I guess many of us are wondering what the heck is going on and my mini is burning oil!. Yeah right BMW sais its normal but why then are there owners that claim that their mini does not burn any oil and that they have never added any oil to their mini despite that drive it hard every now and then?
I think its about time we go down to this issue and see if anyone as tried something that it helped n reducing the oil burning or even better to stop any oil burning what so ever!
So big question now is, is there anyone that has done something (and what?) to stop this oil burning issue?
Correct me if im wrong but i think there hasn't been any search like this in the community to seek for solutions that owners did that were helpfull in the matter. So he we are to reveal tips and solutions that banned this issue from our beloved mini!

 

There is a theory that burning oil is caused by too gentle of a break in for the engine. The theory goes that an engine needs a few full throttle runs early in its life (like in the first 20 miles) to properly seat the piston rings. Without that it'll burn oil.

I give that theory credence as none of our MINIs have had a problem burning oil, and we drive them enthusiastically from day 1. We try to observe the break in rev limit, but otherwise use the engine to its fullest.

The theory goes you break the engine in by letting it warm up (important that), then doing several full throttle runs up to your rev limit, then let the engine cool off.

 

nice theory

I didn't do that

I'm a fairly gentle driver all the time .. but my 'short trips' do allow me to get to 70 mph on the Interstate several times a week for a few minutes anyway.

my 07-S does not consume oil. I rarely need to any and while under pre-paid maintenance I did the 12 month oil changes as I'm also a low miles driver. Now I change it about every 7000 miles. My bought new 07S has 42,000.

I fill to the middle of the range 'tween the full and add marks and unless I take a good road trip I can't think of many times I've had to add any. After a 2000 tip I added less than 1/2 quart, usually less than that.

 

I did this also (bought it brand new and drove it spiritedly from the get-go.) I let the engine warm up and didn't hit red line, but I had fun right out of the dealership. Mine has had no oil burning problems. I change my oil myself every 7500. I just hit 30k last week. My car is not even 14 months old. lol.

 

My 07' MCS did not start consuming oil until it hit about 55k. Now it burns a quart every 1200 miles or so. Been constant for about 20k now.

 

Thanx guys for your experience but mainly i believe that whats interesting to hear is how did someone manage to stop his mini from consuming oil, what trick did he do? Your cars seem to be ones that never had the issue in the first place so i guess your testimonials aren't very relevant to how one manages to fix the issue, anyhow thanx for the contribution!

 

That sounds like burning oil to me. Our usually go for a year between changes, we're pretty low milage. The dipstick will still be reading more than full just like it came back from an oil change. We've been on road trips of several thousand miles and the oil level hasn't changed.

 

This isn't something you can just "fix". It is mostly due to the piston rings and the huge piston to wall clearance.

 

Driven hard from day one and no oil burning. MNIPWR is exactly right though, you can't fix it without BIG CASH!

 

fix the crankcase breather in the cam cover.there is a big write up here somewhere with photos and everything

 

exactly!

i used full throttle (after the engine was warmed up) from day 1, observing the 4,500 rpm limit for the first 1200 miles

also, i did not keep the rpm constant for any length of time, either changing gears or varying speed during the breaking period

from 1200 miles to 1800 miles, i gradually increased max rpm until at 1800 miles i was running to redline ... then i changed the oil/filter

one thing i noticed very quickly ... if i kept the oil to the top mark, it burned down to 1/2 in about 200 miles!

however, once it got to 1/2 mark, i burned no more oil at all

i have gone 8,000 miles and 2 oil/filter changes with ZERO oil consumption ... putting 4 quarts in at oil/filter change puts the oil level at about 1/2 or a little above, and the level stays there til i drain it

i had the dealer put only 4 quarts in when they did their first oil/filter change

i will also note that my overall mpg for the first 10k miles is 28.8 mpg, .8 over the window sticker, and i drive aggressively most of the time

scott

 

fix it in what way?

 

Mine goes through about 1/4 quart per week (250/300 miles). I'm gonna start letting it go down like 606 says above to see if it consumes less once it is in the middle of the dipstick. I normally keep it to the bottom of the upper bulb.

Consumption is the same for me with MINI oil or Amsoil. I put about 1/2 pint of seafoam in the crankcase once, and the oil consumption stopped for a couple of weeks, but now it is back to 'normal'.

Have fun,
Mike

 

There isn't a breather, there are just open port from the head to the crank case.

 

replace it , later I'll look up the thread that explains the problem/process, , I read it somewhere too,,,, oh now I remember it was the factory workshop manual( Bentley)

 

it would appear that the line between

normal oil comsumption

and "burning oil"

is ill defined . . . .

(I'll not pursue .... )

******
in the olden days, when one's car began to consume oil the answer was to use a thicker oil .... or even an "oil honey" like STP. (My 66 Mustang back in 1973 ran on almost pure STP!)

Has anyone tried running heavier oil?

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-and-more.html

 

I'm not sure about the whole "burning oil" thing....that is burning oil due to piston ring blow by, etc. I think MINIs "consume" oil due to the PCV system.

My 08MCS consumed about a quart every 2-3k miles....then I put on a BSH OCC and PCV Block and I haven't consumed a drop since...and its been over 3k miles.

So my consumption issue has been cleared....so those who are consuming oil...maybe add an OCC?

 

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Mine has stayed the same. Maybe even gone up since adding the bsh occ. I do take a lot of short trips though. I work five minutes from home and Benni is not fully warmed up when I arrive to work.

 

Adding a catch can shouldn't logically change consumption. The oil would still go into the catch can. It would only matter if the can reduced the vacuum to the valve cover. Now if you blocked off the rear port and added a catch can you can remove the largest source for vapor to be sucked into your manifold. So that would be the cause not the catch can.

 

So you're saying blocking the passenger side pcv would cause more oil consumption?

 

Me? In my last post? That wasn't what I was saying.

 

Yes. But I was just asking if blocking the pass. Side pcv and forcing all the air to go through one exit point would cause more oil to be consumed. I only ask because after all my searching I haven't found a definitive answer.