Car excessively burning oil?

[Loco38SUP]

I have a 2020 3.0 Supra, and noticed some oil consumption:

• First oil change at dealer done at 1000km. No oil top warnings, but I did not run the onboard oil measurement so I don’t know if there was any minor consumption
• After ~1600mi on fresh OEM 0W-20 oil, I am down half a liter according to the onboard measurement.
  
  

I don’t know how much oil they filled at the first service, so I can’t say for sure if this demonstrates excessive consumption. I am also conscious I have run only 3600km out of the advised 10000km full engine break in mark. Also, the OEM oil is pretty thin, it’s a turbo engine, so some oil consumption is not surprising.

I followed the 2000km break in guidance but occasionally ran it up on RPMs within limits. Have used sport (and sport+) mode much more since. I always wait for the oil to warm up to temp before spirited driving, and the car is primarily on city driving.

im not too worried, the tail pipes look very clean, unlike my previous oil eating NA BMW (that one had well documented engine design flaws). But I will check with the dealer when I take it for the annual service in two months.

It still seems a little excessive at 1600 miles and 1/2 a quart down on a brand-new engine.

What’s interesting is that on both current polls data is showing about 33% of voters reporting an issue. That means 66% are fine for the moment.

It has to be a bad production lot of rings, honed cylinders or rod bearings. That compounded with the water viscosity of the 0w-20 oil.

-RJM

Sponsored

 

[Motorknut]

It still seems a little excessive at 1600 miles and 1/2 a quart down on a brand-new engine.

What’s interesting is that on both current polls data is showing about 33% of voters reporting an issue. That means 66% are fine for the moment.

It has to be a bad production lot of rings, honed cylinders or rod bearings. That compounded with the water viscosity of the 0w-20 oil.

-RJM

Too many variables to say it’s a problem at this point, but I’ll mention it to the dealer next time it goes in.

Until I cross 10k mileage, the oil consumption won’t be taken as stable anyway, at least by BMW standards. I don’t know how Toyota’s usually run and I would rather ask my bmw indy specialists than Toyota.

 

[Paolo]

I have a 2020 3.0 Supra, and noticed some oil consumption:

• First oil change at dealer done at 1000km. No oil top warnings, but I did not run the onboard oil measurement so I don’t know if there was any minor consumption
• After ~1600mi on fresh OEM 0W-20 oil, I am down half a liter according to the onboard measurement.
  
  

I don’t know how much oil they filled at the first service, so I can’t say for sure if this demonstrates excessive consumption. I am also conscious I have run only 3600km out of the advised 10000km full engine break in mark. Also, the OEM oil is pretty thin, it’s a turbo engine, so some oil consumption is not surprising.

I followed the 2000km break in guidance but occasionally ran it up on RPMs within limits. Have used sport (and sport+) mode much more since. I always wait for the oil to warm up to temp before spirited driving, and the car is primarily on city driving.

im not too worried, the tail pipes look very clean, unlike my previous oil eating NA BMW (that one had well documented engine design flaws). But I will check with the dealer when I take it for the annual service in two months.

What is you build date/month?

 

[Motorknut]

What is you build date/month?

I only know it’s late 2019 production based on shipment arrival. So likely late Q3 or early Q4 2019. They don’t stamp production dates on our cars, and VIN lookup shows nothing except 2019 production.

 

[Paolo]

I only know it’s late 2019 production based on shipment arrival. So likely late Q3 or early Q4 2019. They don’t stamp production dates on our cars, and VIN lookup shows nothing except 2019 production.

I am Nov '19 built so similar to yours.
Have done around 2000 miles and no issue but am on original factory oil and first service is due in the next few months.

Perhaps they didn't fill it correctly at first service? I would get it topped to max and then regularly monitor.

These days you don't know who services your car and what experience they have.

Hoping my first service goes smoothly....touch wood.

 

[Motorknut]

I am Nov '19 built so similar to yours.
Have done around 2000 miles and no issue but am on original factory oil and first service is due in the next few months.

Perhaps they didn't fill it correctly at first service? I would get it topped to max and then regularly monitor.

These days you don't know who services your car and what experience they have.

Hoping my first service goes smoothly....touch wood.

Is your oil measurement reading showing zero consumption since factory fill?

I honestly don’t know how much oil they poured, I’m sure factory fill is much more precise, and even with normal consumption, perhaps doesn’t even start to eat into the 1L top up threshold. I just wonder if the svc guys poured in 6.5L and took it as sufficient by the computer readings, but puts the oil just at the cusp the top up monitoring threshold.

Fingers crossed it’s no big deal. I won’t pour any oil in till I get the top up message (don’t think it’ll happen in time for the 1st annual service) but I’ll be sure to do an oil measurement after the svc and also ask how much they typically fill. I’ve also used sport mode more since then, so that could have contributed.

From my experience it’s impt to run some decent mileage on the car for monitoring during the warranty period, to detect genuine issues.

Good luck for your svc!

 

[starman]

Currently in search for a 2021 Supra, having owned BMWs in the past, i know that it may take some time for the engine to break-in properly and oil consumption is normal (though not to the scale you all are describing).

I suppose only time will tell, but I have a slight feeling that the oil consumption oil may stop after a solid 10k or so. (I wonder if any folks with 21+ have past the 10k mark may have some feedback, though i'm sure the car is too new for anyone to have reached those kinds of mileage yet)

 

[Sereph102889]

I have a 2020 3.0 Supra, and noticed some oil consumption:

• First oil change at dealer done at 1000km. No oil top warnings, but I did not run the onboard oil measurement so I don’t know if there was any minor consumption
• After ~1600mi on fresh OEM 0W-20 oil, I am down half a liter according to the onboard measurement.
  
  

I don’t know how much oil they filled at the first service, so I can’t say for sure if this demonstrates excessive consumption. I am also conscious I have run only 3600km out of the advised 10000km full engine break in mark. Also, the OEM oil is pretty thin, it’s a turbo engine, so some oil consumption is not surprising.

I followed the 2000km break in guidance but occasionally ran it up on RPMs within limits. Have used sport (and sport+) mode much more since. I always wait for the oil to warm up to temp before spirited driving, and the car is primarily on city driving.

im not too worried, the tail pipes look very clean, unlike my previous oil eating NA BMW (that one had well documented engine design flaws). But I will check with the dealer when I take it for the annual service in two months.

When I do my first oil change I'm going to be buying a new drain pan that has visible quarts markings on it so that I can clearly see what comes out of the engine. I'm going to let it drain for probably and hour and then dump the oil filter in it and see what kind of measurement I get.

 

[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!

 

[Sereph102889]

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!

So on my 2021 3.0 my oil level didn't move off of max until right around 2,100 miles. Right around the time the car hit 2,100 miles is when the oil level moved down the little notch you see in the pictures I posted, but then again, this car was broken in HARD from the get go, never babied, and on original oil.

 

[Motorknut]

When I do my first oil change I'm going to be buying a new drain pan that has visible quarts markings on it so that I can clearly see what comes out of the engine. I'm going to let it drain for probably and hour and then dump the oil filter in it and see what kind of measurement I get.

Don’t forget to get the oil warmed up before running the measurement.

 

[dethred]

From 2000-4000 miles I was burning about a half a quart every thousand miles. Just drove 750 miles to VIR and back, including a few sessions and skidpad beating on the car... Only down one tick from full. It's certainly not consistent.

 

[Supercompact]

I currently have 1450 miles on my A91 and it hasn't moved from the max line. I broke it in hard from 8 miles up. My build date is 7/20. I'm interested to see what happens around the 2000 mile mark. I'm a true believer in breaking an engine in hard like every master engine builder will tell you to do. Every engine I've ever assembled has been broken in hard without oil consumption or oil pressure issues. Rings tend to seat within the first several hundred miles. You can see this if you do compression or leak down testing on a newly assembled engine and then again later after the rings have seated.

On another note, I've seen bearings mentioned several times as a possible culprit, but bearings don't cause oil consumption issues. Failed bearings cause oil pressure issues regardless of whether they're rod, crank, or cam bearings. All oil that passes through the engine bearing galleys is drained back to the crankcase, so it never enters the combustion chamber to be burned. Burning oil has to enter the combustion chamber by either seeping by the rings from being too thin or having cylinder scoring, by making its way past the oil seals in the turbo and into the exhaust, or by making its way into the intake manifold to be passed into the combustion chamber by way of a faulty PCV system or excessive crankcase pressure.

 

[SupraGR21]

Hope this helps anyone.

I track my car daily and the oil does decrease very slowly over time. When I'm on the track and I take it easy the oil level does not decrease.

*Track; Driving like I stole it.

 

[Motorknut]

I have a 2020 3.0 Supra, and noticed some oil consumption:

• First oil change at dealer done at 1000km. No oil top warnings, but I did not run the onboard oil measurement so I don’t know if there was any minor consumption
• After ~1600mi on fresh OEM 0W-20 oil, I am down half a liter according to the onboard measurement.
  
  

I don’t know how much oil they filled at the first service, so I can’t say for sure if this demonstrates excessive consumption. I am also conscious I have run only 3600km out of the advised 10000km full engine break in mark. Also, the OEM oil is pretty thin, it’s a turbo engine, so some oil consumption is not surprising.

I followed the 2000km break in guidance but occasionally ran it up on RPMs within limits. Have used sport (and sport+) mode much more since. I always wait for the oil to warm up to temp before spirited driving, and the car is primarily on city driving.

im not too worried, the tail pipes look very clean, unlike my previous oil eating NA BMW (that one had well documented engine design flaws). But I will check with the dealer when I take it for the annual service in two months.

Update:
After adding 320km mileage, the onboard engine oil measurement is now showing only one notch (quarter) down from max. It somehow found 250ml of oil.

Guess that’s why BMW tells owners not to top up oil till it indicates to.

Sponsored