N63 Maintenance: Oil and PCV
The N63 is the BMW V8 that remembers every oil change you skipped. Both turbos sit inside the V, right on top of the oil. Get three things right: the oil, how often, and the crankcase ventilation.
The right oil
US cars: 0W-30 that says BMW Longlife-01 FE on the bottle. Not "meets", not "recommended for". The approval has to be printed on it.
The kit is 10 L of LL-01 FE oil, the filter, the BMW-size cap wrench and a can of lifter additive. Model years overlap between versions, so if you're on the line, your VIN decides. Same filter on every N63. Fill to the amount, not to "looks about right": BMW says overfilling damages the engine.
On a first or second generation N63 only (the 2009 to 2018 cars above), I'm personally fine with a 5W-30 or a 0W-40. It has to come from a top quality oil maker: Liqui Moly, Red Line, Royal Purple and the like. Some of those aren't BMW approved at all, and I know that. Why I'm fine with it: these engines are genuinely bad about oil consumption, and even the approved oils don't change how much they burn. That's my opinion from working on them, not BMW's spec. The newer G-series V8s stay on what BMW lists.
Founder, IA EUROWhy 2,500 and not 10,000
- BMW already cut it once. These cars left the factory on 15,000 miles. BMW's own N63 Customer Care Package reprogrammed them to 10,000 miles or 12 months.
- BMW says heat and city driving age the oil. Stop and go, high load, bad fuel and hot weather, plus a long interval, wear the engine early. That's every N63 commute.
- Short trips put fuel in the oil. BMW's own fix is new oil and a new filter.
- It burns oil and that's "normal". BMW allows up to 1 quart every 750 miles. Check the level every fill-up, not every service.
2,500 is our call, not BMW's. It's cheap insurance against a timing chain or valve stem seal job.
The oil change
- Warm it up. BMW does it with the oil at about 70°C.
- Drain plug: new seal, 40 Nm.
- New filter and cover O-ring. The element has to click into the cap. If the little valve at the bottom pops off, push it back until it clicks.
- Filter cap, with the cap wrench: 30 Nm, back it off half a turn, then 40 Nm.
- Fill the exact amount for your engine.
- Idle until the oil light goes out, then hold about 1,100 rpm for 3 minutes and check the level.
Additives
- In the oil: nothing. BMW rejects oil additives of any kind. The approved oil already has the additive pack it needs.
- In the fuel: yes. BMW's service info recommends their fuel system cleaner, a can at each oil change. It goes in the tank, not the crankcase, and works on the fuel side: injectors and combustion deposits.
PCV: it lives in the valve covers
The N63's PCV is built into the valve covers: each cover carries its own oil separator, and the vent lines take the gases from there. BMW says there's no separate pressure-regulating valve on the N63, a fixed opening sets the pressure. So when it fails, it's the covers or the lines. BMW replaced four of those lines on early N63s under the Customer Care Package.
- Too much pressure: leaking seals, more oil use, oil in the charge pipes.
- Too much vacuum: rough idle, misfires, a whistle or howl at idle.
- Torques: vent connection 15 Nm, valve cover vent connections 10 Nm, oil filler neck 10 Nm.
Where people mess it up
- Any oil off the shelf. No BMW Longlife-01 approval on the label, no go.
- Trusting the dash. The service light was set for BMW's interval, not a hot V8 in traffic.
- A bottle of "engine treatment". BMW says no.
Oil specs, amounts, torques and the vent system come from BMW's repair instructions and service information for the N63 family (including SI B11 03 13, SI B00 13 14 and SI B11 03 08). Check yours by VIN.
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