Oil light coming on after 800 miles

nails1

Hi I bought a 2007 BMW 320D off a garage about 4 weeks ago. After a few days oil is at minimum level' message appeared and to add 1 litre. Added 1 litre of oil light came back on the next day. Brought car to garage as its under 9 month warranty and they said its a faulty oil sensor so gave it back to them and got it back couple days with new one fitted and oil reading at max level. That was couple weeks ago and same original message came up this evening oil at minimum add 1 litre. I've only done about 800 miles with the new sensor fitted. There's no oil underneath the car or visible leaks. No black or blue smoke coming out of exhaust. Car only has 60000 miles with full BMW service history and oil changed every 10000 miles. There's no physical dipstick, oil readings are shown on the dash. Anyone have any idea, would it better to being to a BMW garage for a more accurate diagnostics? Cheers

Dartz

I ****ing hate cars with no dipstick for exactly this reason.

If it's a diesel, it'll burn its own oil as happily as its fuel so you won't notice any smoke or anything. You could be burning it through any sort of leaking seal and never notice.

A litre in 1600km isn't too gonzo, tbh. I think most manufacturers specific a litre per 1000km as normal consumption.

nails1

Sorry car is 320i petrol not diesel as I stated. Car was at max level for 2 weeks and then went from max to min over space of a couple of days according to electronic dipstick reading. Don't know whether to add more oil as it was only changed recently(oil and sensor) and might risk overfilling it if the reading is inaccurate. Adding a litre of oil every 2 especially the castrol or Mobil stuff wouldn't be very economical either. I thought this was out of the norm even for a beemer, had a corolla before and oil light would never come on between each oil change interval of about 20000km

Dartz wrote: »

I ****ing hate cars with no dipstick for exactly this reason.

If it's a diesel, it'll burn its own oil as happily as its fuel so you won't notice any smoke or anything. You could be burning it through any sort of leaking seal and never notice.

A litre in 1600km isn't too gonzo, tbh. I think most manufacturers specific a litre per 1000km as normal consumption.

barneygumble99

Dartz wrote: »

I ****ing hate cars with no dipstick for exactly this reason.

If it's a diesel, it'll burn its own oil as happily as its fuel so you won't notice any smoke or anything. You could be burning it through any sort of leaking seal and never notice.

A litre in 1600km isn't too gonzo, tbh. I think most manufacturers specific a litre per 1000km as normal consumption.

A litre every 1000km????

TinCool

Not unheard of. I had a 1999 BMW 320i and that sucker drank oil. I was putting in 2-3 litres a month in to it

Supergurrier

Dartz wrote: »

I ****ing hate cars with no dipstick for exactly this reason.

If it's a diesel, it'll burn its own oil as happily as its fuel so you won't notice any smoke or anything. You could be burning it through any sort of leaking seal and never notice.

A litre in 1600km isn't too gonzo, tbh. I think most manufacturers specific a litre per 1000km as normal consumption.

For a rotary maybe but thats about it.

20 litres of oil between services would be madness on a modern diesel.

Toyotafanboi

You'll find that is most manufacturers maximum "normal" threshold is considered a liter every 1000 km/ 600 miles.

Mostly to cover themselves.

Foxhole Norman

My 525i had the oil light coming on every 2 weeks or so due to an oil leak, I'd definitely get it fully checked out, that or its burning it.

mickdw

nails1 wrote: »

Sorry car is 320i petrol not diesel as I stated. Car was at max level for 2 weeks and then went from max to min over space of a couple of days according to electronic dipstick reading. Don't know whether to add more oil as it was only changed recently(oil and sensor) and might risk overfilling it if the reading is inaccurate. Adding a litre of oil every 2 especially the castrol or Mobil stuff wouldn't be very economical either. I thought this was out of the norm even for a beemer, had a corolla before and oil light would never come on between each oil change interval of about 20000km

I think your car is burning oil and perhaps the dealer knows this. He could then have overfilled it significantly and this would have had the appearance of it staying at max for the first period while in reality it was dropping quite fast while still above max. Once at normal level, the sensor then shows you the real drop rate.
I'd get another opinion on it.

Seth Brundle

Is there any new oil marks on your driveway?
It could be something as simple as the sump nut not tightened fully!

Drummerboy08

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

You'll find that is most manufacturers maximum "normal" threshold is considered a liter every 1000 km/ 600 miles.

Mostly to cover themselves.

It's usually 1000 miles, not KM.

Toyotafanboi

Drummerboy08 wrote: »

It's usually 1000 miles, not KM.

I find a lot of manufacturers have conveniently allowed that to become 1000km.

barneygumble99

Something seriously wrong with a car that is burning 1litre per 1000kms especially a petrol. If a petrol car burns that much and has no problems otherwise (eg. emission readings are perfect), id be bringing it back to the dealer.

Drummerboy08

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

I find a lot of manufacturers have conveniently allowed that to become 1000km.

Most of the VW Group is still 1000 miles anyway.

Haven't come across it with other brands in a good while.

nails1

Foxhole Norman wrote: »

My 525i had the oil light coming on every 2 weeks or so due to an oil leak, I'd definitely get it fully checked out, that or its burning it.

What sort of work did you need to get fine to fix it? Was it still under warranty?

Foxhole Norman

nails1 wrote: »

What sort of work did you need to get fine to fix it? Was it still under warranty?

I did it myself, no warranty involved as it's a 14 year old car :P I knew what was leaking with mine, it was the oil filter housing gasket.

Atlantic Dawn

Any sign of blueish coloured smoke coming from the exhaust?

Del2005

barneygumble99 wrote: »

Something seriously wrong with a car that is burning 1litre per 1000kms especially a petrol. If a petrol car burns that much and has no problems otherwise (eg. emission readings are perfect), id be bringing it back to the dealer.

I'd a 2000 Corolla that burnt that much, Toyota forgot to about drain holes for a while. There is no dealer in the country that will work on a car burning 1l per 1000km, you could always pay an indy to look.

nails1

Atlantic Dawn wrote: »

Any sign of blueish coloured smoke coming from the exhaust?

No there isn't any coming from exhaust

nails1

mickdw wrote: »

I think your car is burning oil and perhaps the dealer knows this. He could then have overfilled it significantly and this would have had the appearance of it staying at max for the first period while in reality it was dropping quite fast while still above max. Once at normal level, the sensor then shows you the real drop rate.
I'd get another opinion on it.

Yes that's what I'm thinking car actually went from max to min over space of 300 miles and was on max for 500 miles previous to that

Leonard Hofstadter

nails1 wrote: »

No there isn't any coming from exhaust

What happens if you put your foot down when accelerating? If it's burning oil you'll get a trail of blue smoke when you give it some beans.

Those engines aren't normally noted for burning oil btw.

nails1

captainspeed wrote: »

What happens if you put your foot down when accelerating? If it's burning oil you'll get a trail of blue smoke when you give it some beans.

Those engines aren't normally noted for burning oil btw.

I'll have to check that by getting someone to drive behind me

nails1

Checked it earlier and no blue smoke. Might get an oil consumption test done on the car any idea how much that would cost?

John T Carroll

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

You'll find that is most manufacturers maximum "normal" threshold is considered a liter every 1000 km/ 600 miles.

Mostly to cover themselves.

Toyotafanboi wrote: »

I find a lot of manufacturers have conveniently allowed that to become 1000km.

VW state in a 2005 Polo (petrol) instruction manual that "The oil consumption may be be up to 1.0 litres per 1000 km" I have a 1956 (thats the year!) instruction manual for a VW Sedan (Beetle) which gives the oil consumption as "Betwwen 0.03 and 0.1 litre per 100 km" (0.3 to 1 litre per 1000 km). I would expect most cars not to need any top up between oil change intervals of say 16K kms/10k miles until they are approaching at least 120K kms/75K miles, the 2000 VW Bora (1.4 petrol) in my family from new never needed topping up between its yearly oil changes (at around 10k to 12k miles) until it had covered 100K miles, the last few checks at nearly 185K miles/298K kms were/are 1 litre per 1000/1200 miles or 1 litre per 1600/1900 kms which I think shows that a "normal" consumption of 1 litre/1000 kms in any make of car with less than at least 100K kms is in my opinion rather excessive, to put it mildly. I know a few people with diesels (of various makes) which still dont need any top ups between oil changes some of these have covered over 220K miles or over 350K kms. I am of the view that excessive oil change intervals and/or wrong spec oil plays a very big part in premature heavy oil consumption.

junkyarddog

I would suggest that you get the engines crankcase breather system looked at,
A blocked breather would cause excessive oil use.

It may not be the cause,but is certainly one to investigate.