How many burning oil?

[Alpine003]

I like to gauge how many people on this board are burning oil or using oil in between their oil changes on their stock M42 motors.

Describe driving style or if you do any track days or auto-x.

I myself find my engine to be 1/2 qt. low every 1k miles if I do some sort of track day or very spirited driving(4-6k rpm zone for extended periods).

I know a small bit of oil consumption is normal in bmw's as stated in their manual. But I was just wondering about the M42 specifically in oil consumption characteristics.

[FL318is]

Mine still leaks.  I think its the crankseal or higher up on the timing case.  The dipstick does not register a drain but the garage floor has a few small spots.  Maybe I am wrong but it looks like oil.

I drive it on the highway to work at about 80.  Then on errands I rev it in a spirited fashion.

[e9nine]

A lot of descriptions are used. "Oil burning" vs. "Oil loss" vs. "Oil consumption". My classifications are as follows.

Oil burning = smoke @ WOT (if you're smoking on start up or during normal driving...well... get a new motor)

Oil loss = leaking lower oil pan gasket, cracked oil pan, valve cover gasket, dipstick seal etc

Oil consumption = normal consumption minus physical signs such as "oil burning"

One of my cars is very guilty of oil burning. I top it up twice between oil changes depending on if I have been driving real hard @ auto-x and at the track. I typically top up when it get's below the two markers. When I change the oil - I typically refill with 5 qts Castrol 20w50.

The other car had very good oil habits prior to shitting the bed.:mad:

[D. Clay]

My car has 200,000 on it and is never low enough to add oil between changes at 3K miles. It also doesn't leak and had no aliens in the lower pan when I checked it. I asked Terry Sayther at an independent BMW shop here in Austin about the timing chains and lifespan of an M42. He says no problem with the chain and guides if the oil is changed regularly and the car gets "normal" use.
He's seen them go up to 300,000 miles with oil changes every 3000 miles.
But it is fun to abuse the equipment!

[e9nine]

I am a firm believer in how a car is broken-in, maintained, serviced, cold start up and cold weather driving habits and daily driven being the key ingredients to longevity.

Driving habits will naturally also reflect oil consumption as pointed out by D. Clay.

My car which burns oil was tracked by the POs and the engine history isn't known. I use the car for HPDE, Auto-x and as a secondary daily driver. I drive it very hard. It has 127rwhp & 117 rwtq (Go figure :rolleyes: )

My older m42 had more miles than this track car and was very well maintained (THICK stack of paper trail) and currently has about 190k+ mi and didn't burn an excessive amount of oil. I drove it equally hard just never made it to the track. I never got this one dyno'd.

My daily m42 was bought with 17x or so miles with some odd ticking noise (thought it was tappets) and I think the POs didn't treat her right. It died on me a while ago and I suspect either an oil pump nut or something got sucked up in the oil pump. I am yet to replace the motor pending time and wrench space.

[Alpine003]

A lot of descriptions are used. "Oil burning" vs. "Oil loss" vs. "Oil consumption". My classifications are as follows.

Oil burning = smoke @ WOT (if you're smoking on start up or during normal driving...well... get a new motor)

Oil loss = leaking lower oil pan gasket, cracked oil pan, valve cover gasket, dipstick seal etc

Oil consumption = normal consumption minus physical signs such as "oil burning"

Great classification. Keep the tally coming guys. I guess it be more helpful if you state more specifics like 1/2 qt every xxxx miles and also the classification(burning, leak, consumption, etc), track or auto-x or not...

[sheepdog]

I think I use a half quart every 8000 miles (Syntec 10w30). I drive it hard.

Type and thickness of oil will effect consumption. Some oils burn and leak easier.

[Alpine003]

Type and thickness of oil will effect consumption. Some oils burn and leak easier.

This sounds like a quote from bobistheoilguy.com.

[kowalski]

straight 40W oil, burns a bit in the mornings until its warm, nothing visible out the exhaust, and it leaks a bit out the valve cover which i'm going to fix, just waiting for my other valve cover to get dipped and then i'll paint her up and put'r on.

edit: forgot to include, its about half a qt. every 5,000 km's.
when i was running 10W30 it was non inbetween oil changes. (did the switch to 40 this oil change)
car is driven really hard