[Kevin_The_Clean1]

Originally Posted by Marmugmotleocay

My BMW Service Advisor said this is a known issue with short trips in cold weather and it's nothing to be worried about. Im going in for the yearly oil change this Saturday. I will be switching to twice a year going forward.
I bought my car new 3 years ago this month and she only has 11,800 miles. I need to drive her more when I retire in January.

This makes complete sense. These S58 engine / motor is semi bullet proof. So no need for any of us really worry. My 3,500 mile garage queen only gets taken out on nice days & then properly stretches its legs out on the freeway when not many people are around. I really only take it out for leisure & always bring it up to full operating temps. It also gets started numerous times each month for less then a minute & moved from the garage to to driveway & then back in. And guess what fellas... my cap looks about the exact same. No harm no foul. Just wipe the cap off & the upper next that it sits it & you'll be just fine.

[evoix]

Had the same issue when I went in for an oil change. My oil cap happened to be slightly cracked so they said moisture was causing the buildup. Need to check again but the dealership did not look worried at all.

[ghstm2]

Originally Posted by omniphil

Same here. I never idle cars. its not good for the car. (Or the environment)
And Idling only warms up the engine, all the diffs and trans need warming up too and the best/fastest way is by driving it easy.
Turn the key and wait 5 seconds for the oil to get moving around and drive away.
Keep driving very easily until the oil is over 180 degrees F. (Which takes about 10 minutes on this vehicle with its large oil capacity)

Honestly this is what scares the crap out of me when buying a used car, because you know the previous owner didn't do this..
Drive it to the top of their street and then floor it merging onto the next road... This problem is worse on a vehicle like this with its very long warm up cycle.
(Unless one of you nice folks had the X3 before me and took care of it )

That’s exactly how my neighbors treat their BMW’s. Get in go and drive it like you stole it.