Is 0,5l/1000km of oil usual for E39 540?

[Tapi]

I'm confused because of the "official" reply from a BMW dealer which said that anything up to 0,7 litre /1000 km of oil consumption is allowed for 1996 E39 540iA.

I'm interested of buying a car (claimed to be driven 95 000 km), but after the owner admitted that it consumes appr. 0,5 litres of oil on every 1000 km, I became suspicious. I had a 523iA 1997 and it didn't need any extra oil between services (appr. 18 000 km). The owner of the 540iA said that the oil consumption depends on the driving speed, the more you floor it, the more it "burns" oil.

How much does your 540iA consume oil? What is usual, how long a healthy engine eats the oil between upper and lower markings at the dipstick?

 

[epj3]

I know it's very normal for the inline-6 engines (IE the 325, 330, M3, etc.). My car has 173k miles on it, and I burn approx 1 quart of oil (not sure liter conversion) for every 2000 miles.

I would imagine the 4.4 V8 would burn oil, too. It's just a natural characteristic of BMW engines. All engines burn oil too - Like I said, very normal.

The V8's are rock solid engines though. I would not worry a bit about the life of the engine. Unless it actually has clouds of smoke coming out of the tail pipe, I would definitely not worry about it. Just keep a bottle of oil in your trunk for when the low oil light comes on.

 

[Abdoman]

That's common. My 95 740 (4.0l V8) burned about .5 liters (.5 qts) for every 1000 km (3280 mi).

 

[epj3]

That's common. My 95 740 (4.0l V8) burned about .5 liters (.5 qts) for every 1000 km (3280 mi).

I thought the *40i's were 4.4 liter starting with the E39?

Maybe it's the E60's (current 5's) that I'm thinking about.

 

[Abdoman]

epj - your right, I was just letting him know that I had a slightly different engine. The 4.4l came out in 1996 and were installed in the E39 as well as the E38.

 

[Sweetwater]

Oil consumption can be a blow by issue as I understand it. I wouldn't buy a car with that mileage without a compression test. And if the compression is off, I'd get a leak down test to be sure there wasn't a bigger problem.

 

[Big Daddy]

Oil consumption can be a blow by issue as I understand it. I wouldn't buy a car with that mileage without a compression test. And if the compression is off, I'd get a leak down test to be sure there wasn't a bigger problem.

Very true. My 98 M Roadster uses no oil in 3000 miles between changes. My 91 750iL will use a quart in 3000 miles, that's how I know it's due for an oil change...haha.