The M, oil and your SA ???

[spectrumphoto]

So after about 5500 mi with the car and a decent amount of spirited daily driving I had the ever popular add 1 QT alarm today. So, I was actually near my dealership and decided to stop by for a top-off. Unfortunetly to my dismay my Service Center's idea of a top-off consists of me buying a quart of oil for $12 and putting it in myself in their service drive.

I must admit I was expecting a different for of a top-off, more like how Audi treated me and my 06 S4 where I would stop by and a tech would come out, top-off what I needed gratis style, ask if there was anything else and I'd be on my merry way.



Now the general questions... Who's M3 is oil hungry and about at what mileage are you finding the need to add a quart? Does your Service Center give you complimentary top-offs or do they charge you? Do they even offer assistance or just ignore the fact that you bought a $60K+ car from them in this economy as well as refer several other sales to them?


I did out of curiosity call BMW NA to ask about the "Official Policy" with our included service agreement and from a pure technical "letter of the law" stand point BMW NA states that only scheduled maintenance is included and top-offs are not considered a scheduled maintenance. But even the BMW NA rep said that his understanding is that the majority of dealerships will give you a top-off free as a courtesy and just as good customer service. When I said the majority except for my SC he rephrased that just a number of SC's are wise in their customer service relations and go beyond general expectations. He then proceeded to say that there are many other dealerships where I live and I can go to any one of them for all future service and possibly form a better relationship with them as maybe they will appreciate my business more than my current dealership.

[ideliver]

FWIW...my E46 ate oil like a fat kid eats cake...and my E60 M5 seems to be a little better...I have 5000 miles and currently reading 0.8...my stealer was happy to offer free top off in the manner that you described with your previous Audi...your problem is not a BMW thing...but a stealer thing....I would suggest that you share you expectations with them...or find a new stealer...

[bigjae1976]

You know what's funny about that? BMW have signs all over the dealership that says stupid things like "this coffee machine costs more to maintain than a BMW". Yeah, that's if you want it to only last 100k miles. But I don't think it is totally unreasonable to charge you for the oil. But they could at least put it in for you. How much of a douche is your SA?

My experience at BMW of Austin is that the service you get varies a lot between SAs. My buddy gets treated great by his SA. My SA, some old fart named Stan, is a total douche bag.

I'd try a different SA.

[Rick]

I'm still searching for a local dealership that tops off your oil for free... spectrumphoto: Which dealership do you speak of in your post above? Have you tried Beverly Hills BMW seeing you are in Hollywood, within reasonable distance? And yes my car drinks oil like a motherfucker, I'm adding a quart at least every 1200 to 1800 miles from my estimations.

Hey, remember this thread... (what ever happened to Center BMW promising you oil for free)??

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthr...nta+monica+bmw

[eclipsisNA]

Crevier put my oil in for free, while Sterling and Beverly Hills charged me.

[montreal red]

Originally Posted by bigjae1976

You know what's funny about that? BMW have signs all over the dealership that says stupid things like "this coffee machine costs more to maintain than a BMW". Yeah, that's if you want it to only last 100k miles. But I don't think it is totally unreasonable to charge you for the oil. But they could at least put it in for you. How much of a douche is your SA?

My experience at BMW of Austin is that the service you get varies a lot between SAs. My buddy gets treated great by his SA. My SA, some old fart named Stan, is a total douche bag.

I'd try a different SA.

+1
i think its reasonable that they charged for the oil but they could put it in for you as a sign that they care bout their customers.

[tmntmn]

Steven Creek top off my Oil twice already and im at a little over 6k.

[Powerslide]

The particular SA I asked also told me the buyer needs to buy any additional oil beyond the actual scheduled oil changes (I'll bet it really just depends on which SA you get, unless the dealership as a whole as a strict policy prohibiting SA's from offering complementary top-offs) - so needless to say, I purchased some Castrol 10W-60 from the parts dept. (couldn't find that oil specification and numerous stores I tried here in the Chicago area).

As far as consumption - the oil level guage showed full oil at all times up to about 4,600, at which point it dropped one bar. About 200-300 miles later, the gauge showed only half-full - but the good news is that it has remained at half, never dropping below that point even briefly - and I'm now near 7,000 miles (and my amount of high-revving has been slightly more after it dropped to half-way) - so it appears that the oil definitely does not always drop in a linear relationship to miles or revs (although I would bet that if I drove in lower gears while cruising instead of 7th all the time, I'm sure the oil consumption would have been at least a little more rapid...)

[Purple88Gold]

I also would like to know which stealership you speak of so I could cross them out my list.

Maybe a stupid question but does MDCT use more oil than 6MT or vice versa?

[Doc]

I had to pay for the oil when mine needed top up at 15000 miles. Surprising thing is that it has not taken any oil since and I am now at 20000 miles. It used to eat a liter every 5000 miles before that, so as the engine breaks in oil consumption seems to improve.

[Jersey Girl]

My car loves oil too. She guzzled a quart in 5000 miles after the 1200 mile service. I had a heart attack when the low oil message popped up, there were evil thoughts of cracked oil pans dancing in my head. I'm sure more than a few people were wondering why that girl was trying to get under her car.

Well the dealer assured me everything was alright, that M cars all drink oil, and then lovingly charged me $14 to top it off. Super that 70K doesn't get you a little oil when you need it.

[jlaw]

I had the alarm go off today while I was on the highway. Stopped at the nearest dealer (luckily, about 5 minutes from where I was) and they had the car in, topped off, and back to me within 15 minutes. No charge. I was amazed.

[spyderco10]

Originally Posted by Jersey Girl

My car loves oil too. She guzzled a quart in 5000 miles after the 1200 mile service. I had a heart attack when the low oil message popped up, there were evil thoughts of cracked oil pans dancing in my head. I'm sure more than a few people were wondering why that girl was trying to get under her car.

Well the dealer assured me everything was alright, that M cars all drink oil, and then lovingly charged me $14 to top it off. Super that 70K doesn't get you a little oil when you need it.

hmm, mine doesn't drink oil. is something wrong wtih her?

[spectrumphoto]

Originally Posted by rickc

I'm still searching for a local dealership that tops off your oil for free... spectrumphoto: Which dealership do you speak of in your post above? Have you tried Beverly Hills BMW seeing you are in Hollywood, within reasonable distance? And yes my car drinks oil like a motherfucker, I'm adding a quart at least every 1200 to 1800 miles from my estimations.

Hey, remember this thread... (what ever happened to Center BMW promising you oil for free)??

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthr...nta+monica+bmw

Same place... Center BMW... I must say their sales team was, is and has been great but the service dept has dropped the ball on several occasions thats for sure.

I still have the voicemail from the Service manager offering me "Like a case of oil or something" from their 1200 mi snaffu but Im keeping that in my pocket until I want to go get a full oil change at about 8K mi. (we'll see how that goes in a few months)

Funny thing was that he was there yesterday when I was there and I mentioned my suprise about the "no top-offs policy" and how Audi will do it but not BMW.... He gave me so blah, blah answer and I knew he remembered me for previous issues because first thing he said was "You have that M3 Right?"

I guess though I should be happy I only paid $12 n change for my quart... $14-15 a quart??? I thought Socal was $$$$.

I must admit the oil sensor seems to be pretty accurate as It wanted me to add 1QT. I put in only 3/4 Q first just in case so as not to overfill (Still dont fully trust no dip stick) and by golly the gauge read 3/4 full on oil. Added the other 1/4QT and now it sits pretty at full.

I am happy to see that my car is not the only oil muncher here too...

[MysticBlue]

I've got a case of oil sitting in my garage. If I needed a top-off, it wouldn't even occur to me to take it to a dealer. Of course, I live 3 hours away from a dealer, so... But even if I was out of town and needed to add, I would just use the extra quart I always keep in the trunk. That's what it's there for. And if it wasn't there for some reason and I needed a top off, I would go to the nearest Dealer, buy a quart, walk out to the parking lot and put it in myself. If the subject came up and they wanted to comp me the quart, great, but I'm not begging them for it and I'm still putting it in myself. I just don't get all this panty twisting about a free quart of oil.

[SS32]

I had to add a quart a few months ago at 9k. I'm at ~10k now and it's dropping steadily

http://www.m3post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=176922

[TheBry]

Originally Posted by ideliver

FWIW...my E46 ate oil like a fat kid eats cake...and my E60 M5 seems to be a little better...I have 5000 miles and currently reading 0.8...my stealer was happy to offer free top off in the manner that you described with your previous Audi...your problem is not a BMW thing...but a stealer thing....I would suggest that you share you expectations with them...or find a new stealer...

Love the first sentence there ideliver Very vivid and very true!

I've had to add oil twice since taking delivery of my car back in early August, and think I may have to again in a couple of thousand miles. I'm sitting at just over 8K miles now. The first time I went to my dealer (BMW of San Francisco) my service advisor not only took care of topping off the oil for me -- free of charge -- he also gave me a nifty BMW-branded zippered case (also free of charge) which contains an extra quart of oil, paper funnels, rubber gloves and sanitary wipes in case I need to change the oil while I'm on the road. It's got velcro on the back so I keep it affixed to the sidewall of my trunk.

Thought that was a really nice touch. I've been nothing but satisfied with the service department at BMW of San Francisco.

[Blake]

i'm at 11.5k miles, topped off 3 times, 2 different dallas dealerships and one in temple, tx, not a single one of them charged me for a quart of oil. in fact, i requested that i pour the oil every time myself and each dealership just handed me a quart and said good day. it's supposed to be included with the bmw ultimate service free of charge (well i'm sure they get us in the end within the purchase price). if your dealership is charging for something that's included in the terms of buying the car, call BMWNA and explain the situation to them, i'm sure they'll straighten them out real quick. dealerships that put the bottom line before the customer FTL, i'd find a better one.

and about the oil drinkage, i was told at the time i bought the car that these cars are thirsty for oil and expect to top off every 3000 miles or so based on your driving style. i was also told at the time of purchase to just bring it in for a free top off every time, and all the dealerships i've been to for a top off have delivered on that promise.

[endofanera7]

My SA told me that BMW agreed only to top off 3 times a year. But if I drive the car too hard and need more than that, like every 1k miles, I will have to buy the oil myself.

I just dropped by 2 days ago at Fremont BMW and they topped it up for free. at 3500 miles.

[rmmcdaniel]

As many have stated already, everyone I know that has ever had an M car says they drink oil like fish. It's probably not a coincidence that BMW sells a nifty oil bottle holder and changing kit with paper funnels, disposable gloves, etc. I keep it with an extra quart in my trunk as I expect to have to use it fairly regularly (only at 1,150 miles on the car right now so obviously haven't had to yet). I figure dealers will be mixed on their consistency with doing this gratis and I don't want to have to deal with the hassle so I'll probably just top it off as necessary myself.

I understand that it bothers some that our supposed pinnacles of automotive engineering shouldn't burn oil like this, but I try to take a more favorable view: this is part of the "deal" with getting to date the head cheerleader... It requires some extra attention and coddling but the rewards are worth the extra effort. :-)

For what it's worth, my boss carries no less than a CASE of Castrol in the trunk of his E39 M5 at any time as he is constantly topping it off. So the occasional quart in our cars could be worse.

[dawgdog]

In my previous 4 BMWs this was a courtesy and I expect it to be with this one as well. It was my SA who advised me to regularly hit 5-6000 rpms the first 1200 miles and then balls out so that I would be less likely to burn oil. His observation was that the M5 owners who babied their engines during break-in ended up with oil burners. Right after the 1200 mile service I took my car to the track and have repeated this twice since then. I'm now at 5500 miles and have not burned oil.

[spectrumphoto]

Its quite interesting to see the gamut of how Service Depts are treating customers on something soo simple as a "top off"

As far as oil consumption, Im glad to see that it looks like Im on par with the majority here in usage. Funny thing though, I bought that oil pouch at the dealer for the trunk, but mine did not come with gloves, funnels or anything actually, just the case and then I bought a bottle of oil for the emergency situation should it ever arise.