E30 Zone

hi people,
as the topic says, do e30 325's use oil?

if so then why? is there anyone that had one using oil and opened the motor up? how do these motors look then, healthy inside?

cheers
Anton

They all leak oil , may burn it if the rings are worn I guess...

Not sure if they "use" it in mechanical sense normally, some engines do... but I did not think the M20 was one of them...

Mine burns oil, but im past caring now.

Everyone I have seen "uses" oil. They all get through it, some at more of an alarming rate than others!! An M20 without a leak of somesort would be wrong haha. Its easier to forget these engines are really rather old. And based on even older engines!!!

all engines to a certain extent burn oil, modern ones are designed to burn oil (upto a litre per 1000km for modern coated bores)

older engines burn oil as they are generally starting to get bore or piston ring wear and valve stem wear, but it is nothing to really worry about. as long as there is no excessive white smoke while the engine is running it is not a real problem. As said you will find most of your oil will be lost due to leaks.

about a litre every now and again is ok.

as long as you have oil pressure it should be ok. (by that i mean no oil pressure light on from the dash board.)

mrlee

Mine doesn't use any...

between oil services I rarely have to put any oil in at all...

They shouldn't use any oil, if in good nick!

They don't use much oil at all if in good shape nor should they leak oil, most however do both as most are tired. Neither of mine seem to use any oil mind you combined mileage is 170,000 and oil is changed every 3000 if they leak any oil it is fixed regardless of expense. However many factors contribute to oil use and it is not necessarily a big problem.

My sport doesnt use any oil atol and has no oil leaks
Only tym i put oil in it is when it gets an oil change

MadE30mike wrote:My sport doesnt use any oil atol and has no oil leaks
Only tym i put oil in it is when it gets an oil change

Same here and she's now passed 180k miles.

Got to say i'm really pleased with my 325 engine as-touch wood-theres no leaks and it dosn't use any oil.....all that regular serviceing and oil/filter changes must have paid off

csl wrote:Got to say i'm really pleased with my 325 engine as-touch wood-theres no leaks and it dosn't use any oil.....all that regular serviceing and oil/filter changes must have paid off

always been the best way to get good high miles from a car..

they all use oil, see that pipe on the top of your rocker cover? that goes straight to the throttle body. so all the vapours go into the inlet side of the engine. Some use more than others

see at 3k oil changes they won't use alot as your not doing alot of miles

i have never seen a BMW that doesn't use OIL, my old one e21 316 used 1lit on 1000km, most of that was in a leak, now my e30 320i uses 1 lit on 3500km , and that is normal too for a car with 180000km on the clock.

JoeP wrote:

MadE30mike wrote:My sport doesnt use any oil atol and has no oil leaks
Only tym i put oil in it is when it gets an oil change

Same here and she's now passed 180k miles.

Same here also, the only E30 bm i had to keep topping up oil was one with a fubar'ed sump

mine uses no oil! rubbish they are designed to use oil

Wish mine didn't use petrol

Turbo-Brown wrote:Wish mine didn't use petrol

don't we all

Mine loves oil, about half a litre every 500miles. Valve stem seals are past it and there's the bottom half of the engine is nice and shiney! Hey ho, it won't rust. The oil level warning comes on a whisper below half way (the perfect level) on the dipstick but I really can't stand the light being on so I top it back up with about half a litre which seems to take it back to the top. Its becoming a pain in the arse now that its using more oil. Exhaust manifold studs are shot so it'll be valve stem seals and exhaust studs at the same time....

Turbo-Brown wrote:Wish mine didn't use petrol

Wife's 250,000 mile touring doesn't appear to burn any appreciable oil. Needs about a litre between (by the lights) oil changes, but most of that leaks from the head gasket.
Doesn't use any petrol either.

If you dont burn oil you are not driving your car hard enough.

like with my 20valve rsi 115kw toyota corolla i had,
at 8100revs that lil 1600cc motor is spinning at such a rate that a slight bit of oil creeps past.
inherant cylinder head "flaw".

i think older motors do allow some oil past the rings at high revs.

Anton

Think engines pretty much have to get some oil into the cylinders, even if it's just what doesn't get carried back down the bore by the oil control ring.

Presumably at least some small percentage of what's left on the cylinder wall will burn off, and as Simon13 says there's the crank case ventilation that goes (on the standard setup) into the engine.

Similarly there'll be a tiny bit that gets past the valve stem oil seals and either finds its way into the engine, or just gets burned off the exhaust valve stems as the cylinder is emptied.

Brianmoooore wrote:

Turbo-Brown wrote:Wish mine didn't use petrol

Wife's 250,000 mile touring doesn't appear to burn any appreciable oil. Needs about a litre between (by the lights) oil changes, but most of that leaks from the head gasket.
Doesn't use any petrol either.

LPG by chance?!

Simon13 wrote:
LPG by chance?!

Got it in one!
Oil still clean when it comes out as well!

Brianmoooore wrote:

Simon13 wrote:
LPG by chance?!

Got it in one!
Oil still clean when it comes out as well!

Well oil be damned!

There, I said it so no one else needs to!

Simon13 wrote:mine uses no oil! rubbish they are designed to use oil

you keep telling yourself that, chap...

If you want to see one that uses almost no oil, then mine is a good example...

The engine is pretty much leak-free...OK, a VERY small amount gets burnt off, but if it uses 0.5lt between 8-10K mile oil changes then that is the limit of it!

Oh for gods sake FBF what the F--K is that as your icon? is it a pig with bosan? or something alienated that got shagged and gave it some serious dose of rear end pain...??


daaamn hope all secure rubbers were used during the session....


jimi

had a car in UK that burnt sh1t loads of oil, around about 40-50 litres a month, more if i drove further.

engine was fine though.

mrlee

40-50 litres is a hell of a lot - you weren't putting it in the fuel tank were you?

that was a good 1 !!!!. ha ha ha

of course i was, it was a diesel

my boat uses about a litre per weekend....

mrlee

mrLEE30 wrote:of course i was, it was a diesel

my boat uses about a litre per weekend....

mrlee

ouch

I recall Brianmoore saying

"if you see an m20 with no oil leaks, chances are it has no oil in it..."

mine uses no oil! rubbish they are designed to use oil

Yes i know where your coming from , but theres a difference between normal usage and "useing" oil imho. However my oil level is still on the max mark,which is where it was when i bought it in june (only about 2k ago admittedly !) and the engine dosn't recieve any "grief"

i hate that oil vapour breather.
when i first got my e30 i used to hammer it practicing going sideways round roundabouts and snaking it everywhere in the wet. the revs were always up high when doing that. i used to hate myself afterwards, but worse thing was all that oil in the induction pipe. one freezing cold january morning i used my alarm to start the car, and it started but then cut right out. the alarm started cranking it over again after a few seconds and when it did start it was chasing the idle for a while! i bought some carb cleaner stuff and washed it all out soon as. been fine ever since.
all cars use oil really. if they didnt, then it would mean that absolutely no oil is getting past the 3rd ring. if this was the case then the 3rd ring wouldnt be properly lubricated, therefore would have a lot of friction causing it to wear, then inturn would definatly start letting oil past... ??
if any of you rev your motor and bounce it off the limiter a few times, go and smell the exhaust. i guarantee you will smell oil
for those that earn so much money that they change their oil every 3k, and never let their swingometer read 30mpg or less 1- good on you for protecting the environment 2- your not going to notice oil loss in that short time 3- can i have an application form for your well paid job