Quote:
Originally Posted by jmh
It's not as much as the specific alp pass you drive 
However the best break in is to use varying RPMs and lots of pull/push for the engine (ie up / down of mountains) as it will force oil to be pushed/sucked into the cylinders etc
On my ED I did 1200mls and only ~200mls have been on highways. All other driving was done
on backroads and mountain passes |
This is exactly right. I think the push pull dynamic helps a lot. In the past two years I have broken in both the S63TU in the M5 and the N63 in the 550i and with neither engine have I had any oil consumption issues. In addition to 2000 miles of alpine driving following break-in procedure, I also have been rigorous about not revving the engine until it is at operating temperature.
Pro-rated my consumption on the m5 would be one quart per 18,000 miles which is where it ought to be. On the N63 550i I had no consumption at all.
I remember reading threads on here by people who said they planned a break-in procedure of baptism by fire. i.e. gunning the engine out of the box. It's not surprising that this results in oil consumption issues later.
BTW I do think that for those of you who are impatient about letting the engine warm - make the switch to Castrol Edge 0W-30. This significantly reduces warm-up time compared with BMW 5W-30. And the Castrol oil I mention is BMW approved.