So have a friend with a '03 BMW 325i w/~137k miles on it that is in desperate need of some attention or it will be dead in no time. I am pretty certain it can be somewhat salvaged for a longer life with some proper care which it has not received in some time.
Last oil change was ~11k miles ago with a 5W-30 synthetic blend per the sticker from friends "awesome mechanic" who also has quite a few dead cars of pretty much every make parked outside of his collapsing shack of a shop with inches of dust on them. Yeah I know you don't think your 15 year old BMW is worth much but come on now. That is a story for another day.
Anyhow - this car will be a slight financial hit to me whether it dies tomorrow due to lack of maintenance or dies tomorrow due to me trying to get it back in decent running order so at this point I would like to try to get it at least halfway back to good operating order. Part of me hurts to see someone trade in a perfectly fine car (it is beautiful inside and out) because they think it is junk because they neglected the mechanicals.
It currently mows through a quart of oil every 500-750 miles and it just gets whatever 5W-30 is available at the gas station, wouldn't be surprised if it sees SA grade stuff. It only smokes immediately after a cold start for maybe 15-20 seconds and does not yet make any weird engine noises and is not throwing any codes. The oil is topped up when the red oil pressure light comes on and until the time it can be topped up the engine is shut off and restarted at stop lights to "reset the oil light". I am honestly surprised a BMW of all things has lasted this long with this abuse as this has been par for the course for at least 7 months.
Have been reading about Seafoam, MMO, FP20, etc. but I think those cleaners may be a bit too aggressive of a clean for this car. Thinking of just starting with some Rotella T6 5W-40 in the sump every 2k miles for maybe 4-5 oil changes and see where that brings us with the oil consumption and then at that point maybe introduce some additional secondary cleaners. 10k miles will only be ~1 year so there is plenty of other deferred maintenance I can take care of in between.
Good course of action or any other recommendations to clean up this dirty BMW?
Last oil change was ~11k miles ago with a 5W-30 synthetic blend per the sticker from friends "awesome mechanic" who also has quite a few dead cars of pretty much every make parked outside of his collapsing shack of a shop with inches of dust on them. Yeah I know you don't think your 15 year old BMW is worth much but come on now. That is a story for another day.
Anyhow - this car will be a slight financial hit to me whether it dies tomorrow due to lack of maintenance or dies tomorrow due to me trying to get it back in decent running order so at this point I would like to try to get it at least halfway back to good operating order. Part of me hurts to see someone trade in a perfectly fine car (it is beautiful inside and out) because they think it is junk because they neglected the mechanicals.
It currently mows through a quart of oil every 500-750 miles and it just gets whatever 5W-30 is available at the gas station, wouldn't be surprised if it sees SA grade stuff. It only smokes immediately after a cold start for maybe 15-20 seconds and does not yet make any weird engine noises and is not throwing any codes. The oil is topped up when the red oil pressure light comes on and until the time it can be topped up the engine is shut off and restarted at stop lights to "reset the oil light". I am honestly surprised a BMW of all things has lasted this long with this abuse as this has been par for the course for at least 7 months.
Have been reading about Seafoam, MMO, FP20, etc. but I think those cleaners may be a bit too aggressive of a clean for this car. Thinking of just starting with some Rotella T6 5W-40 in the sump every 2k miles for maybe 4-5 oil changes and see where that brings us with the oil consumption and then at that point maybe introduce some additional secondary cleaners. 10k miles will only be ~1 year so there is plenty of other deferred maintenance I can take care of in between.
Good course of action or any other recommendations to clean up this dirty BMW?