Oil Consumption...

OK, I'm about to hit 5K miles and my oil level has not even flinched.
I swear I'm stepping on the go fast pedal but for some reason
I'm not consuming any oil-- or anything noticeable on the dip stick at least. I guess that's good...

Which leads me to two questions:

A) How often do you guys check your oil?
B) Is it safe to wait until the yellow idiot light warns you?

I know I always missed this light in my E36. But how realiable/dependable is it in the E46?

may have something to do with Break-in of the engine.
Some M3 owners burn a quart a month, while others never burn a drop.

I am in the latter group... no oil consumption in the 2 years I have owned her and eventually i stopped checking the level every week.
I am forced to admit I check it about once a month now... hangs head in shame.

Still keep a full bottle in the trunk anyway.

Originally Posted by Cowboy Bebop

I am forced to admit I check it about once a month now... hangs head in shame.

I know-- that's where I'm headed too... hence my question about the yellow oil light.

I must have owned too many used, high mileage cars/trucks in my day...Because I have yet to pull the dipstick out(17k miles)...I guess, I never foresaw me buying a new car...But being new and under warranty, I guess it never crossed my mind to check it..due to no oil leaks and no oil burning fumes(like past vehicles)...

I know for sure I'll be checking it on a regular bases when warranty is closer to exspiration..

Let's see, you have a high performance car, with a highly strung motor, that has already had two different major changes to the lower end to keep it together and you want to rely on an idiot light to tell you to add oil?

Makes sense to me.

At first, I checked the oil every fill up. Once I got a handle on my oil consupmtion, I check it less frequently, but DO NOT rely on the yellow light. I like my engine too much to do that.

Originally Posted by Pinecone

Let's see, you have a high performance car, with a highly strung motor, that has already had two different major changes to the lower end to keep it together and you want to rely on an idiot light to tell you to add oil?

Makes sense to me.

Well it's always good practice to check your oil..It just never crossed my mind, being my first brand new car...In fact...the two service actions, you're talking about on the bottom end, is just fuel to the fire, in terms of warranty coverage if the engine explodes...
It's very strange for me to have not checked my oil until now...I can't believe that it never crossed my mind to do so...I guess that would be the reason we refer to the oil level waring light as "idoit light"...

wait...I did check it before a track run, which did take place shortly after my 12k service...forgot all about that...but haven't checked it since then...I guess I need to hunt down some engine oil to keep on hand, and check the oil more regularly...

good idea to always check it after a dealer service (if you don't change your own oil) as many of them tend to Overfill these cars for some reason and you might need to have it syphoned off a bit.

Originally Posted by rommelrules

B) Is it safe to wait until the yellow idiot light warns you?

Why do you think they call it an idiot light?

Originally Posted by SergioK

Why do you think they call it an idiot light?

I don't know. You tell me.

Originally Posted by Cowboy Bebop

good idea to always check it after a dealer service (if you don't change your own oil) as many of them tend to Overfill these cars for some reason and you might need to have it syphoned off a bit.

Maybe it's a countermeasure to make for high oil pressure, for the whole exploding engine problem ...Dipsticks are for a guess-timation for the shadetrees..People commonly overfill their engines with oil after oil changes, because they prime the oil filter and immediately check their dipstick, not thinking about how much oil is still up top, (not to say that dealership servicemen don't do the same)...So on cold starts their oil pressure is maxed out...very bad for crankcase ventilation..even worse for closed crankcase ventilation...

If the owners manual says 6-1/2 quarts...then that's exactly what I put in it, and never turn around to double check...

Realise that the S54 has a SPECIFIC oil check procedure. Idle for at leat 15 seconds. Shut off, check oil at 60 seconds. Not 2 minutes, not 5 minutes, but 60 seconds after shut down.

Originally Posted by Cowboy Bebop

good idea to always check it after a dealer service (if you don't change your own oil) as many of them tend to Overfill these cars for some reason and you might need to have it syphoned off a bit.

Possibly, but a more likely scenario is they fill it 1/2 or 3/4 qt. low.

Say a dealer does 250 oil changes a month and shorts each one 1/2 qt. (how many owners would notice 1/2 qt? "Well I just shut it down, so probably ok after it drains down."

250 * 0.5 qt = 125 qt @ $10 qt = $1250 more per month in dealer's pocket and everyone is still happy [except for the one nut-job like me who checks it out]

I have found this exact scam several times. (Ford, not BMW, but who knows?)

If you want to be "cool" and try to straighten them out without ruining the relationship, try saying, "I want you to take this back in and make sure the drain plug isn't leaking because I found the oil 1/2 qt low after only a few miles driving..."

Wasn't it Reagan who said, "Trust, but verify?"

Actually, my experience is that the tech goes to the parts guy, who gives him X bottles of oil for the oil change. So he goes back and puts them ALL in. Which is from 1/2 to 1 liter over filled.