How much oil does your P38 BMW diesel engine use?

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R

Rangey-V8

Formerly known as Simon1975
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313
Location
Chelmsford
I know these engine do use oil, but was wondering what you had found you had to top up by.

I estimate mine uses 300ml oil per 1000 miles.

When I do an oil change, I buy 10L of oil and after topping up over almost 6000miles its all been used and ready for another service.
 
Last edited:
Datatek said:
Mine used very little until a flexi pipe to the oil cooler started to weep. I hope after the pipe is replaced the oil consumption will again be negligable.
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Both mine are weeping, but surley thats not using this much oil. There does not seem to be much evidence that its losing that much oil from there on mine.
 
On mine there is a good film of oil on the chassis and a little pool of oil on the front diff. The actual amount of oil coming out is difficult to judge as I can't see it happening, but it's used half a litre since the leak started.
 
Hi. Between oil changes mine goes from top of stick down to low mark. Never had to top up yet. It`s on 190k km. If no visible oil leaks could be early signs of turbo failure. (just made your day ain`t i?). Don`t panic, IF there`s a problem in the offing get in early and prevent it !
Loosen air pipe coming off turbo. (cold engine of course!). Pull hose off turbo. Stick your fingers up the turbo outlet. Any noticable `wobble` of expeller calls for further investigation. The high pressure hose you have taken off will be oily, and sticky, this is normal. However if its absolutely running with liquid oil it needs investigation.
Hopefully nothing to do with your turbo, BUT if it is checking it out now could save £££s.
 
gtland said:
Hi. Between oil changes mine goes from top of stick down to low mark. Never had to top up yet. It`s on 190k km. If no visible oil leaks could be early signs of turbo failure. (just made your day ain`t i?). Don`t panic, IF there`s a problem in the offing get in early and prevent it !
Loosen air pipe coming off turbo. (cold engine of course!). Pull hose off turbo. Stick your fingers up the turbo outlet. Any noticable `wobble` of expeller calls for further investigation. The high pressure hose you have taken off will be oily, and sticky, this is normal. However if its absolutely running with liquid oil it needs investigation.
Hopefully nothing to do with your turbo, BUT if it is checking it out now could save £££s.
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Some poeple just love drama.

According to my oil loss, thats 1.8L per 6000 miles. I said I have a weep on the oil pipes too, which could account for a fair bit.

All of a sudden I need to be pulling pipes apart and checking to see if my turbo bearings are wasted!!

I do not have RAVE on this computer, but I do wonder what they say is the NORM for oil consumption?
 
Knock my input if you want, but as I DID state prob. NOT your turbo, BUT 10 mins to avoid an engine rebuild?.... your choice....
 
I'm on about 1 litre/1000 miles but I've a problem with the breather pipe on the cam cover. Its firing oil out through the breather. Its been like this since a new head was put on 37,000 miles ago and the only problem, aside from the cost of synthetic oil, is it messing up the intercooler. My turbo is still putting out 1.2 bar so its doing just fine.
 
Simon1975 said:
Some poeple just love drama.

According to my oil loss, thats 1.8L per 6000 miles. I said I have a weep on the oil pipes too, which could account for a fair bit.



I do not have RAVE on this computer, but I do wonder what they say is the NORM for oil consumption?
Click to expand...

Ive no idea what is 'normal' oil consumtion is for 6000 miles but it sure as hell aint 1.8 litres so you have a problem somewhere :(
 
nathan5346 said:
Ive no idea what is 'normal' oil consumtion is for 6000 miles but it sure as hell aint 1.8 litres so you have a problem somewhere :(
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That's simply not true, as I said I do not have the official figure from BMW for oil consumption on the M51 per 1000 miles but 1 litre is often quoted on other engines, even though that sounds very high.

I'm currently using 300ml per 1000 miles.

I'm using semi synth 10 40 which I believe to be correct.

The engine has done 65k, sounds and drives fantastic.
 
Simon1975 said:
That's simply not true, as I said I do not have the official figure from BMW for oil consumption on the M51 per 1000 miles but 1 litre is often quoted on other engines, even though that sounds very high.

I'm currently using 300ml per 1000 miles.

I'm using semi synth 10 40 which I believe to be correct.

The engine has done 65k, sounds and drives fantastic.
Click to expand...

I think every manufacturer quotes something like 1000/litre so that they don't have to replace engines under warranty if they wear prematurely. But i would consider a 'GOOD' engine should never use that much.
 
1000 miles per litre?
ffs sake id get rid of anything that used that much.
I done over 1200 miles in my dse in the short time i had it and it used no oil at all and i regulary check oil levels in all my vehicles
 
phantom21 said:
I think every manufacturer quotes something like 1000/litre so that they don't have to replace engines under warranty if they wear prematurely. But i would consider a 'GOOD' engine should never use that much.
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Im not sure its about wearing prematurley, but rather the build quality can vary. I've even heard people say newer engines can use a little more oil until they get some miles on them, but Im no expert.

If some parts are not perfect tolerence, oil can get past and be burnt.

I did a new check and 300ml was slightly over the top, its definately 250ml per 1000 miles though.

I have to say I am a little dissapointed as I have never had an engine that uses oil.

On the positive, I had it checked after I got it from a Land Rover specialist and mentioned the oil, he said they do use oil and that the car was spot on.

So looks like, I just have to top up every month, its no big deal.
 
Hi!!

In mine I put +- 1 liter in 10.000km (+-6000 miles).

But, the level of the oil start to going down(maximum) after +- 8000 km (+- 5000 miles)...

So in my case it´s not linear, he start "eating" oil near the next service.
I think it´s normal because the oil start to loose quality...
What did you think?

Thanks
 
I did not do an exact test on this, but I kept an eye on it before I put my PSI Powerbox on and I swear it was barely dropping at all, or certainly much less.

After putting Powerbox on, it has seemed to drop more. But like I say, I did not do a proper test.
 
Simon1975 said:
Some poeple just love drama.

According to my oil loss, thats 1.8L per 6000 miles. I said I have a weep on the oil pipes too, which could account for a fair bit.

All of a sudden I need to be pulling pipes apart and checking to see if my turbo bearings are wasted!!

I do not have RAVE on this computer, but I do wonder what they say is the NORM for oil consumption?
Click to expand...


Well, seeing as you don't like to hear about the truth, then how about this/

Everything is just peachy. Don't worry about a thing, the time to start worrying would be if your engine didn't use any oil at all between services.
Almost 2 litres of oil consumption in 6000 miles within modern engines closely machined tolerances is nothing whatsoever to worry about!!!

There, feel better now............................................. didn't think so.
 
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