Car using oil still....any ideas? (some legal advice too please)

[rG-tom]

Hey guys,

As ive posted before, my car is using inordinate amounts of oil, and has been since i picked it up

The car had done 110k pretty much exactly when i bought it, and has a full bmw ervice history with its last service being an inspection 2 @ roughly 108k.

Fast forward to just under 500 miles after i pick it up, the oil light comes on. I think "ah well, 3000 miles after a service doesnt sound too bad for a top up" so in goes a litre of Mobil1 0w40 LL01 approved oil, oil light goes off and dip stick looks happily near the max line. Great!

Fast forward 450-500 miles, and the pesky orange oil light comes on again. Now i'm thinking wtf. Dipstick agrees with light, and I give it another litre of oil (thank god ive got a costco card! £23 for 4 litres vs £20 for 1 litre from bmw or £13 from tesco for 1l) and i give it the benefit of the doubt here.

Fast forward another 450 miles....and it comes on again. I phone the dealer I bought it from and arrange a date that I can bring the car to him, which is about 5 weeks away from this time. In that time i cover a few thousand more miles and it steadily uses a litre every 500 miles or thereabouts.

Car goes into the bmw specialist I bought it from on the 11th of August, they find a blocked oil breather, replace that and do a complete oil and filter change, spend 2 days trying to find leaks, do emission tests and everything comes back as completely clear.

Now, fast forward to last night as i pull up at asda to grab some food and my oil light comes on AGAIN. This is about 750 miles since the oil change now! I thought it'd gone away, but nope, sure as hell it's come back again I've put another litre in now (that's 8 litres ive given it myself, plus the full oil change that they did!) and the car has now covered 114,300 miles.....

This is costing me a fortune and causing a massive headache, ive had 2 different garages have a quick glance at it and cant see anything obvious and the independant who had it for 4 days couldnt find a beat wrong with it, it's doing fine on fuel ive never had a tank below 21mpg even with spirited driving (similar driving got 17-18mpg on the mondeo) and it pulled mid thirties mpg on the way back down to the dealership, fully laden and including some twisty a/b roads! It's pulling fine, no smoke from the rear, no patches left on the drive and the undertray is clear of oil too


WTF is it!!!! Also, I have a feeling im going to be having a major problem with the dealership i bought it from now as they swear blind there is NOTHING wrong with the car, and they're not exactly around the corner for me to pop to everytime the light comes on! (they're in chepstow south wales and i'm practically in west yorkshire)

As well as mechanical gurus, how about some legal ones too......if we can't find the problem and it does return to being a sub 600 mile fill up (bmw spec allows up to 1 litre every 600 miles), what would be the process on rejecting my car should the dealership not play ball? I shall phone them tomorrow and see what they suggest though.

Thanks guys!

Tom.

 

[Phil W]

Take it back to them again with said problem, if they can't diagnose/fix it, get them to take the car back and exchange for another one on the forecourt.

 

[jamoor]

Considering the age and mileage of the car, I think it may be difficult, have you tried a different grade of oil?

 

[ethos]

How about looking under the car / doing some investigating of yoursel?

 

[Jez]

Take it back to them again with said problem, if they can't diagnose/fix it, get them to take the car back and exchange for another one on the forecourt.

The complication comes now that it was at 750 miles. I guess the garage are not to know that, and it isnt as if they would ever do a 600 mile road test to check that it is within spec.

 

[rG-tom]

Take it back to them again with said problem, if they can't diagnose/fix it, get them to take the car back and exchange for another one on the forecourt.

I cant just take it back to them, it's a 600 mile round trip practically and i dont have the time!

EDIT also they have no cars on their forecourt atm that i'd want as a swap? none meet the spec that i looked for when buying and was willing to travel 600 miles to get!

 

[rG-tom]

How about looking under the car / doing some investigating of yoursel?

Ive been under the car, one of the garages that looked at it for me is run by a mate of mine, he let me under the ramp with it up in the air, it's clean as a whistle :|

 

[ethos]

You have to drive 600 miles round trip for a service?

 

[Jez]

I cant just take it back to them, it's a 600 mile round trip practically and i dont have the time!

I think its going to be your only option mate, i wouldn't mention the 750 miles as that could cause nightmares as its within spec. I'd be insisting that its no better and demanding that its either sorted or arrange a replacement car/refund. I know its miles away but you will have to show that you at least allowed them to try and rectify the fault.

 

[paradigm]

VANOS on its way out? They use oil like no tomorrow when the VANOS is dying. Does it make any rattle noises at all?

 

[ethos]

Ive been under the car, one of the garages that looked at it for me is run by a mate of mine, he let me under the ramp with it up in the air, it's clean as a whistle :|

Did you have the car running / up to temp?

Leaving cardboard under the car if you've just had a long run etc... plenty you can do to find a leak.

If you isn't physically leaking and you are losing that much oil that often you have a serious problem

 

[rG-tom]

You have to drive 600 miles round trip for a service?

i dont have to take it back to where i bought it from to have it serviced, i took it back to where i bought it from for them to find the problem!

 

[Solari]

I'd have thought if the car was burning the oil (and that's a lot to burn) it'd be reflected in emissions tests? The oil must be going somewhere and if it's not being leaked, surely it's being consumed in some fashion within the engine, or pooled up somewhere you can't see Unless you have the 007 edition and you keep hitting the oil slick button by mistake Noticed anyone spinning out in your mirrors lately?

I had the mystery of having to top up the oil on my last car every few weeks but didn't get any smoke out the back. It was just being burnt (although that car was a bit of a shed I'll admit!).

Hope you get everything rectified mate, nothing worse than that feeling of getting yourself a new toy then finding something wrong with it. Been there

 

[Phil W]

Does places like Warranty Direct cater for this?

 

[rG-tom]

Did you have the car running / up to temp?

Leaving cardboard under the car if you've just had a long run etc... plenty you can do to find a leak.

If you isn't physically leaking and you are losing that much oil that often you have a serious problem

there is nothing on the driveway which would show it up quite easily i think, and there is an undertray under the engine anyway which is clean.

Also yes the car was running and up to temperature.

 

[*Moangroan*]

Is this a petrol car.

Whats it like on start up ?

Whats a VANOS ??

 

[AtreuS]

Well its one of two things, either its being consumed by the engine and burned off or its leaking. By the sound of it there is no leak so that means it must be burning excess oil.

Im no mechanic but it seems pretty obvious that something in the engine is a bit wonky.

The only other explination is that someone is coming and syphoning off your oil!

 

[Sone]

Whats a VANOS ??

Its the variable valve timing system on beemers

 

[paradigm]

Is this a petrol car.

Whats it like on start up ?

Whats a VANOS ??

Yes, its a petrol

VANOS is BMW's variable valve timing system.

 

[*Moangroan*]

If they had to replaces a blocked oil breather....the only breather I know of is a PCV or CCV ...crankase breather (there may be others \I dunno) This would have put pressure/broke other seals and may account for excessive use. But if you cannot find a leak I dunno....