E46 engine internal wear. Burns oil like crazy.

latest...checked the oil level last night, on the min mark, so i topped up today, 1 ltr, (which is exactly min to max) perfect, i'll admit i didn't check the level after topping up) basically had a bit of a hickup at some stage, reckon i was in too high a gear, accelerated, car choked for sec and ran on as usual, only time it missed a beat all day or any day for that, checked the oil level tonight, back to min....(i didn't buy invisible oil...hehehe, has me worried at this stage. no oil leaks by the way.

i rang an ex bmw mech to get a quote for valve seal replacement, he suggested relief valve (don't quote me there) that there is a good chance its clogged, different driving style to the previous owner would be the cause, mainly slower driving, i'd put it down to speed bumps if thats the case...(other than me...lmao), he has gone straight for that everytime and has sorted plenty of bm's with similar symtoms.

anyway, i'm trying to figure out....

1. what happened my oil?

2. how does the relief valve work?

3. as far as i know the valve is attached to the oil pump, where is that located?

4. and finally does the manifold have to come off to gain access?

thanks in advance,

barry

found this..

http://www.autohausaz.com/bmw-auto-parts/bmw-oil-pressure.ht ml

good info, doesn't answer my q's...might be of interest.

Individual_11 wrote: Also they sign to a thread on here where someone ended up finding it was valve seals - which rings a bit true with some of my symptoms -

But ring/bore problems give different symptoms to stem seals.

As far as I am aware the lads in the workshop in Quarry are well clued in. Any good mechanic should be able to diagnose stem seals. 

There's a half decent Indie near York, which isn't too far from leeds.

http://www.atlasautoservices.co.uk/

I had an E39 530 with an M54 engine and that used a litre of oil every 1500-2000 miles.

autofix wrote: I have seen a small number of m54’s burning oil due to bottom end wear. If as someone posted, using a heavier oil lowered the oil consumption then that would point to wear rather than a breathing problem. Another point worth noting is that compression and oil usage can have nothing in common. Oil and compression rings on the pistons do two different jobs. It is quite possible to have worn oil rings with good compression.

Thanks for that - it's a good point.  So if it has a problem with oil rings, is it worth getting the engine in bits to try fix?  Or is it worth just putting a "cheaper" synth or semi synth in and running?

I'm going to change the oil as I'm not happy with the High Mileage stuff in there.

A thought but if the thick oil is not good around the valves, could the valve stem seals be the mode of entry of the oil into the cylinder?

Sorry if that's a stupid question and thanks to everyone contributing. Nice to know you're all out there!

I-11

I have seen a small number of m54’s burning oil due to bottom end wear. If as someone posted, using a heavier oil lowered the oil consumption then that would point to wear rather than a breathing problem.

Another point worth noting is that compression and oil usage can have nothing in common. Oil and compression rings on the pistons do two different jobs. It is quite possible to have worn oil rings with good compression.

i've had a compression test done recently, no problems, granted they couldn't get at the 6th (near windscreen) but the rest were fine, i know every car is different but when the engine m54 2.2 in our case is the same and the problem identical i would expect the solution to be, (it seems to be a problem for the m54 engine full stop) i haven't checked the manifold for oil, so basically if the compression test is ticked off the list and with the mountain of solutions I-11 has tried its down to crankcase pressure?

i'm using 5w-30 castrol edge since i bought the car nearly 2yr ago, it was burning 1ltr every 1000 - 1200 miles, prob 6mths ago after a service it started burning 1ltr every 600-700miles and now its down to 450miles, running well, see smoke at high revs alright, just a blow out if ya like, cleaning the pipes....

only problem i had with the initial service was i supplied the oil, 8ltrs, mech would always have left, left over oil in the boot, not this time, got me thinking he had put 8ltrs in, suppose i was just trying to figure out what could have been done diff....it doubled consumption after the service, is there a chance the excess caused the initial damage?

Forza, whats the solution to prevent the oil access the inlet manifold?

thanks for your help, i've searched this topic and there are more than 3, the engine is know for oil consumption but not 4-600miles a ltr.

Barry

Barry_Mc wrote: snap individual - same engine same problem, everything down to a tee, only 3k miles behind you. it's an old post, by any chance did anyone find a solution?

Hi Barry

Well, update for you....

I tried having the breather valve replaced, no change from that.  I have a long arguement with the BMW dealer which resulted in them basically saying they couldn't give a rats.  The engineer did say that provided it runs well and there's no loss of power (it does and there isn't) there shouldn't be a problem as this kind of mileage is nothing for these cars.  They recommended a different oil, Castrol 15W 40 High mileage.  This I tried and yes it did slow down the rate of consumption but it's not a synthetic oil so would need replacing every 3000 miles.  I spoke to my friend who's a vehicle technician and he thinks that oil is not so good.  He's going to get me some semi synth 15-40 (trade price, so it's cheaper) to try.  He had a look at the car too and is stumped, he even tested the emissions and it was ok. 

From what I can tell it occasionally smokes visibly at high revs (but then the exhaust is full of crap from the burned oil) but never visibly otherwise.  The distance I get from a litre of oil is about the same (depending on the oil rather than the driving style) and the car does sound rough and do poor MPG when there's little oil in (but has always been sensitive to oil level).

I think Uncle Kev tried one of those engine oil additives but that didn't help....

As there are now three of us I'm going to write to BMW UK.  I don't expect anything other than "whatever" back from them but it's worth a go...

How much oil are you using?

I-11

Uncle kev wrote: My BMW has been burning oil rather excesively for a while. Its got full BM service history and has covered 111k miles.

Hi Kev

I have the same/similar problem!  I have an M54 2.2 and about 110k miles I had an oil service and then oil consumption shot up to a litre every 400 miles.  The car has always used some oil (up to 1l every 1200 miles) but this was nuts! 

There are no leaks but lots of soot in the exhaust, and I've never seen much obvious smoke (except once and I suspect an overfill!).  Running is smooth and power normal (except when the oil gets empty).  I also get an intermittant yellow oil warning for about 10 seconds about 5 to 10 seconds after I start the engine.  Everything else is normal - sounds a bit like yours from the thread!

I've just had new crankcase breather/oil seperator fitted at Leeds BMW dealer (£130) as they suggested it's the place to start.  I'm now running 500miles to se if I'm still using oil.  Have tried several oil changes with various grades and no joy.

Did once see a small amount of mayo under the filler cap but wiped this away and it never returned (so hoping it's NOT the headgasket).  Like you I suspect that the engine is inducting the oil somehow and burning it through the air intake.

Have you got any non standard induction (after market filter fitted) by any chance? 

Had the stalling problem from new - engine used to cut out when coming to a stop with the clutch in.  BMW tweaked something and fixed that though...

Would be interested to hear how you get on....

Will post if the breather valve has any impact (but suspect not)!

Good Luck

I_11