M5 oil?

[rv02oao]

I just puchased a 99 M5 (BMW main dealer approved car scheme) and so far (3 weeks) There have been no end of problems with it. It won't go round corners and it uses loads of oil. It had warped discs (now changed) Sounds familar?

How much oil is acceptable? This one uses 1 ltr every 400 / 500 miles?

[B19Toy]

Sorry to hear about your M5's problems.

In April 2001 I bought new. However having run it in very progressively at 7000 miles I warped the front discs after some hard use. They were replaced under warranty without any quibble and have survived 28,000 miles since without a recurrance of the problem. Tempting fate I know but nothing else has gone wrong!

Now after 35,000 very enjoyable miles oil consumption appears to be around a litre every 2000 miles or so.

After the mandatory two finger adjustment it still puts a grin on my face every time I drive it

[rv02oao]

Still worried about the oil consumption. I do 50k miles a year and even at 1 litre every 2000 miles that's still 25 liters at £10 a litre = £250 just for oil? Mine seems to be doing 400 miles to a litre.

[ice_kit]

I have an Alpina B10 3.3 and went through oil quite quickly. When I questioned the main dealer they produced a BMW Headed Letter that said normal oil use on M and Alpinas was 1Ltr/1000 miles.

However having run the Alpina for nearly 3 years my average is more like 1Ltr / 2000 miles.

[m-five]

How much oil is acceptable? This one uses 1 ltr every 400 / 500 miles?

What weight of oil are you using?

If you use too thin an oil it will use more than if you use the recommended (for the e34 M5) 15w40 or 15w50 Castrol TWS/RS.

Do you have any proof of how the car was run-in and maintained by the previous owner? Was it thrashed?

[MattOz]

I use Castrol RS 10W60 in mine, as recommended in the handbook and on the sticker on the screen. It does not use oil at the rate that some people have experienced, so I guess I'm lucky.

I believe that the newer M5's use a slightly thinner weight oil. There is a whole load of info on BMWM5.com.

Cheers
Matt

[ice_kit]

I use Mobile One 0W40 (Alpina actually states 0W30 - but that's pretty hard to get hold of).



>> Edited by ice_kit on Thursday 19th December 23:42

[nefarious]

When I questioned the main dealer they produced a BMW Headed Letter that said normal oil use on M and Alpinas was 1Ltr/1000 miles.

Hmmm...sounds very funny. My M roadster hasn't used a drop in 10k.

[ice_kit]

I'll try to dig it out and scan it in

>> Edited by ice_kit on Thursday 26th December 23:48

[SilverG4]

Make sure you are using the 10W60 ... as far as I know, only US cars built after March 2000 used the 10W30 oil and the pistons were modified for that.

I had a December 99 M5 (US car) and that used about a liter per 2000 miles, which appeared normal when compared with others. I have heard of some cars having excessive oil when a valve allows the oil to pass to the inlet manifold but I don't know the specifics.