03 MT - No oil burning that I can tell, I hate the dipstick. I got the rattle once when I left the car sitting for a week.

 

58k miles, no rattling or oil burning. I love my car

 

Well gentlemen, I have an 2003 Manual Trans Max with about 90,000kms, I have a serious oil burning issue, approx. 4L in a 1000km. I have been taken it in to Nissan Delearship and they have been checking my oil levels for about 2 months now, then they filled out the work order to Nissan Canada noting that there is a problem. The Dealership took my car in to get the PCV Valve checked, sometimes it get plugged severly and cause the oil burning, however mine was clean. So the dealership ordered me an engine, took a few days and it is being fixed as we speak. Nissan Canada is covering all the expenses due to my car being under the 100,000km Powertrain warrenty. Although i have a ****ty rental (Grand Prix) i am very happy with how things have gone. So there is some hope out there and the oil burning issue is out there and should be reconized by the Nissan Corporation. I hope the people with the same problem get theirs fixed as well.

 

hmm our 02 max burns about a quart every 3000 miles.
but our 03 pathfinder burns considerably more, is making the rattle noise, and had it's cat's replaced thousands of miles ago...

 

2002 w/ 29,700 miles and still no problems.

 

Here's my dilemma which I posted on nicoforums too. First thing in the morning, oil level is just above "L" mark, and is dark.

If I do per Nissan owners manual instructions, let the car reach normal op. temp. wait at least 10 mins, then ck. the oil, "to allow time for the oil to drain back in the pan", my reading is close to full. Why would Nissan say this, and not "ck. the oil first thing in the morning for the most accurate reading"? They specifically state to let the car warm up, wait then ck the dipstick. Could there be a routing system, where possibly the oil sits first, before going back to the pan?

No doubt, I'll know for sure when I drain the oil, but its so confusing, low oil level overnight, normal oil level when ckg. as per Nissan instructions.
Any suggestions? Thanks!

 

Just check the oil the same way everytime. I.E. If you normally check it right after shutting it off, then check that way everytime..

 

'02 with close to 107k. I get a rattle around 1800rpm, although I'm not sure if it's the chain, heat shield, or an exhaust issue.

I do a 7k mile OCI with Mobil1 5W-30 and PureOne filter. No oil burn.

 

I have 50K on my Max and when I am coasting around 1800 to 2000 rpms I get a rattle to. I change my oil every 1500 miles cause I run the car hard, but thats just me. I have not notice any oil burn offs, but I have not really tried to measure against the amount that comes out of the car.

 

Well, as I had said earlier, the real test was to see how much oil would come out. So, first thing in the morning, ckd. the oil, and it was right at the L mark. I didn't have a filter, but I was so obsessed with why my oil was so low, that I had to drain the old oil to find out if my VQ was also excessively burning oil. Took her out for a spin, waited about 40 mins. then drained the oil. 3.5-3.75 quarts came out. My conclusion based on my facts is that ckg. the dipstick first thing in the morning is useless. This also confirms why the Nissan manual states to warm up the car first, wait at least 10 mins, then ck. the oil. Anytime I ckd. the oil using this procedure, my dipstick was half or more full. Its in the mornings, when I would get a much "L"ower reading. I feel better now, knowing the car is running well. Now gotta change that filter!

Hope this info. helps, it really is weird (at least in my case), that I get a very low reading first thing in the morning, but it also confirms Nissan's procedures on ckg. oil. I wonder if the oil is routed to the pan temporarily, but overnight sits in an area where the oil is immead. "usable" rather than sitting in the pan? Because nowhere does Nissan say to ck. the oil in the morning....

 

I think im burning oil, the thing is I checked it when the car was hot , 5 minutes after a long drive..... is it the motor suppsed to be cold or hot , i keep hearing diffrent opinions..........


Also I think its cause i have been really really pushing my motor recently, im not sure what got into me, but i been driving like a maniac ??

btw im at 95k

 

I have the burning issue with my car. I took it the dealer at 59k and showed them it had the burning issue. They topped off the oil and told me to come back after 500 miles. I did and they checked it again. It was 1/2 quart low. Right now it has 60k miles. I just got it back from the dealer and they replaced the valve covers and gaskets. I have to drive another 500 miles so they can if the problem still exists.

My problem was diagnosed while it still had the powertrain warranty on it. So everything was covered by the dealership.

 

What Toronto dealer installed your motor? How is it now?
I work as a tech for a TO dealer haha. Can't remember any Max in ours the last 2 years so it wasn't ours for sure.
What area of the city do u live in?

 

Well, I haven't had any oil burning issues but I have had multiple SES lights and at 58k miles Nissan decided to replace the engine because they found galling on the cam journals. The engine kept throwing the code for knock sensors but those were replaced so they got authorization to tear the engine down and check the cams themselves. That prompted them to replace the entire engine under the powertrain warranty. I get my car back tonight.

Nissan did spring for a loaner car though. I've been driving around in a Nissan Murano for the past week. Nice car but I want my Maxima back. The CVT transmission in the Murano is annoying me.

 

I got a 02 with 65,000 on it and it runs and drives like new. no problems.

 

i have a 03 with 44k and it seems to only eat oil when i drive it hard.

i have this rattle to when i rev my motor to like 2500 and let the rpms fall. i cant tell where its coming from but it does it when my oil levels are good. i dont think its the timing chain, bc isnt it maintenance free?

 

my 02 3.5 runs like a champ with 72k miles on that sexy lady

 

i have 72000 miles and have no issues yet.thank god

 

112K and my engine runs like a champ

 

I keep hearing this term pre-cats. What exactly is a pre-cat

 

It's sort of a miniature catalytic converter positioned before the main catalytic converter (i.e. closer to the engine).

When your car is cold, so is your main catalytic converter. And when that is cold, it can't always process the exhaust as well as it should. The result is increased emissions. Pre-cats reduce emissions by sort of pre-processing the exhaust before it hits the main cat.

Mind you, all (properly functioning) Maximas will pass emissions without the help of the pre-cats once the main cat is warm, which is why so many people get aftermarket Y-pipes and headers that don't have pre-cats. The pre-cats are only for passing emissions when the car is stone cold.

 

I know what your saying about it, and I was gonna say I wouldn't call it a rattle actually..but that is the best word that describes it. I cant think of another word that describes the noise or whatever.

 

It's not a routing issue. It's just that oil like any fluids expand when worm. so level goes slightly up

 

i have the same rattling noise around the simular rpms. Is the problem in the exhaust line like some were saying? i would really like to know so i can fix it.

 

I bought a used '02 with 58,000 miles. Checked the oil when I bought it and it was full. Checked it again after 2,000 miles and there was nothing on the dipstick! I determined it was burning a quart every 500 miles. Luckily I had a reputable dealer and finally convinced him to replace the engine. He got a used VQ35 with 33,000 on it. This whole process took about nine months. Ugh. The "new" engine still burns oil at about a quart every 1,000 miles. However, I've learned to live with adding a quart every 1,000. If it weren't for the fact that the car is so fun to drive (I have the 6-speed), I would have got ridden of it.

 

Still rattling here... I put in 87 octane the other day to see if the rattle gets worse... who knows, I could be wrong and it could be actual spark knock instead of the precats like I had suspected earlier. I'm going to drive the car around all day to see how bad it gets... one thing I can say though is, the power loss from the lower octane SUCKS! I'm trying to lean away from the idea, however, that it is indeed knocking, because it seems to happen regardless of whether people are completely stock or have advanced their base ignition timing by 2* or so.

 

Mine appears to be burning about as much oil as my '94 SHO - IMHO a small price to pay for the performance.

 

Mine has 73K on it and it burns oil, I use synthetics and it rattles but otherwise it runs fine.

 

I have a 2k2 with 56,600mi. After my 30k mi maintenance, I noticed that the oil level was low when I changed it. I do oil changes every 3K miles give or take 500mi. I would drive it and I could see the oil light flash on/off under hard stop or hard turns. I could also hear the engine noise that is typical of an engine with low oil. Sometimes when I checked the dipstick there was no oil on it!!

I went roud and round with the dealer on this issue and they finally did something about it after repeated complaints. They would chek the level after 500, 1000, and 1500 miles to determine how severe the loss was. The last time they checked it had a little over 1 qt.

After consulting with Nissan NA, they ended up replacing the engine. The new engine seems to be experiencing the same problem. after 3K miles, the oil was almost 3 qts low. The next thing tehy tried was replacing the PCV valve. they then drove it for 1k mi and said that they fixed the problem.

after driving the car for 2k mi, I checked the oil and it was low again. They indicated that this may be due to the new valves breaking in. I didn't buy it.
I owned a 1995 Max and put 170k miles on it and it never burned a drop of oil ( I know it is a different eng, 3.0 a fine machine!).

I just changed the oil on the 12/29/06 and after 2k mi it had 3 and 1/4 qts.
I opened a new problem report w/Nissan NA and they are taking their sweet time getting back to me. If it continues like this, I going to make them slap another new engine in it!

I will let you know what happens, stay tuned............................

 

I had my first engine replaced due to excessive oil consumption at around 95K km (Mississauga, Ontario, Canada Nissan dealership; note problem started at around 50K km). My second engine has the exact same problem consuming about 1L/ 2K km. My first engine had no sounds. This engine has a knocking sound at around 1800 rpm on low/med acceleration. I use 94 Sunoco Ultra. Since I didn't notice the 2nd issue after almost 1 yr after replacement dealer now tells me I'm SOL.

No mods on my car. And no I do not beat on my car. I've probably only been to 5K rpm less than a handful of times. I shift in first and second at around 3.0K to 3.5K rpm. And try to curise on the hwy at 2.5K rpm.

wolfman

 

50k miles on my 2002 se and no rattles or oil loss

 

I am now in the the oil burning camp. I have had the 1500-2000 rattle since about 25k miles. I am now at 75k miles and had the severe rattle in the 2k-3k range. Turned out I was over 2 quarts low on oil.

Getting an accurate read with my lowered maxima is tough, but after an oil change thursday, and a weekend road trip, the oil level was already below the 'L' mark. I never would have guessed in a million years that I was burning oil. I now have 9 quarts of oil in my trunk.

About my habits:
I am the original owner.
I do oil changes every 3-5k miles.
Have used mobil synthetic 5w-30 since first oil change.
Just changed after this burning issue to mobil syn 15w-50. Doesn't seem to have made a difference.
I drive it hard, revving it to about 4k on 1-2 shift, and 3.5k for most others.
I have a 6sp.
I have no engine mods.

I think the 1500-2000 rpm rattle is not related to the oil burning. However, the rattle between 2k-3k when oil pressure is low definitely is.

I will be keeping my car under 3k for the next few months to see if that reduces oil consumption.

I have no warranty and no desire to change cars. Since replacing the motor doesn't seem to fix it, I look forward to the day someone figures out there is a gnome living in the oil pan that just likes to drink the stuff.

 

Update update update? I am afraid to go check my maxima because I am currently due for an oil change.

 

I bought the car @ 60,000 miles ,drove from NYC to FL . Changed oil to mobil 1 extended mileage (15,000). I have checked my dipstick every two weeks and was shocked to see less than half the oil has disappeared after 3,000 miles. Oil changed again, this time using castrol, 10w-30 high mileage. It is now only 1,500 miles and I am at the half mark on the dipstick, so i added half quart of oil. I am not happy,my vg30de did not burn a drop of oil @ 200,000 miles and neither my last vq30de @ 120,000miles . What happened to this car?
Quick stat on the car:71,600miles
6mt, with no mods (k&n drop in filter),driven as hard as my last 5speed.

 

If your Maxima is burning oil, the valve cover gaskets are no good. I work at a dealership. It isn't a common problem, i've only seen it a couple of times, but the last time i saw it, the car couldn't be fixed. it was too far off.

 

Here's a Vq torn down, interesting info.

http://g35driver.com/forums/showthread.php?t=143501

 

1st of all valve cover gaskets leaking IS a common problem, at 70K miles + I have YET to see a Altima or a Maxima 3.5L withOUT leaking valve covers.

2nd of all its been said time and time again, rings are the reason for the motors to burn oil. Just like the QR motors which where THE worst oil burners in the history of Nissan.

How can you NOT fix the valve cover gaskets ? How was it too far off ? OOOO I get it, you work for NISSAN dealership. And it being a Nissan dealership they wouldn't fix it for the guy because he was 50 miles out of warranty. I get it now, thats what you mean by too far off- warranty wise.

This is complete bull ****, I hope ALL VQ motors get a recall like the one Toyota has on their sludge prone V6s. I am well out of warranty on my VQ30DE-K, 171K miles and it does not burn oil. Its been abused like no other VQ, its had diff nitrous kits on the car, diff shots etc.... yet it keeps on going.

Good motors, Nissan USED to build.

 

Just a question, would these issues being discussed have anything to do with the infamous "timing chain" rattle at 2k RPM?

 

I know several with more than 90k on their 3.5L and they do not have oil burning issues :dunno:

Mine seems to be very solid, no issues yet with 55k on the clock.

 

It could, if the motor or really any motor for that matter gets low on oil most timing chains are susceptible to stretching.