My 320 Oil Burner - help/advice please

[Korsam]

Looking for some advice on the next step with my '03 320i

It's burning oil at a horrendous rate - best guess is around 2L per 700miles.
It's burning , not leaking, evidenced by the smoke on acceleration at low speed - no trail of blue smoke while driving, valve stem seal test consistently gives me the blue plume.
I have it taxed till Oct and NCT'd till april so there is some time to make a move yet, my question is to those that have experienced this , should I go to the trouble/expense of having the valve stem/PCV/oil rings replaced ?What sort of money would I be looking at here?
Is there any alternative to reduce oil consumption? I have started to use a 10/40 and that has helped....marginally.

I would appreciate some guidance from experience.

[Venom]

Looking for some advice on the next step with my '03 320i

It's burning oil at a horrendous rate - best guess is around 2L per 700miles.
It's burning , not leaking, evidenced by the smoke on acceleration at low speed - no trail of blue smoke while driving, valve stem seal test consistently gives me the blue plume.
I have it taxed till Oct and NCT'd till april so there is some time to make a move yet, my question is to those that have experienced this , should I go to the trouble/expense of having the valve stem/PCV/oil rings replaced ?What sort of money would I be looking at here?
Is there any alternative to reduce oil consumption? I have started to use a 10/40 and that has helped....marginally.

I would appreciate some guidance from experience.

Have you priced the work or even a new engine to give you an idea of where you stand?

[Korsam]

Yeah , getting the work done on that block is going to be north of €1500.

I have not priced a new block, if I did go the route of getting it back to rights I'll never see the money again but may have many miles of motoring happiness.
To date I have had a all the major drivetrain/brake/cooling work done you would expect for a 120k mile machine.

[ColmF]

If there is blue smoke on idling, its the valve stem seals, if not its the piston rings.

You can try things like additives, increasing the viscosity of the oil, but really you are putting off the inevitable.

Had the same problem on mine, changed the PCV valve and no improvement, tried every additive known to man, no improvement, changed oil to 10/40 (0/30 was something akin to a car laxative), and there was a slight improvement for a short period of time.

In the end got the piston rings, valve stem seals, head skimmed etc done.

Not cheap, but much improved. it really depends on whether you like the car enough to put the money in and keep.

320's will always burn some oil.

Looking for some advice on the next step with my '03 320i

It's burning oil at a horrendous rate - best guess is around 2L per 700miles.
It's burning , not leaking, evidenced by the smoke on acceleration at low speed - no trail of blue smoke while driving, valve stem seal test consistently gives me the blue plume.
I have it taxed till Oct and NCT'd till april so there is some time to make a move yet, my question is to those that have experienced this , should I go to the trouble/expense of having the valve stem/PCV/oil rings replaced ?What sort of money would I be looking at here?
Is there any alternative to reduce oil consumption? I have started to use a 10/40 and that has helped....marginally.

I would appreciate some guidance from experience.