Oil use.

[TommoOx]

Hello Everyone

I am getting close to buying a Z3 of some sort. Can any of you let me know what oil consumption to expect from all engine variants. I am open to any of them really.
That said if I can find a tick all boxes 2.2 or 2.8, that would be my preference.
Thanks a lot .
Tommy.

 

[Sajk]

My 2.8 uses no oil. I have read that some 3.0's use a bit

 

[t-tony]

Some 2.2 model use oil I have read, but not all. My 2.0 Z3 never used a drop between oil changes and neither did my M54 3.0 E85 Z4.

Tony.

 

[PCZ]

I have a 2.2 Z3 sport 78k, never uses oil.

Pete.

 

[Rudyrov]

My 2.8 has about 130,000 miles and I use about a quart of oil every 5 thousand miles. I believe the culprit is in one of the valve guide seals since the engine is strong and has good compression. I have no visible leaks as well.

 

[TommoOx]

Thank you everyone for coming back. What a great forum this is. No one ever gets p’d off no matter how silly the question might be.
I am so close to buying but am a bit of a worry guts. I will update when I do something.
Thank you all again.
Tommo.

 

[Robert Hill]

My z3 never uses oil it's the 2ltr

 

[andyglym]

I've had my 2.8 for 6 years and never had to put a drop of oil in, burns zero oil.

 

[t-tony]

From what I've read it's usually problems with the CCV system which is the main cause of oil consumpsion.

Tony.

 

[the Nefyn cat]

Hate to say it, but my 2.2 goes through oil like a two stroke. It's the only BMW I've had that uses oil, the others would go between oil changes without topping up. There is a theory that says it's largely down to the way it was run in, but that was a long time ago. I changed the valve guide oil seals a few years ago, helped a bit, and got rid of the puff of smoke pulling away from junctions, but didn't stop the guzzling. Stops the exhaust rusting from the inside, I guess.

 

[Lee]

Right chaps the way to summarise this for you is the M54 engine has the oil issues, the Ring design was poorly redesigned. So this is the M54B22 & M54B30.

The 2.0/2.8 & TU has the better piston ring design so these engines very rarely use oil. M52B20 & M52B28 *TUB28

The oil usage can be reduced doing a few things like thicker oil, New ccv or even pcv system.

 

[g8jka]

My 2.8 M52TU doesn't use a drop

 

[Nodzed]

My S50 (M) never used a drop between services.

 

[TommoOx]

Right chaps the way to summarise this for you is the M54 engine has the oil issues, the Ring design was poorly redesigned. So this is the M54B22 & M54B30.

The 2.0/2.8 & TU has the better piston ring design so these engines very rarely use oil. M52B20 & M52B28 *TUB28

The oil usage can be reduced doing a few things like thicker oil, New ccv or even pcv system.

Again thank you all forthe replies and info.

Any ideas on this engine, it is in a 1997 2.8

 

[andyglym]

Again thank you all forthe replies and info.

Any ideas on this engine, it is in a 1997 2.8

View attachment 196849

Looks like the M52B28, the same as mine.

 

[Lee]

Again thank you all forthe replies and info.

Any ideas on this engine, it is in a 1997 2.8

View attachment 196849

As said above M52B28 one of the better engines, almost bomb proof. Just regularly change the oil once a year and she'll do you proud all the way past 300k miles.