Oil burning C230 K

Not unless it is very high mileage. How many miles/kms on it?

Scott D

Excessive, unless you're driving in the Indianapolis 500 race!

If the engine's oil is clean and if the engine was not overheated then I suggest you look for an oil leak. But if the car leaves a blue cloud wherever it goes, then a valve guide seal is suspect, or if the engine was overheated, then the head gasket and piston rings are suspects. The spark plugs will confirm an oil burning situation like this or refute it if the plugs are clean. If only one plug is oily then that cylinder's intake valve guide and seal or its piston and or piston ring is the cause.

First look for leaks; it's usually the simple things that go wrong, not the major parts.

It's got around 10,000KM, basically new, from last year. Is there anything I can do to force the dealer to remedy this?

Thanks, kristoff plasun

:-) Just a couple of KMs to work and back every day.

Thank you for the info, since this car is only 1 year old, with

10,000KM and under warranty, should the dealer be forced to take care of this?

I hear these oil burning stories from other new bmw and benz owners, is this normal or has the quality really gone down?

Thanks, kristoff plasun

This oil leak or use is a warranty item, don't let a dealer tell you that this is normal - it isn't.

A 10,000 Km car should use NO oil between changes. None.

Keep a record of oil additions and receipts for the oil, mark the Km reading on each receipt so you have proof of the oil replacement and give (copies) to dealer and MB. If they can't eliminate the oil leak / use then they should install a new replacement engine.

I own a '97 E320 with 50,000 Km and an '80 300SD turbodiesel with

172,500 Km, neither uses any oil between regular oil changes. That's what you should expect from your car, nothing less.

The manual on my C320 says to not change the oil until 15,000 KMs.

I would hope that it wouldn't start using oil at 10K - there'd be none left to get to 15K!

Go give the dealer shit if they tell you it's normal!

Cheers Keith

Will do!

So there is absolutely no excuse for a new car to burn oil? I hear new BMW M5's burn oil, why would that be?

Thank you again for your information and advice.

kristoff plasun

Engine oil burning can be caused by a few things. One is cylinder wall wear/ring wear at high mileage and the other is worn walve guides/valve stem seals.

However, there is another cause of engine oil usage in a low mileage engine. If the engine was built with a loose fit between piston and cylinder wall, the engine will burn oil. You might ask why an engine would be built that way? High performance engines often are built with forged aluminum pistons and these alloys often have greater thermal expansion than cast aluminum pistons. Where a cast piston engine might have 0.001" clearance between piston and cylinder, some forged pistons can only be fit with a 0.006" piston to cylinder clearance. When both engines come to temperature, their piston to cylinder clearance is probably pretty similiar but at other time the oil usage will be greater.

Hear, hear!

DAS

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