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BMW 3-Series Maintenance and Repair

4446 messages,  Last post on Nov 29, 2009 at 12:04 PM

You are in the BMW 3-Series Forum. Your Hosts are pat & karens

What is this discussion about? BMW 3 Series, Sedan


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#3733 of 4446
Re: grinding brakes [kominsky] by shipo
Feb 06, 2008 (12:53 pm)
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Replying to: kominsky (Feb 06, 2008 9:45 am)

Did the brakes six months ago huh. Hmmm, that kinda rules out your brakes, at least the pads and rotors (unless you've had a pad failure). FWIW, while neither of my BMWs ever chucked a pad, I have had it happen on other cars. When you pull your calipers off, check to see if the friciton material is still completely intact on every pad.
 
Best Regards,
Shipo
#3734 of 4446
Re: Oil Consumption - follow up [sunilb] by Mr_Shiftright HOST
Feb 07, 2008 (9:28 am)
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Replying to: sunilb (Feb 03, 2008 11:21 pm)

He should do a cylinder leakdown test. That way there is no guessing as to what's up in the engine. If you were leaking a quart every 850 miles it would be all over the engine or undercarriage by now and pretty obvious. Leaking or burning, there are no other possibilities. Have you ever noticed a puff of blue smoke on early morning start-up?
 
Visiting Host
#3735 of 4446
Re: grinding brakes [shipo] by kominsky
Feb 07, 2008 (1:36 pm)
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Replying to: shipo (Feb 06, 2008 12:53 pm)

The biggest point of confusion for me is that the noise and the smell go as I continue to drive the car. It seems like a missing pad would get grindier(?), hotter, and smellier the more I drove.
 
Thanks again for your input!!
 
BTW, if I chucked a pad, I'll have to hold you responsible. I got those PBR/Axxis Metal Master pads you're always talking about.
#3736 of 4446
Re: Oil Consumption - follow up [Mr_Shiftright] by sunilb
Feb 07, 2008 (2:34 pm)
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Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Feb 07, 2008 9:28 am)

I haven't seen any smoke, and I should have clarified... it's not a quart every 850 miles, just this one time (previously the intervals/mileage were longer but it seems to be shortening).
 
I checked under the hood this morning, and everything is clean and the dipstick is reading "full".
 
I'll drop it off tomorrow and ask them to do a leakdown test (and pray that it's nothing serious).... just to be clear-- the leakdown test is to check and see if oil is leaking into the cylinders? If it is, how bad could the problem be (ie, is it fixable at a reasonable cost or am I looking at a very expensive situation)?
#3737 of 4446
Re: Oil Consumption - follow up [sunilb] by Mr_Shiftright HOST
Feb 08, 2008 (9:19 am)
Reply

Replying to: sunilb (Feb 07, 2008 2:34 pm)

cylinder leakdown tests for ANY leakage in the cylinder, whether through the rings or up top through the valves or even through the head gasket.
 
My rule of thumb is that if you carefully monitor oil consumption over the course of a few months and it comes out to 1,500 miles or more per quart, then forget about it, it's just normal wear and tear. A little oil burning is okay. But if it starts to drop regularly, from 1500 to 1250 to 1000, then you have to jump on it and figure out what's wrong.
 
Maybe this was just confusion on reading the stick? Happens to all of us.
#3738 of 4446
Re: Oil Consumption - follow up [Mr_Shiftright] by sunilb
Feb 08, 2008 (11:57 am)
Reply

Replying to: Mr_Shiftright (Feb 08, 2008 9:19 am)

well, he did the test and there's no leakage anywhere. he also checked the valve cover gasket and oil separator, and these were fine as well.
 
i guess that's good news, but the only thing the mechanic could figure is maybe it's due to colder weather.
 
anyhow, we are going to try a thicker oil (Mobil 1 0-40) and keep monitoring it.
#3739 of 4446
Re: Oil Consumption - follow up [sunilb] by circlew
Feb 08, 2008 (12:13 pm)
Reply

Replying to: sunilb (Feb 08, 2008 11:57 am)

Cold weather? Never heard that contributed to additioal oils consumption.
 
Regards,
OW
#3740 of 4446
Re: Oil Consumption - follow up [circlew] by sunilb
Feb 08, 2008 (3:17 pm)
Reply

Replying to: circlew (Feb 08, 2008 12:13 pm)

i know... it's really a stretch, but he said he checked everything and didn't see any leaks anywhere.
 
i'll switch to the heavier oil and then if it's still an issue, go look for a second opinion.
#3741 of 4446
Re: Oil Consumption - follow up [sunilb] by roadburner
Feb 08, 2008 (3:52 pm)
Reply

Replying to: sunilb (Feb 08, 2008 3:17 pm)

i'll switch to the heavier oil and then if it's still an issue, go look for a second opinion
 
I don't think that the switch to 0W-40 will make a bit of difference. There are only so many places the oil can go, and the mechanic has failed to find the culprit. His suggestion that 0W-40 is the answer tells me he doesn't have a shred of a clue.
#3742 of 4446
Re: Oil Consumption - follow up [roadburner] by cdnpinhead
Feb 08, 2008 (6:47 pm)
Reply

Replying to: roadburner (Feb 08, 2008 3:52 pm)

". . .a shred of a clue."
 
This is what is lacking, nearly always, when I want my vehicle fixed. I can f*** (let's say foul) it up myself for free. If I pay the man, I expect him (or her) to know more than I do & to fix the thing more quickly. For this, I pay them.
 
Well. . .
 
I have any number of things that aren't right on my daily driver (and in my house) that I'd dearly love to let a competent (that's C O M P E T E N T) technician deal with. My car is rare (that's in, they discontinued it), so not many technicians will have ever seen one before. My bad. I won't do it again.
 
The fact remains that a competent mechanic is worth his/her weight in gold. A $793 repair diagnosed (yeah, right) by the Nissan dealership becomes an $87 fix at the (trusted) shop.
 
Works for me. If I end up with a BMW, it won't be before I determine which independent shops nearby are deemed worthy. Since BMW has been around awhile, such databases actually exist.
 
YMMV.

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