2010 E70 X5 3.0d - Oil Usage

[Sm[]key]

Hi all!

Driving over 600 miles per week, 300 at start and 300 at end of week.

Oil consumption is through the roof, adding 1 to 2 litres per week.

Not a drip of oil on the drive!

Help!

[Alan Gunn]

How long has it been using that amount.
The undertray will hold a lot before it drips.

[Leslie]

That's sounds like a lot , by comparison I have only once had to put in 1/4 litre in 10,000 miles. If its not leaking it is maybe going though the engine into the dpf due to a failing turbo oil seal . 1 litre /1000 miles is often quoted as acceptable by dealers but most diesels in good condition should use hardly any imo. Noting Your occasional no boost and dpf codes suggest something isn't right and needs looking at soon. How many miles has your car covered now ? mine has 168k and still not using any oil , my old 330d used virtually none either at 200k .

[X5Sport]

Given your oil troubles with the boost and EGR in another thread, I agreed with Leslie and suspect a link. Probably worth removing air hoses to see if there’s oil in the intercooler as that indicates an issue on the inlet side. That much oil with a leak would be visible pretty quickly. I know getting a view of parts of the engine can be tricky on the E7x models though!

Any smell of oil at all? I spilt a bit on the X6 recently and it has a very distinctive and unpleasant smell when hot. Filter screwed down tight?

With the oil consumption you’re seeing I would also be looking for smoke in the exhaust. What is the state of the exhaust tips? Clean or very sooty?

Coolant OK, as in no sign of creamy deposits?

[Leslie]

ID maybe take the undertray off and see if any oil appears in the drive then

[Sm[]key]

I did the front discs beginning of week so had a look underneath. No significant sign of oil loss it was wet around the sump plug but not dripping wet and nothing on drive.

I did run the DPF module on Bimmerlink and its showing Oil ash mass in DPF as 51.48g, I'm guessing that could be my problem?

I'm doing 300 miles twice a week so guessing due to duration and engine & exhaust temp this oil I'm losing is burning off?

Screenshot_20230612-224053.png (112.46 KiB) Viewed 9711 times

[Leslie]

Ash build up over time and is directly related to mileage, regens only remove soot your soot has been cleared by a sucessful regen by the look of it. Ash is there forever till it reaches a certain limit then you have issues. I think I read before after 60 grams it flags up a code but it can still run fine after that to well past 200,000 miles. I did see a report of one at 230k in America got the warning at 150k but ran fine after

[Sm[]key]

Slight development in solving my problem.

Spent the weekend in Northumberland with friends, the car following me said that smoke was coming out of the exhausts when accelerating.

That would explain my oil loss.

I presume the turbo is at fault?

[X5Sport]

It could be (in no particular order)
Piston rings - needs a compression test to check which cylinder. Not a common fault that I can remember on modern engines
Head gasket - as above. As with a cracked head, you’d likely see oil in the coolant etc.
Turbo seal - might be worth loosening one of the intercooler pipes to see if there’s any oil showing. Hoses are behind the radiator at the bottom.
Cracked head - if it was this you might also see oil in the coolant or mayonnaise on the oil cap.

Given how reliable these blocks are, turbo is the most likely source. The seals don’t last forever and the feed is at high pressure so a leak will dribble oil.

[Sm[]key]

Thanks X5Sport, which seal are you referring to:

https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/showpa ... Id=11_3873

[X5Sport]

Most likely the seal inside the turbo itself on the shaft linking the exhaust powered turbine that drives the inlet air compressor. There are oil seals either side of the turbine wheel as the wheel spins (typically at up to 200k rpm). The shaft basically floats in an oil bath at high pressure. If it is that one then you will be looking at a remanufactured turbo. It isn’t a diy job without highly specialist tools and knowledge.

This video shows the parts…

https://youtu.be/ji3MpElXr4s

[Leslie]

Is the turbo whining ? what colour was the smoke ? blue/grey (and smells of burning oil) is what you often see when a turbo is badly worn as soon as you touch the accelerator under load but modern cars with DPF's will try to hide this . If the smoke is black that wouldn't point to a turbo issue .
What needs doing is examine the impellor in the front of turbo for play (in/out and side to side) before condeming it as they are quite reliable and long lived if regularly serviced and will be expensive too .
The egr issues you had before maybe the egr is sticking open at times and that would give a bad lag /dead spot when you accelerate but so could the variable vanes in the turbo sticking , single turbo cars have variable vanes but I don't think the twin turbo ones do and each turbo has a different job , small for low down power and big for top end.

[Sm[]key]

No change in turbo noise, the people driving behind me said it was grey smoke (not black) and they detected a strong smell of oil/diesel.

[Sm[]key]

I've taken off the inlet hose to the turbo and can see oil in the turbo and the hose.

The Turbo fan/vans is solid with no out of centre line movement.

[Leslie]

A little oil is probably normal and it doesn't sound.like a worn bearing so far usually if the turbo is knackered the impellor will have a lot of play. The seal may well be leaking though and that can only be fixed with a new turbo. I'm not sure where you go from here other than getting a specialist to have a look.
I'm now sure how the breather system works on these engines but there is a situation where seals in the rocker cover fail and oil gets blown out of every seal as the crankcase gets full boost pressure but you are not getting external oil leak so it doesn't sound like that.