Our 2007 550i has 49k miles and still has 6k miles prior to the next oil change (per the computer) and the engine oil level is down and telling me to add a quart.

I notice when washing this car, the rear has a sooty covering from the exhaust that my 528i never had. This hints oil burning to me and the oil level being down obviously is oil burning.

Is this normal on this V8? My 528i I6 never did it, but I handed it in with 18k miles, so very low mileage car.

I emailed my BMW service mgr to ask as I am only 75 miles from 50k (tho it is a CPO car) asking these same questions.

Experiences and thoughts?

thx

Yes, adding oil to your 550's engine in between changes is normal. In my first 12K miles on my 2009 550, Ihad to add 2 quarts of oil prior to the first change. In particular, driving the car very hard at high rpms during meets and other twisties driving at high rpms for sustained period of times burns oil fast.

Good.

I plan on adding a DIY oil change in between dealer changes from now on anyway.

thx

Not a bad idea if you own yours and want to keep it a long time.

When I see the add oil warning come on, I pretty much drop whatever I am doing and add the oil immediately. I don't drive the car around with that warning on except to drive to where I can get the oil.

I am not even doing that. It is staying in the garage while I go out in my X3 to get a quart of oil. I am adding Mobil 1 0W40.

The two times it happened to me I was on the road and driving so I immediately went to an auto parts store for the oil. I used the top of the line synthetic Castrol once when I had a choice and the Mobil 1 when it was the closest available oil.

As long as you don't have to add oil very often, I'd say it's normal. Usually, if you're burning oil, the deposits on the car would be more oily (or greasy) and less sooty (dry) as you describe so for now, I wouldn't worry too much...

I agree,a dry sooty deposit is quite normal,it can easily be removed with brake or carb cleaner to prevent unsightly build-up.There is an old and simple test to check if an engine is burning oil,accelerate to speed on a downhill,decelerate for as long as you can before flooring the accelerator pedal,at the same time looking in the rear view mirror.If there is a cloud of blue smoke,then you are burning oil.

Are you sure brake or carb cleaner safe to use on painted surfaces? :confused:

thanks everyone.

Status: I bought a quart of Mobil 1 0w40. Added it all and the oil level is now about 1 green block from full. So, 1 quart didnt fill it up. The level indicator was yellow.

The BMW service mgr got back to me, said adding oil is normal. And, I think I heard this before but still laughed, BMW says adding 1 qt of oil every 750 miles is still OK and considered normal.