Cooper S oil consumption and engine temp

[kaese]

Hi all,

Got a 2007 MCS. Oil consumption seems to be incredibly high though - was told by the main dealer that it should use around 1 litre per 850 miles (they all do that), and mine is 'bang on the money' for this.

What are others' experiences like with oil consumption? Is this true?

As an aside, the bonnet (around the air intake) gets alarmingly hot after a short journey. Is this 'normal' too?

Cheers

[kaese]

VEA said:

Mine doesn't use anywhere near that. I wouldn't worry about the heat thing though they all get hot!

Unless it is reading too hot on the dash that is.

Ask on Totatlmini if you want more definite answers...

Thanks - I hear varying reports from different sites - some say 1L per 1000m, some people have never done an oil change. And I don't exactly believe the main dealer...

Will check Totalmini also -ta.

[kaese]

Thanks all for the replies so far.

Thought it was pretty ridiculous - though main dealer assures it's 'normal' - yeah right!

I have heard other reports of possible leaks elsewhere in the engine which will cause it to run hot and therefore burn more oil.

MOT is due the end of this month so will have to pressurise the main dealer to take a look (based on the tolerances mentioned) - hopefully any issues will still be covered by the warranty we got with it (purchased used from main dealer).

[kaese]

Poprin said:

I have an R56 Cooper S and have also been suffering from what I feel is excessive oil consumption. As someone has previously mentioned the tolerance level from BMW is apparently 1 litre per 1000 miles. Although like you have mentioned my dealer told me 1 litre per 650 miles!

Anywho... my mini also got very hot around the air intake as you mention and it went into Mini to have something looked at under warranty. They found that it had a leaking water pipe going to the pump and that the engine wasn't being cooled as efficiently as it should be. They replaced the pipe and in fairness since then I have noticed a significant drop in oil consumption and I don't set my hand on fire when I touch my bonnet!

The engines do use oil I think this unavoidable by they way they are designed so you must check level regularly but the consumption you are talking about can't be right in this day and age. I mean when I say mine was excessive it used 3 litres over 8000 miles and that is bad enough I feel!

That's interesting Poprin - sounds like you had the same symptoms as I'm having now.

I agree about the oil usage - ridiculous, you'd think it was a bloody two-stroke.

[kaese]

swerni said:

What oil do you guys use?

I'm currently using Castrol Magnatec fully synthetic - the variant which meets the BMW spec (can't remember what it is called, exactly).

Oil consumption does seem a little better as of late - I was previously using Carlube fully synthetic which didn't seem quite as effective.

[kaese]

john171 said:

Oil consumption on my '07 MCS R56 is below 1 liter every 5000 km-6000 km when I do the change, so it seems to be well within spec.
I think you do need to be concerned about the bonnet temp above the turbo, several things as after-market ad ons are available to protect the bonnet fresh air scoop from warping, a documented problem with the turbo MCS. One thing you want to stay away from is any type of turbo mounted heat shield that is meant to keep the heat from rising up to the underside of the bonnet, which was an early attempt at protecting the bonnet scoop.

Thanks John - will look into the after market add-ons you describe. Thankfully temperature hasn't been too much recently but will bear this in mind for future.