I am a brand new member to this forum. My spouse has a 2013 Cooper S (we live in the Pacific Northwest) with the 1.6 liter I-4 and about 56,000 miles. I own a BMW E36 and do some of my own repairs and I am quite knowledgeable on cars. In the year and half that we have had this Cooper S, it has run dangerously low on oil on two occasions - each time it took about 4 months for it to consume about 2 quarts of oil (The oil light on the dash came on). Oil was changed last winter at an independently owned oil change place and I instructed them and paid them to use FULL SYNTHETIC. Car is not leaking any oil. Tailpipe is covered in black soot. No blue smoke emanating from tailpipe that I can see, and there is no oil leakage visible in the engine bay. I have been told that if the oil change place used the incorrect oil filter that this could cause severe oil consumption. Could this have been caused by the oil change place using the wrong brand or grade of full synthetic? (I only use Mobil 1 in my 25 year old BMW E36 and I have NO oil consumption issues!)

 

How many miles did it take to run so low? I check the oil at least every other gas fill up or about 500 miles or so. If it is leaking 2 quarts that fast with nothing on the ground, you may have an issue with the head gasket, valve guides / seals, or the turbo. I am just getting acquainted with these cars at the moment, so please wait for some more experienced members to join in.

My car uses about a quart every 1000 miles. It uses less with thicker oil. I run 5/40 as opposed to 5/30. The 5/30 burns faster (especially Mobil1 for some reason). If it is just a quart or so every few thousand miles, try going up a grade in oil or try a high mileage oil. Check your oil more frequently.

I stopped being concerned about cars burning oil many years ago as it just seemed like some do and others don’t. A quart every 500 is too much for me and would cause me to suspect a mechanical issue.

I am not sure about the oil filter question. Surely the more enlightened among us will elucidate

 

If they are using a generic oil filter, it could be causing problems, but I don't think that would be the reason for losing so much oil. From everything I read on here, they say to stick to the BMW/MINI oil filter. I buy them from the dealer and take it to a 3rd party shop for oil changes.

I also recently switched to 5W-40 because my JCW has 58k miles and it burns oil and smokes from the exhaust. I recently changed my valve cover because it was leaking and I had to replace my turbo because it cracked and oil was shooting into my downpipe.

Check those first.

 

Is the BMW E36 a direct injection motor?
My car sounds similar. So far I see about a quart every 1000 miles. That's a lot. I'm not sure where it is all going. If it is all going into the air intake manifold, then I suspect I will be de-carbonizing the valves pretty soon. I'm running 5w-30 Castrol Full synth. My oil cap actually says: "Mini recommends Castrol"

My pipe end are black. What quantity of oil are you burning?

 

With average driving that we do (about 4 to 5 minutes to work one way. Not much highway driving) it's consistently losing 1/2 to 1 quart a month. Previous oil change was done by an independent oil change place and I paid them to use full synth. but I strongly suspect that they put in a cheaper full synth. like Penzoil or worse and a cheap-o generic paper oil filter.

 

Penzoil is fine. I've seen oil tests showing the oil coming from Walmart and Amazon are on par with all the other brands. That is not going to do it unless they put something really light in there like 0w-20 or 5w-20 or something. However, 30w oil is typically the cheapest so doubt there would be money to save doing that.

 

Hi,

Turbo's tend to leak oil via. their bearings, and tend to be the primary oil loss area, in today's engines. They spin upwards of well over 100,000+ RPM's, and of course, run very, very hot.

So running a heavier oil, like a 0W-40/ 5W-40 vs. running a 0W-30/ 5W-30, could only help there, which are noted Mini optional oil weights for the 2nd Gen engines.

Also too, running a "REAL" full synthetic oil, Group 4+, vs. a mineral based one helps as well. Full synthetic oils, can withstand much higher oil temperatures than mineral based can, they run cleaner, can go longer between oil changes, as well as have a much lower pour point when it comes to running in cold temperatures, especially when it comes to cold starts and such.

The Mini engine in general, outside of the turbo, also tend to run higher temperatures anyway, especially considering their small engine bay.

 

That's not good, w/only a 4 to 5 minute ride, since that doesn't allow enough time to get the engine up to temperature, considering the issue w/the carbon buildup in the direct injection engines now-a-days.
Granted you have the newer N18 engine vs. the older N14, which was really bad when it came to carbon build up, but it stills happens in that the N18 engine as well.

Then too, w/all the rain you get there in the NW, a lot of moisture collects in the oil, and by not getting it up to temperature and allowing it to burn off, acids form in the oil as well.