My wife's 89 Max has 223K miles on the original engine and original Transmission. This is what blows me away...it is not missing a drop of oil in between oil changes...not a single drop!!!! How is this possible?

Anyone have the same experience with theirs at around the same mileage on the original engine? All of my cars I have had to feed them oil and they were not in bad shape by any means. Acura Integra, Honda Prelude, Acural Legend, and even the 94 Saab 900 Turbo I own now. How is Nissan able to do this? Of course great care has gone in to taking care of this car (by me) but I still jump on it on the freeway, I don't baby this thing on the road by any means. I treated all the aforementioned cars the same way but they still liked to eat petrol with their breakfast in between oil changes.

Please, sound off and let us know what your experiences have been with respect to engine oil burn and your Maxima. Include mileage on engine. Engine oil you use, and engine oil change intervals plus anything else you think might be important.

Thanks.

 

IMO its quite normal for a well-cared for Max ............... same experience with my own (300K km) and a few others I know of.

 

Quite normal for ANY Nissan. My 90 hardbody had over 200K very abused miles and never burned a drop. My current 90 Maxima had 250K when I bought it and didn't burn a drop.

 

My 91 doesnt burn any at all and i thrash it as offen as i can. i pulled an 86 300zx turbo apart with 250k on the block and the thatch marks where still on the bore and i know the motor was never rebuilt. VGs and VEs have great durablity. i think nissan just used good valve guides and seats as well as good piston rings, honda chyrsler and many others skimp on stuff like that.

good question! shows the durablity of the max engines!

 

It's a durable alright. Tell your friends, Nissan V6s are nearly indestructible.

 

Well I've owned 4 VG30s 87 max SE 180000+ miles, 89 max SE 240000+ miles (irrc) and still own 90 pathfinder 160000+ miles and my 85 max SE 180000+ (daily driver) and all 4 of them never use oil no matter how hard I drove them.

thanks Nissan for building a high nickel content cast iron block thats made to take 400hp and tuned to 150-160hp that last forever.

 

which i now own
http://s164.photobucket.com/albums/u...y%20car/d-day/
except it kinda has nothing left in it now...

but that 240k engine is actually going to replace my maxima's current engine in a month or two. yes, i'm putting a motor into my car that has 70k MORE than my chassis. because it still ran smooth as hell.

 

not always true i drove my 140k 93gxe at top speed for about a half hour everyday 5 or 6 times a week for over 6 months i ended up burning about a half quart every 3000miles but as soon as i stopped and went back to normal driving the burnoff seemed to stop completely

 

The oil level on my 91 SE with 270,000 miles doesn't move. Oil always comes out clean after 3k miles. Of course it was owned by an older woman who was a college professor till I bought it with 193k back in Feb 04.

 

damm where do you get away with driving 120+ mph all the time? you might want to clean out the oil in your intake.

 

I have to say I am not surprised in the least bit -- these engines are absolutely incredible. World Class! Why can't Honda keep up? You would think that making an engine that does not burn oil would be high on the list of all auto makers -- clearly it's not. Nissan got it right. Do their new engines maintain the same quality? I hear they are using virtually the same engine with mods and tweaks here and there but it's basically the same at its core. Anyone know if this is based in reality?

 

well they carried over the over building but other then that there are some major differences like the VG30 is a cast iron block and the VQ is a aluminum and I think that some VQ had bad rings that caused oil buring.

 

my dad 95 240sx w/200k miles on her started burning oil becuase my dad kept using 10w30 and put in the WHOLE bottle of lucas.

timing chain tensioner was GONE basically.
but that car ran like a champ!

 

Jeez, aren't you afraid of jail? You know, the place you go when the cops don't like you going double the speed limit? The place where you can't get away with dropping the soap?

According to what you've said you've gone over 115 about 120 times where as most of us I would assume have never been over 110 once.

 

about 18% of 5.5 gens had oil issues from what i've read.

 

oh my damn!
huh i guess the vg is the most reliable engine in the maximas...

 

I think so, wouldn't trade mine for a VE but I would swap the tranny off of one.

 

Assuming most members of this board have not been over 110 mph is an awfully big assumption..

 

I know I haven't but as a sufferer of paranoia I will not say how fast I have gone. The cops could use it as evidence. I still doubt everyone here has been there and done that.

My friend is proud to say he's gone 100 and he was saying he didn't like it....I don't know why, if the cops blocked off a section of the interstate and told me I could go as fast as I wanted from end to end my only limitation would be space and how capable my car is. I'm not exactly afraid of speed even in excess.

 

some have done that.
with a decently running vg it's capable of reaching 130+.

 

my VE has 167k on the clock. hate to say that it burns oil too. I get blueish gray smoke off the light durring hard accel.

My VG had over 200K and never burned oil... it leaked from cam seals ... but never burned.

 

Perform a leakdown test and determine where the leak exist! Pray it's just your intake valve seals!

 

194K miles. I don't burn a drop of oil either.

 

My experience pretty much mirrors the others here, 315k miles, no oil used when changed every 3-4k.

Sorry for the people who never get over 100mph, here's a video. I was pulling a hill at 115 and then hard into a turn at 120. Western NC is not the best place for a top speed run.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qKhf9U2vf2Y

 

watch this and pay attention to the str8 aways on a real empty freeway now tell me if u knew when cops would be on the road at what times and dates tell me u wouldn't gun it

pay attention how str8 and flat the road is and picture at 3am between 0:50 - 1:42

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CcNjQjAVLrQ

(not my video my VG doesn't get passed like that)

remember kids stay in school

 

I wouldn't gun it, at 3am I would expect more trouble from the cops than any other time. At least here I've seen a couple police on the street next to mine around 12 and you'll never see them there during the day so when I'm going down it I be careful to go the speed limit when I'm anywhere near that park where the police sit and wait. It's a good spot, everyone I've ever seen goes 5 over on it. I also make sure I'm under when I go by this one street off of that street where a popo lives on the corner. You never know when he might decide to try out his radar gun.

I went down a local road the other day to let my girlfriend learn how to drive, its got maybe 3 roads off of it, a section is dirt, it's right by the interstate, surrounded by trees, the flatest straightest part is my guess about a quarter mile long. It's got two lanes, almost nobody goes down it unless they are dumping yard waste or something. You go down there once and in all likelihood if you get to the end without seeing cops you could probably go back doing over 100. I still wouldn't chance it. Bothers me enough that my girlfriend needs to get a license and without me breaking the law and letting her drive down that road how else is she going to pass the test? So you know I'd let her drive down it but I told her don't go over 30mph cause I don't want to look suspicious.

Gunning it though, I can imagine would attract some attention. I don't want police attention. At least if by some chance I was going down the road I was talking about and a police just happened to within 5 minutes park his car at the end of this useless road my excuse is my girlfriend is 17 and she is so close to being 18 years old it would be pointless for her to get a learners permit because it would prevent her from getting a license when she turns 18. Rather than having the excuse I've got an open road and 160hp.

I love going fast just as much as any of you if not more but just because I know that 1st gear ends short of 45 and 2nd ends short of 75 doesn't mean I want to find out if 3rd ends short of jail.

 

why would oil burnoff occur at higher speeds then fade away at lower speeds do i have a tiny leak somewhere i should worry about?

 

Prolonged high internal engine temperatures maybe?

 

it's probably boiling off, not burning off.

 

Holy $hitzu! Seems like the VG reigns in the arena of keeping oil.

 

to that member that has the ve that thinks their burning oil...
some people mistake an engine burning oil when its running rich.

it's gotta be flat out blue, and actually you can smell the difference between a oil burning engine and a engine running rich.

my vg used to do the same thing but after air filter and plug change she don't do that anymore.

 

yep then gets sucked into the intake or not really boiling but vaporising due to higher temps and fast moving parts.

 

so does the oil leave residue somewhere i would need to clean off?

 

Valve Covers

 

I thought my valve covers were black when I got the car....now they are bright red and all I did was play with rags. I kinda want to paint them blue but I'm avoiding taking the engine apart unless I'm going to be doing some major engine work. Kinda makes me hope something breaks.

If you want another place to clean up clean up right where the spark plugs are that place gets nasty over time.

 

ahh that explains the valve stems i just replaced doesn't it?

 

Because you need new valve cover gaskets

 

I'm at 150K, and my valve covers are leaking.

I did have a crankshaft or camshaft seal that was leaking, but I had that replaced when my timing belt was replaced.

 

You may be right, I've considered that. If I get new gaskets I'm painting the valve covers in the process.

 

Well I have a VQ35 and just burned all my oil, at least nothing left to check on the dip stick, in less than 4k miles. Ohh and yes I checked it on a level surface. I am totally blown away by it too because I change my oil every 3k miles normally and I think I am at about 3200 since my last one. Something is not right. Come to think of it Nissan changed my oil last time. Wonder if they forgot to put the oil back in. Ohh that would be my luck right there. If that was the case then when I change the oil tomorrow and check it this 3k miles and it doesn't burn oil, then I will say this engine is remarkable. If not then I will be one pissed off person.