335d burning oil and my time with BMW Dealers

[smashy]

Hi all

My tale of woe

Bought a 4 year old F30 335d love the car to be fair. Bought on 24k miles. I do about 350 miles a week mostly motorway.

Drove 9k and in to a service. Drove another 9k and low oil light came on put the 1 ltr in and took it to BMW dealer where I bought it under warranty. They changed the Heat Exchanger related gaskets etc £1400 I paid £250 and off I went. 4k later oil light on again ,took it back to them ,spanner in works I overfilled via looking at manual dipstick so that showed on their software.They thought I had just messed up and that no oil had been used ,which I knew not the case. So off I go no cost to me off I went.

3k later oil light low put a ltr in.Took it to the dealer I have used for 16 years they said I had not had a software update for a long time did that and sent on my way saying that should sort it.

2.6k miles on comes the light .i had been checking both manuel and the Idrive so knew that it was losing oil. Back to my BMW Dealer this time they changed the rocker cover and ancillery parts "that will have fixed it sir" Now here I am 2500 miles on and manual dipstick down to minimum and showing qtr on the idrive. Booked in for 20th may.I am off to cornwall for a few days tuesday and have the oil in the boot ready for the yellow oil light

So this will be my 5th visit to get this sorted out. I have been given the old nonsense " but the tolerance is 600 miles per ltr sir " something like that figure, may be less. My argument is 600 miles per ltr driving round a racetrack maybe. My 120d did 120k with no oil loss my 330d did 130k with not a drop of oil ever used either . As I said to them it cant be normal for my car it is getting worse 9k,4k.3k,2.6k

To be fair to the dealer when I bring it back in May they are not charging me my £250 excess.

I also understand that it really does not appear to be losing oil but is burning oil and that must be a needle in a haystack to find out why.

Just venting really on this. I have had enough 5th visit coming up ,any thoughts or comments would be appreciated.I get on great with the service reception people and the Head Tech comes out and chats and really listens so I am not going to lose the plot just tell them this has to be the last time. But as I say not easy to find and I guess re warranty they have to do one thing at a time that may be the cause? I am wondering what my parting shot should be as I walk out the Dealer after dropping off,cannot think of anything magic apart from" this has to be the last time" ,any ideas without being antagonistic?

Thanks for reading

EDIT I know I would be teaching them to suck eggs ,coals to Newcastle ETC. but anyone on here who knows what they are doing who can give me some ideas to tell them to look for?

Edited by smashy on Sunday 21st April 17:33

Edited by smashy on Sunday 21st April 17:44

[V5Ade]

Sorry to read this. You can tell the dealer that my 2019 F31 335d has never needed an oil top up. I've had it since new and it's covered 26k miles.

[sortedcossie]

I'd be saying you don't want it back until fixed TBH.

As a side note neither of our 2008 E91 330d or 2016 F31 335d use a drop of oil. I must have 12 friends/family with 3.0 6cyl diesels, none ever use any.

[rottenegg]

smashy said:

3k later oil light low put a ltr in.Took it to the dealer I have used for 16 years they said I had not had a software update for a long time did that and sent on my way saying that should sort it.

Yes, software updates are well known to fix mechanical wear aren't they.

I think Colin Lueless must have diagnosed the car as he doesn't appear to know the difference between leaking and burning.

You can normally bet your right arm on this being one or both of the turbos, but not usually at ~40K miles.

There's a couple of guys on F30 bimmerpost with the same problem. A 35d and a 30d. Neither has been successfully diagnosed yet and everything has been checked, bar internal damage (pistons/rings/cylinder liners).

Maybe get the dealer to do a check of the DME to see if it flags software manipulation. It normally costs around £500 to perform a full software check and reflash everything to stock, but as you've known them 16 years, they might look after you a bit. I doubt the update they did already was a comprehensive one.

What I'm getting at is 100% standard cars rarely exhibit this problem, so personally I'd be keen to see if it's been remapped or not. There are a lot of sheddy maps out there that are known to over drive the injectors, which destroys the nozzles, and then consequently the piston crowns.

[smashy]

sunnyb13 said:

Just take it to a good indi garage to get sorted.

I get that,really do.Problem is it may cost me a small fortune trying to find it ,not just a broken spring is it.
Plus I have an insured BMW Warranty.with no excess charge when I take it back. Just wonder where exactly it is burning oil very frustrating

[smashy]

Rottenegg,appreciate your thoughts. Only done 24k in 3/4 years before I bought from dealer it had been a BMW head office car I have a feeling it will never be found

[DKIE92]

Was the turbo checked? Oil can leak through the seals.

Another common cause of oil consumption is the PCV system. This may have already been changed though if the valve cover was replaced as I know the PCV valve is built into the valve cover on a lot of BMW engines.

[smashy]

DIKIE92 Appreciate your thoughts

[rottenegg]

As above, one of the guys I mentioned has recently fixed his crazy oil consumption with a replacement aftermarket PCV cap - https://www.autodoc.co.uk/ridex/16414912

BMW will only sell you an entire cam cover to fix this problem, at £600ish + plus fitting.

Give it a go on yours.

[d_a_n1979]

A good read here: https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t...

Then here (by the same OP): https://f30.bimmerpost.com/forums/showthread.php?t...

[smashy]

Thankyou

[rottenegg]

Turns out it wasn't that in the end. It's highly likely the turbo. The oil control rings wear out and dump oil into the exhaust. You don't see it out of the tailpipe because the DPF burns it up. It will kill the upstream O2 sensor before long, so worth getting it sorted sooner rather than later.

[smashy]

rottenegg said:

Turns out it wasn't that in the end. It's highly likely the turbo. The oil control rings wear out and dump oil into the exhaust. You don't see it out of the tailpipe because the DPF burns it up. It will kill the upstream O2 sensor before long, so worth getting it sorted sooner rather than later.

Cheers buddy.I shall put this to them when I take it in.

[rottenegg]

Ask them to take the DPF off and look for oil wetness in the turbine housing.

[d_a_n1979]

rottenegg said:

Turns out it wasn't that in the end. It's highly likely the turbo. The oil control rings wear out and dump oil into the exhaust. You don't see it out of the tailpipe because the DPF burns it up. It will kill the upstream O2 sensor before long, so worth getting it sorted sooner rather than later.

Is that you / your 330D on the Bimmerpost forums that's just had the remap?

[smashy]

rottenegg said:

Ask them to take the DPF off and look for oil wetness in the turbine housing.

I will,thankyou

[smashy]

Hi all op here.Took it in today to the bmw dealer for the 5th time the head tech came out for a chat. Showed him your look for comments on here he said he can only be guided by bmw warranty...he mentioned the imho ridiculous bmw stance on oil use tolerance 600 miles per ltr ,which I said was a cop out maybe racing round a track not doing 350 miles a week mostly in the middle lane of motorways never going over 2000 revs. I have a feeling this will never be sorted.

[DKIE92]

It’s time to take it to an Indy mate. It’s frustrating because you have warranty, but while the oil consumption is in tolerance, BMW won’t do anything.

[smashy]

DKIE92 said:

It’s time to take it to an Indy mate. It’s frustrating because you have warranty, but while the oil consumption is in tolerance, BMW won’t do anything.

..

That sounds a plan but surely leading to a never ending pot of diagnostic money. Finding where oil is burning has to be a needle in a hystack. BMW have changed quite a few bits and pieces on this hunt.Heat exchangers,rocker cover etc. Whatever happens they have told me they wont charge my excess so I have to plough on

[MattOz]

A mate of mine had a very similar thing with his 335d. BMW replaced turbos and a gasket or two and the issue persisted. A full strip down then took place at BMW and I believe it was a cracked piston ring on one of the cylinders that was the culprit. This was replaced and the car then used virtually no oil from then on.