-of-spec, though, which is why 5w30 seems like a good compromise.

EDIT: Something for folks to remember when doing oil level readings on their cars - most garages are built at an angle to allow for drainage. Depending on the construction of your house, look at how the concrete is angled against the block possibly used along the walls. Tough to find a truly level surface to do a reading.

 

[Evolution]

Did it blow up? Perform well?

Did not blow up and did not eat any oil. It was 100° out the entire time too. I am happy.

 

[Motorknut]

I'm very interested to see not only how much oil I drain out of my AOS but also if switching to a heavier weight oil will resolve the issue, as I've noted previously. Can you share the link you were looking at, please? Depending on how much of a factor this is in the equation, going with an even heavier weight oil like 5w40 would likely be a better move to resolve this specific issue. It may introduce other issues moving that far out-of-spec, though, which is why 5w30 seems like a good compromise.

Sure thing - here are some comparisons I’ve read
https://www.ato24.de/en/blog/comparison-0w-20-engine-oils/
https://www.ato24.de/en/blog/comparison-0w-30-engine-oils

I can’t seem to find the document for 5w-30 oils, but it looked sponsored by Amsoil, so no prizes guessing what oil came up tops.

there are plenty of oil weights with BMW LL04 approvals, so I think even a 40 weight wouldn’t be detrimental, but FC would likely suffer, maybe start up wear too. As you said, depends on the main goal/concern.

 

[3TMagnetMan]

Quick update. I'm now at just under 3700 miles. Still at the max line. That's now up to 6 autocrosses and 2100 miles since the initial break in change and still at the max line. Using Castrol Edge 0W20.

Have you tried using Castrol Edge 0w30 European Formula ???

 

[Motorknut]

Quick update. I'm now at just under 3700 miles. Still at the max line. That's now up to 6 autocrosses and 2100 miles since the initial break in change and still at the max line. Using Castrol Edge 0W20.

Nice. think I should start reading up on this oil!

 

[satx_phantom]

FWIW...

Roughly 4400 miles now, and the oil level has finally budged from MAX. Now looking at only down about 1/4 to 1/5 (didn't measure, unsure of the exact scale) the way from MAX to MIN. I would say that's likely a fairly ordinary rate, considering the recommended interval for an oil change is given as 10000 miles, and I am still running the original oil. Build date is in 12/2020, it's my daily, and I've never tracked or modified it.

I've been careful to replicate as many of the conditions I can each time I run the oil level test, such as the time driven and location/angle. Some things I can't control would be the temperature or humidity, but it's mostly been warm/hot since I bought this car anyway. Because of this thread I've been checking/documenting at least twice a week for a few months at the conclusion of my drive home from work.

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