BMW M5 Forum and M6 Forums banner

Massive oil consumption 1 quart of oil every 350 miles for M6 2013

13K views 29 replies 13 participants last post by  DoctorM6 
#1 ·
I own a M6 2013 Convertible (V8 twin turbo), i bought it with 13k miles on it still under warranty and service, back in 2015. Ever since i got it i had to add 1 quart of oil every 350 miles, and i was told by the bmw service team that it was O.K. it is within their normal as it keeps driving the oil gets thinner and burn faster. so i first believed that bs but now that i drive my car daily its a pain to go for a top off almost weekly. Today was the third time i brought in my car for service complaining on excessive oil consumption, they checked for everything no leaking no anything abnormal. They said is OK to add 2 quarts of oil every 750 miles(it seems like they dont want to see me there that often). Now, I dont drive it aggressively or even on sport mode, it has now 43k miles in it. In 2017 i bought the extended warranty for an extra 2 more years. The warranty is over in June. I dont know what to do. any advises will be highly appreciated.
 
#4 ·
Up to 2 quarts every 1,000 miles is per BMW spec. It even says so in the manual.
 
#11 ·
Sure champ.
 
#16 ·
Just my 2 cents here..

I've done a bunch of reading on the twin turbo V8's in modern 550i's and 650i's being horrendous with oil consumption straight from the factory. When I went to the free BMWCCA undercarriage event this past winter, I was talking to the master tech and he said their biggest pain in the A right now was FULL engine replacements and many many many of them due to excessive oil consumption - even engine seizure.

Might be a class action lawsuit, but appears to be a link here already for that. Just saying, IDGAF what BMW thinks is "normal oil consumption" one quart every 350 miles is straight bullshit. My E46 330i had constant issues with oil consumption, seemed like I was always adding it, keeping the oil companies in business even after I buttoned up every single seal on that engine. Contrary to that, my E39 M5 barely consumes any between oil changes, has a small very very slow weeping valve cover gasket leak,. but otherwise is incredibly solid as far as oil goes even with almost 100K miles. The M52 engines were incredibly stout and had zero issues with piston rings, the M54 was plagued with this, and now it seems that the new twin turbo V8's are too.

It's a design flaw, no engine should consume that much oil other than a top fuel dragster pushing the metal to it's physical limits. AND IF IT DOES FOR SOME REASON, IT SHOULD BE CLEARLY STATED ON BILL OF SALE RIGHT IN THE PURCHASER's FACE: "****NOTE: THIS ENGINE WILL CONSUME OIL AT A RATE OF 1 QUART EVERY 350 MILES, AND IT IS UP TO THE OWNER TO REPLACE THE OIL.*****"

Hiding this fact, while being aware of it is shady tactics, and most certainly telling your customers that it's "within acceptable limits" is utterly bullshit.
 
#21 ·
When i saw this thread highlighted in my mailbox under trending m5board posts, I immediately jumped to it. I have much to say about this.

Trizzuth you are right, everything, every word.

I bought a factory delivery bmw E92 M3 in 2013 (4.0 liter S65 engine V8, no turbo, which is the same engine as the E60 M5 s85 V10 minus two less cylinders).

I flew to Munich, germany to take european delivery of the new car in 2013. After only 380 miles on the odometer, having crossed the border to Italy, i first discovered the Idrive message : "Engine oil low ! please add one quart !" I thought it was some kind of fluke but called BMW germany, after being transfered a few times, a german master mechanic told me in broken english to add 1 quart of 10W60 oil which i did after i found a center to get it (with difficulty on a holliday). He said nothing else. This was to become a continuous issue with the car. Back in the states the dealer bullshited as they do, trying to reassure me improvising various random reasons : "oil consumption will stabilise after break in". They started an oil consumption log but soon forgot about it, within months they gave me a blank stare when i would bring the oil consumption issue to them, they gave me free fill ups whenever the car requested oil but they stopped that immediately the day the car went out of warranty. I kept my own log of having to add oil between oil changes over the years.

I have had to add 1 qt oil every 800 - 1500 miles but that is because i mostly drive it on the local freeway. If i take it on the highway on long distances, the oil sensor level will drop from max level to min level in just 4 hours of highway drive and give me the warning. I know from experence now that if i only drove this car on the highway, it would require 1 quart of oil every 350-400 miles, possibly less, just like during my trip in germany.
The oil sensor was a panacea for the dealer to dodge and confuse the engine's oil consumption, they started blaming it. Obviously they know the engine consumes oil since they've drained the oil to measure it when the warning came on (and they put the oil right back into the car, i emailed bmwna if this is normal practice, i was told it is.) After a long highway drive when driving locally the next few days the oil sensor level ifrom the idrive would pop back up to mid level. I seriously suspect that the lack of dipstick design was purposedly done to hide and confuse the true engine oil consumption.
Here i should mention that i've had so many other issues with the car that the oil consumption was forgotten while i had to battle the dealer to do other needed repairs. I eventually gave up having to fight the dealer under warranty for the oil. Eventually in 2017 they gave me a printed document " SI B11 03 13 August 2016 Updated Technical service bulletin" which is an update on oil consumption from BMW that claims that 378 miles per quart (2.5 liters / 1000 miles) is normal for M cars with "S" engines. I believe your M6 has the S63B44T0 twin-turbo 4.4 liter engine.

Here it is important to mention that I know many other M3 owners's through car forums like this one whose car consumes not a drop of oil, neither during breakup or ever. So this is not just a model specific design issue from BMW but also extremely poor Quality Control. I know other companies have been sued and convicted for excessive oil consumption (with much much lower consumption numbers). I am not aware of any lawsuit against BMW but if there is, I am in.
 
#21 ·
When i saw this thread highlighted in my mailbox under trending m5board posts, I immediately jumped to it. I have much to say about this.

Trizzuth you are right, everything, every word.

I bought a factory delivery bmw E92 M3 in 2013 (4.0 liter S65 engine V8, no turbo, which is the same engine as the E60 M5 s85 V10 minus two less cylinders).

I flew to Munich, germany to take european delivery of the new car in 2013. After only 380 miles on the odometer, having crossed the border to Italy, i first discovered the Idrive message : "Engine oil low ! please add one quart !" I thought it was some kind of fluke but called BMW germany, after being transfered a few times, a german master mechanic told me in broken english to add 1 quart of 10W60 oil which i did after i found a center to get it (with difficulty on a holliday). He said nothing else. This was to become a continuous issue with the car. Back in the states the dealer bullshited as they do, trying to reassure me improvising various random reasons : "oil consumption will stabilise after break in". They started an oil consumption log but soon forgot about it, within months they gave me a blank stare when i would bring the oil consumption issue to them, they gave me free fill ups whenever the car requested oil but they stopped that immediately the day the car went out of warranty. I kept my own log of having to add oil between oil changes over the years.

I have had to add 1 qt oil every 800 - 1500 miles but that is because i mostly drive it on the local freeway. If i take it on the highway on long distances, the oil sensor level will drop from max level to min level in just 4 hours of highway drive and give me the warning. I know from experence now that if i only drove this car on the highway, it would require 1 quart of oil every 350-400 miles, possibly less, just like during my trip in germany.
The oil sensor was a panacea for the dealer to dodge and confuse the engine's oil consumption, they started blaming it. Obviously they know the engine consumes oil since they've drained the oil to measure it when the warning came on (and they put the oil right back into the car, i emailed bmwna if this is normal practice, i was told it is.) After a long highway drive when driving locally the next few days the oil sensor level ifrom the idrive would pop back up to mid level. I seriously suspect that the lack of dipstick design was purposedly done to hide and confuse the true engine oil consumption.
Here i should mention that i've had so many other issues with the car that the oil consumption was forgotten while i had to battle the dealer to do other needed repairs. I eventually gave up having to fight the dealer under warranty for the oil. Eventually in 2017 they gave me a printed document " SI B11 03 13 August 2016 Updated Technical service bulletin" which is an update on oil consumption from BMW that claims that 378 miles per quart (2.5 liters / 1000 miles) is normal for M cars with "S" engines. I believe your M6 has the S63B44T0 twin-turbo 4.4 liter engine.

Here it is important to mention that I know many other M3 owners's through car forums like this one whose car consumes not a drop of oil, neither during breakup or ever. So this is not just a model specific design issue from BMW but also extremely poor Quality Control. I know other companies have been sued and convicted for excessive oil consumption (with much much lower consumption numbers). I am not aware of any lawsuit against BMW but if there is, I am in.
 
#22 ·
My s63 engine with down pipes, no cat and a 700+ hp ecu and 21psi of boost at 6 years old now, eats one qt every 5,000 miles. Its my built in oil change indicator. I save a liter of turbo oil when I change my oil at 3-5k miles. Me thinks there's a big problem with your oil consumption, regardless of engine.
 
#27 ·
Hi Everybody,
I just joined and am saving my lunch money for a 2015 convertible M6.
Questions:
1. did anybody ever determine a cause of this oil consumption? Is it blowby, rings, or valve stems?
2. Does the M6 have a catch can?
1. no definitive answer, safe to assume the v-shape of the engine fosters a tight area for heat production, a well known theory that I doubt is true because the s63 engine is the basis for the current f90 and and x series m cars and I highly doubt BMW would open themselves to such liability.
2. no catch cans stock, easily can be installed, they would prevent oil from entering intake and would nowhere near be ample enough size to catch a significant amount of oil to reuse.
 
#26 ·
Let the M idle for 10 minutes, then have someone accelerate to 3-4k rpms as you watch both sides of the exhaust carefully for white or blue billowing smoke. If there is no smoke = no abnormal consumption. Then proceed to carefully check the engine bay from both above and below to identify any possible leaks. When all options are exhausted, then its safe to assume consumption due to its rather large displacement. I too currently have the same issue, 1 quart every 500miles but it seems to be drive dependent. Currently reside in NY, always sitting in traffic etc etc.
 
#28 ·
Thanks for the response.
But it seems to me that there are only three places the oil can go:
1. Out a gasket onto the floor. It sounds like this is not the problem.
2. Out the tailpipe, leaving tar/sludge in the tailpipe. Bad valve seals or rings.
3. Through the intake

There has been no smoking gun found regarding oil loss?
 
#29 ·
Ive been driving M6's now since 2010 and I've carried a quart with me ever since. I can definitely rule out 1 & 3, since prolonged oil through the intake would lead to intake sludging and intake issues overtime etc. In the 6 years that I've owned the V10 M6 i can attest to the intakes being completely clean and bone stock despite never using catch cans. Carrying that information with me over to the F06 M6 GC lead me to believe its just the natural tendencies of this engine. Yes, there are members here that haven't added a quart since purchase, but there also tons of others that have had their engine completely replaced under warranty as well. Point being, never compare yourself to others as there are many possibly variations between cars ranging from factory production all the way down to the environment, temperature, humidity and driving style. My two cents, prior to purchase please make the engine idle, check the carfax to see if that M has been properly maintained ie 1200mile service, 7.5k oil change intervals etc, stay away from lower mileage M vehicles as the possible of catastrophic engine failure after 40,000+ miles of driving is less than 1% and finally to always always always carry any bottle of appropriately weighed oil. Also keep in mind the older the oil is the thinner they become by nature. Hope this helps.
Pat
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top