N55 - Excessive Oil Consumption
Hi All,
A few months ago I bought my first BMW after wanting one for years. It’s an E82 135i (N55 DCT) coupe in Le Mans blue, cream interior, sunroof, the works. However, it was sat in a garage for 5 years prior to me purchasing it (it’s done about 200 miles in the entire 5 years).
Within 4 months of ownership, I’ve already dropped £3k on maintenance and repairs:
- Oil Filter Housing Replacement (incl. gasket)
- Valve Cover Replacement (incl. gasket & PCV/Breather System)
- Crank Seal Replacement (I unfortunately found out that it had chewed up a serpentine belt at some point in the past, so oil was leaking through the front crank seal as well)
- Crank Seal Guard Installation
- Turbo Inlet Pipe Replacement
- Serpentine Belt & Pulley Replacement
- Radiator Hose Replacement
- Oil & Filter Service (Replacement)
- Mechanical Oil Pressure Test (came back perfectly) - the sensors show electrical short codes so I wanted to be sure everything was okay after the belt ingestion I didn’t know about.
- Removal of Stage 1 map and return to Stock map.
- a few other minor things (third brake light, speakers weren’t connected properly etc)
The Oil Pan gasket had also just been replaced by the previous owner.
I’ve noticed since actually being able to drive it, for more than a day between garage visits, that it’s consuming an excessive amount of oil. I’ve consumed about 1/2 litre in just over 300 miles. That’s a mix of driving it from the Midlands back to London, commuting to work (from South London to Slough) twice a week, along with some spirited driving (when I can get out of London lol). Even though I’ve heard N55’s love burning oil, I know for a fact this is too excessive to be considered ‘normal’.
The car runs and drives perfectly, however sometimes I can smell burning oil in the cabin, and it’s more noticeable when you park up and stand by the bonnet after just finishing a drive.
I’ve read mixed things on the forums, ranging from the valve cover replacement not being done properly (meaning oil is dripping into the exhaust), all the way to the valve stem seals are finished and the engine needs stripping (which considering my current repair expenditure, would be a tough pill to swallow).
The car has no visible leaks underneath anymore, I’ve had cardboard under there for the last week and not a single drop has appeared. There were a couple when I first took it back from the garage, which I’m pretty sure was brake cleaner after cleaning the ridiculous amount of oil that was all over the place (according to the garage).
All of the work has been carried out by BMW/German car specialists. The garage that worked on it most recently (and did the valve cover) was a highly reputable BMW specialist that seemed super honest and talked me through the whole process.
Any advice/help on how to tackle this would be much appreciated. How much of an (albeit very pretty) lemon have I bought?
p.s. I knew old BMW ownership wasn’t for the weak, but Jesus Christ… this has been a trial by fire to say the least.