I've done some searching and some reading, but no reason for it ever seems to be mentioned. Ziggy, our R55 S is a hungry little bugger. As in he consumes around a quart every 1,000 miles. While BMW and Mini may claim that to be "acceptable," to me it is not. What really bothers me is this car only has about 56k miles on it. Turbo checks OK with no excessive play or apparent seal leakage. Do these N18s have crappy low tension oil rings like some of the BMW engines? I'm thinking too much short trip driving before we got him may have contributed. Thanks for any insight you can give!

 

Stuck closed PCV diaphragm?

 

Wow! My '04 R53 (145k miles) uses hardly any oil. One quart per 100k miles is shocking to me and would indicate faulty valve seals, rings or both. But to find that on an engine with only 56k miles is equally shocking. I would expect your R55 to be smoking like a barbecue trailer with that much oil usage. Do you have black soot accumulation on your tail pipes?

 

Haven't noticed any excessive suction on the oil cap when removing it with the engine running.

 

Some soot buildup, but no smoke. I had an E46 with an M54 that would eat a quart about every 450 miles and didn't see any visible smoke from that one, either, but the buildup on the back of the car was noticeable. That one was stuck oil control rings, and I could make it smoke by coasting downhill in gear, then getting on the throttle . Ziggy doesn't have a manual trans, so it's hard to test in that fashion.

 

A stuck closed PCV would cause excess crankcase pressure (not suction) and would increase oil loss and oil burning.

 

OK, I know it's been a while. I see that there are aftermarket PCV repair kits available, now, vs complete valve cover replacement. They all look the same in the ads. I'm willing to spend a little more for one like ECS has if it is better quality than the cheap Chinese ones all over Ebay and the like. Does anyone have any experience with these and can offer some input? I'd like to have one on hand before I destroy anything taking it apart.