Engine Oil Leak Suspected - Non-Linear Oil Usage - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

507bhp · 10th December 2005, 13:08

Dear fellow board members,

I have a very strange engine oil issue with my M5. I would really appreciate it if someone can read the following carefully and be able to give me the diagnostics of my car's condition.
Thank you in advance.

Here is a quick summary.
My car arrived with about 30km on odometer. At this time, the meter showing 0.9L Engine Oil Level.
When the car reached around 600Km, the engine oil level dropped to 0.8L.
When the car reached around 1,000Km, the engine oil level dropped to 0.7L.
(This was right befroe we took off on a long distance weekend trip yesterday)

Within 100KM of travel (from 1,000Km mark), the engine oil level dropped to 0.5L (from 0.7L). Then it maintained this level (0.5L) for next 200KM of travel. (Still showing 0.5L at 1,400Km) That was yesterday. Then today, the engine oil dropped from 0.5L to 0.1L within 200Km of travel. (At this point, the car travelled total of 1,600Km and have 0.1L of engine oil left). I stopped at next service station and topped off the engine oil with a 1 liter bottle of 10W-60. (I didn't empty the whole bottle as the computer showed 0.1L left inside the engine)

When I recheck the engine oil level, it showed 0.9L after refill. So I resumed the travel again. Within 20Km of travel from then, the oil level dropped again to 0.8L. However, after that the oil level maintained on 0.8L although I drove another 160Km from that point. Currently, it is showing 0.8L at around 1,800Km. (Used 1 Liter of Engine Oil within 1,600Km)

Here are some key points to consider:

-The rate of engine oil droppage is not consistant or relavant to the distance travelled. Sometimes, it drops large amount in short time and sometimes it doesn't.
-The rate of engine oil droppage is not consistant with how hard the car is driven.
-At one point it dropped 0.4 Liters of oil within 200Km of travel. But at the end of travel, it didn't drop any oil level at all within 160Km of travel.
-There is no trace of engine oil under the car. As I was fully aware of VANOS OIL LINE FAILURE ISSUE, I knew what to watch out for. When I noticed the engine oil dropping fast, I started to check under the car every time I park the car somewhere. There is only some water dropping (suspect air conditioner relater) but no oil dropping at all.

It seems the rate of oil leak is too slow to be considered as VANOS OIL LINE FAILURE but too fast for normal engine oil consumption. I try hard to look for any oil trace but there is none. Is this normal or do you guys suspect something is wrong? If so, what do you think is wrong? I've scheduled to take the car in to BMW dealer for 2,000Km service in 6 days but I want to know whether I should be concerned of this or not. I would appreciate any help you can provide.

Thank you.

Tim_M · 10th December 2005, 13:29

That actually sounds about normal - the car uses a lot of oil during the first 2000 km, and the oil level drops inconsistently. Just keep checking the oil level by performing a rapid check before you leave the car - pull up the Idrive oil level indicator before holding in the BC button as it will give you more information.

I understand that you are nervous - we all are at the moment, and it appears that BMW are allowing pro-active, pre-emptive replacement of oil lines on cars built during the affected period now that oil lines are readily available (the lead time is down to 5 days now, and while some will disagree with me, I think that is acceptable). Do you know the build week of your car? If not your salesman will be able to tell you. I seem to remember you bought a UK car and exported it.

Tim

360bhp · 10th December 2005, 14:32

Tim - when was the affected period for the suspect cars ?

Thanks.

Tim_M · 10th December 2005, 15:17

I'm not 100% sure of the end date (I should find out next week) but it is week 36-48. The end week might be earlier, I'm just going on ALL the posts I've read on here. It is difficult though sifting through all the noise. I've got the workshop manager at Vines on the case, and if and when he gets an answer from the factory I'll post it here. I must admit my experience has been fine - I presented them with the information I gathered from here, a line was ordered and it arrived in four working days. My car is being picked up on Tuesday morning to have a new line fitted. Having a decent dealer helps!

Tim

bavarian · 10th December 2005, 17:31

Sounds perfectly normal for this car. My M5 now has 2200 miles. Here were my oil readings:

20-800 miles 0.8
800-900 0.5
900-1050 0.4
Oil change/1200 mi service
1050-2080 0.8
2080-2140 0.5
2140-2200 0.4

If you plot the oil useage the chart is non-linear. As long as there are no visible leaks, I think you have nothing to worry about.

360bhp · 10th December 2005, 17:33

thanks Tim - btw which prodn week was yr car ?

Jamie140 · 10th December 2005, 17:34

I agree with these guys. It sounds like normal oil consumption. Watch for a precipitous drop.

Filthy Monkey · 10th December 2005, 17:49

It does sound pretty normal. Oil consumption seems to be quite erratic during the run in period and, to be honest, I am not 100% convinced that the dashboard readout is entirely accurate all of the time. However, I have found that things tend to improved after the car has gone through it's first service. I have only used 0.3 litres of oil in the past 4,000 miles, despite going through over 1 litre during the run in period.

desualt · 10th December 2005, 18:13

Man, reading the title of your topic I was expecting something desastrous, well, like others said, running in this car takes oil so drop down the panic flag and drive/enjoy the car, it will settle down soon.

Mine did the same by the way, at 4400km now and the rate of oil dropping is slowing down, have fate!

MEnthusiast · 10th December 2005, 18:59

I think given the justifiable concern over proper measuring of the oil in with the new high tech V10 engine and its electronic measurement system, I can understand Member 507bhp's choice. He was worried. Fortunately it appears that he is OK for now.