Crap I Put 1 quart 5W-30 Oil in by accident!

[fuhshietfu]

Ok so my new M3 showed oil level at minimum level add 1 qrt message today. It came on at about 850 miles only which I thought was a bit odd. Did a quick search on forum and seems to be quite common that m3 eats oil.

So I looked in the manual and it said 5W-30 was ok to add. So I got some Castrol 5w-30 and added in a quart. I noticed right away the engine didn't sound as throaty on the way home...
http://www.autobarn.net/castrol-edge...Fcmd4Aodv3kAdA

Then I did some more reading and found out that The M supplement manual says to use something completely different!!! Now I'm like freaking out b/c tmrw is sunday and dealer wont be available till Monday and I'm not fully due for my 1200 service yet. Plus I don't even have an appt. Car says I still got 190 miles to go! Crap!

What should I do? will the car be ok to drive? should I get it drained and put i new oil ASAP?? What to DO??

[smmmurf]

car is completely fine. stop worrying. you are imagining a different sound. the oil will be drained soon enough as it is, and the m3 takes 9+ quarts so you have not put in enough to make a difference.

[Hierlevelz]

So are you worried bc the car is unusally low on oil or because you added something other than whats recommended? If the car is consuming oil at an unusally high rate I would not continue to drive the car and or add any additional oil. Oil level sensor could be bad and youre adding excess oil into the crankcase. If your worried about the type of oil i would not lose sleep over it if you plan on having an oil change done on Monday. If you not having it serviced for another 190 miles I still wouldnt lose sleep over it. This is a new car? What is the reccommended break in procedure?

[fuhshietfu]

Originally Posted by smmmurf

car is completely fine. stop worrying. you are imagining a different sound. the oil will be drained soon enough as it is, and the m3 takes 9+ quarts so you have not put in enough to make a difference.

Thats what I was hoping to hear. WHEW. Would it be ok to drive it for another 190 miles till service is due or should I get it done asap? If I can wait wo damaging or harming engine in anyway then ok. If there is a chance it might affect anything I rather get it done asap. This my first M so its kind of precious right now.

Is the M3 burning this much oil in the first 850 miles normal? I read that it is in some cases...then again some say its abnormal?

Originally Posted by Hierlevelz

So are you worried bc the car is unusally low on oil or because you added something other than whats recommended? If the car is consuming oil at an unusally high rate I would not continue to drive the car and or add any additional oil. Oil level sensor could be bad and youre adding excess oil into the crankcase. If your worried about the type of oil i would not lose sleep over it if you plan on having an oil change done on Monday. If you not having it serviced for another 190 miles I still wouldnt lose sleep over it. This is a new car? What is the reccommended break in procedure?

yes its a new car..just under 900 miles. Recommended break in is dont go wot or over 5500RPM for the first 1200miles...Which I've been following but I do drive the car fairly hard while following those guide lines. Probably why my engine oil was low to begin with.

I think I feel a bit better.

[DARK_M3]

It's fine. I've done it myself in a pinch. I think I added a quart of Castrol Syntec 5W-30 once.

[surlynkid]

the lack of throaty sound is only in your head. one quart will be fine until the next change. good reason to keep a spare bottle of the correct fluid in the trunk though.

[LarThaL]

Originally Posted by fuhshietfu

Ok so my new M3 showed oil level at minimum level add 1 qrt message today. It came on at about 850 miles only which I thought was a bit odd. Did a quick search on forum and seems to be quite common that m3 eats oil.

So I looked in the manual and it said 5W-30 was ok to add. So I got some Castrol 5w-30 and added in a quart. I noticed right away the engine didn't sound as throaty on the way home...
http://www.autobarn.net/castrol-edge...Fcmd4Aodv3kAdA

Then I did some more reading and found out that The M supplement manual says to use something completely different!!! Now I'm like freaking out b/c tmrw is sunday and dealer wont be available till Monday and I'm not fully due for my 1200 service yet. Plus I don't even have an appt. Car says I still got 190 miles to go! Crap!

What should I do? will the car be ok to drive? should I get it drained and put i new oil ASAP?? What to DO??

OMG!!!!! Better evacuate your city!!!!!! Alert the government !!!! Go to DEFCON 2 !!!!!! Hide your children and change your identity !!!!!!

Sorry......couldn't resist !!!!!!

In all seriousness, please think for a minute what your oil is actually doing. It is a lubricant. It is not some magical fluid. It is also only one quart out or 9-10. In fact, you could use everyday garden variety motor oil if you wanted. It's physical properties, however, would cause it to burn up pretty fast in a high revving, high compression engine like the M3's. You would have to add/change oil much more frequently, but if you were willing to do oil changes every 1000 miles and add a quart in between, use copious amounts of injector cleaner and carbon cleaning solvents in your fuel, it would still work.

I am puzzled, however over the OP's question, and here's why:

A car like the M3 is clearly an enthusiast vehicle. I am willing to bet that there isn't a single person on the planet that has been cross shopping an M3 and a Toyota Camry. One would think that someone looking to own an M3 would have some basic degree of knowledge about cars/engines, etc. etc. If not, then why the interest in a car like this?

I am not sure I fully understand

[X2Board]

Originally Posted by LarThaL

I am puzzled, however over the OP's question, and here's why:

A car like the M3 is clearly an enthusiast vehicle. I am willing to bet that there isn't a single person on the planet that has been cross shopping an M3 and a Toyota Camry. One would think that someone looking to own an M3 would have some basic degree of knowledge about cars/engines, etc. etc. If not, then why the interest in a car like this?

I am not sure I fully understand

Believe it or not. Some people buy cars as status symbols (not saying the OP did) and that is all they care about. It sounds like the OP is just not mechanically inclined and is looking for assurance that he didn't do any harm to his new car. The fact that he is here asking questions gives him a lot of cred.

[6spdg37s]

Originally Posted by surlynkid

the lack of throaty sound is only in your head. one quart will be fine until the next change. good reason to keep a spare bottle of the correct fluid in the trunk though.

+ 1 after my family having various german cars... I buy an extra QT for each car and leave it in the trunk.

[FVM3]

its fine, no worries

[fuhshietfu]

Thanks guys just wanted to make sure.

For what it's worth I didn't buy m3 for status! I owned a Evo8 for 8 years up until the m3. Ive tracked my evo and did a lot bolt on work on it as welL as exterior. pls don't judge and assume. I have worked on my cars before in the past years so I do know quite a bit. Just not every aspect and I can't put an engine together but I can do simple bolts on and follow dyi.

[smmmurf]

Ok. You're under 5500 and no full throttle right now so the quart of 5w30 won't make a difference for the next 190 mi

[Maloney]

Originally Posted by fuhshietfu

Ok so my new M3 showed oil level at minimum level add 1 qrt message today. It came on at about 850 miles only which I thought was a bit odd. Did a quick search on forum and seems to be quite common that m3 eats oil.

So I looked in the manual and it said 5W-30 was ok to add. So I got some Castrol 5w-30 and added in a quart. I noticed right away the engine didn't sound as throaty on the way home...
http://www.autobarn.net/castrol-edge...Fcmd4Aodv3kAdA

Then I did some more reading and found out that The M supplement manual says to use something completely different!!! Now I'm like freaking out b/c tmrw is sunday and dealer wont be available till Monday and I'm not fully due for my 1200 service yet. Plus I don't even have an appt. Car says I still got 190 miles to go! Crap!

What should I do? will the car be ok to drive? should I get it drained and put i new oil ASAP?? What to DO??

I love how you start your post fairly calm and progressively start to panic by the end. Very funny.

[jphughan]

OP, sorry to be harsh here, but if you knew about the Supplement manual and you knew that the M3's engine isn't anything like the base 3 Series engines, why on earth wouldn't you have checked the Supplement FIRST on the assumption that maybe there are different guidelines for the M3? The Supplement always takes precedence when it has overlapping info, so the only time you should be looking at the regular manual is after you've confirmed that the Supplement doesn't address what you're looking for.

[M3776]

M oil is impossible to find, I've topped up with Mobil 1 0w-40 in a pinch and havent had a problem.