Posted by Ron Bass on September 27, 1998 at 00:20:31:
Another question for the collective wisdom of the participants. I've had the '76 530i for about 1 year. Had 97 K when bought. At the outset, it burned about 1 qt of oil every 500 miles. After 1200 miles or so, the oil consumption decreased to 1qt in 1500 miles. Over the last 2 months, it's increased to 1 qt in 800 miles, and now 1 qt in 450 miles (back to where I was when I first purchased the car). I don't see any blue smoke when I let off the gas (my 2002 burns a qt every 600 miles, and there's no mistaking where it's going when you see the blue cloud behind the vehicle whenever I hit a downhill). There's also no smoke at full throttle (which would probably indicate worn oil rings. Has anyone experienced this type of erratic oil consumption behavior? I would suspect valve guides/seals, but why would the oil consumption decrease at first and then increase again? A friend of mine thought that it might be a crankcase breather problem. Can anyone shed some light on this? Thanks in advance, Ron Bass.