GBAUER

iTrader: (2)

I blew it up! Yessir! The oil-burner is dead. For details, here's a couple of threads:

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=480825
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=481046

Got the new engine (28k miles, salvaged) at redlinemax and the headers, UDP, and motor mounts are on their way. I should have it back by next Saturday. Once the old one is pulled, we (myself and the guys at redline) will tear down the old one and finally, once and for all, find out why the hell the 3.5's burn so much damn oil! Since I "blew" the engine, I think it's the rings.

Anyone want to start a betting pool on the culprit?

chr0nos

iTrader: (1)

no betting, but i would love to find out why the 3.5's are buring oil.

SoonerFan

iTrader: (5)

another first?? what were the other firsts??

yeah lemme know since im taking mine in for oil burning. it would be nice to tell the dealership what caused the problem

DrKlop

iTrader: (3)

So, how many miles have you put on it before it blew?

kcowden

iTrader: (2)

Sorry to hear about your engine... I'm sure curious, I know that you had a lot of miles on the engine for an 03. We have pretty much the same car; mine doesn't have a oil burning problem..... yet. Keep us posted and if possible take some pics. Good luck!

BlackBIRDVQ

iTrader: (15)

Good luck on the swap, but I have a question ? Why are you guys doing it the hard way ? You can just unplug the engine harness from the ECU and throw it on top of the engine, unplug the tranny harness from the trans and then pull the engine/tranny out like that. Unplugging the harness and such with the engine out of the car takes few minutes..... I've done swaps like this before, I've had Sentra SE-R motor swaps done in around 3-4 hours tops, and they are just as "complicated" as the Maximas.

Maxim(a)SerjVQ

when do the VQs start burning oil like crazy? im at 95k mi on my 03 and i think i lose about a quart every 4k? at that point im changin the oil anyway. . .

BlackBIRDVQ

iTrader: (15)

Not ALL VQs burn oil, 3.5s have this problem but it doesn't happen to ALL of them. VQ30DEs do not burn any oil. In terms of reliability, old school VQ30 is hard to beat. I have almost 160K on my 01 and I loose about 1/4 QT of oil every 3K miles due to a small leak on my lower oil pan. I had to repleace my lower oil pan approx 60K miles ago as the drain plug just got too stripped out. Seems like the silicone didn't cure well enough and it seeps through the silicone and out, it hasn't gotten any worse. I am going to fix it soon when I tear the engine apart to put some cams in it, and do my timing chain tensioners- around 175K miles thou.

GBAUER

iTrader: (2)

I put 166,000 miles on the 3.5 before it decided to die. I'll definitly post pics and give explainations on the consumption when I (or we) tear down the engine. I have a suspicion that it's the rings though.

Snolife

iTrader: (2)

166,000 for an 03? Did I miss something? Holly cow, you drive a lot!!!

SoonerFan

iTrader: (5)

he used to be in sales and drove a lot

Maxim(a)SerjVQ

I'm a technical contractor, so i have been putting buttloads of milage on my car too. first drove it with barely a dozen miles on the odo, took it out for 2 test drives and took delivery at 86mi on the odo. now it's just under 95k and i got my 90k svc last week. still runs like a champ thanks to you guys now im paranoid about oil consumption

chr0nos

iTrader: (1)

some do, some don't. it's not really a widespread problem. if you happen to be one of the unlucky ones, gbauer's investigation may prove useful. otherwise, enjoy your car, and don't worry about a thing.

monty31

iTrader: (1)

What were you actually doing when it "blew"?

EDIT- Nevermind, I just read your other thread ( :

boondoxmax

iTrader: (1)

Where is this oil that is being burned end up at.

SoonerFan

iTrader: (5)

have no idea...no smoke out the back

Progress

iTrader: (26)

So it's burning the oil and not leaking it, correct?

SoonerFan

iTrader: (5)

no its no leaking so it has to be burning. but there is no smoke that you get with burning oil

Rocket3004

If it was the rings, you would be getting some blow-by and some smoke, but, aren't the other motors that Nissan has oil consumption problems w/ are due to bad rings/bad ring sealing from the factory?

And, did you ever check the compression and/or do a leak down test. That would tell you right away if it were the rings or not.

Lastly, 166K miles, and burning some oil is pretty reasonable, but not sure how much you were exactly burning.

Good luck w/ everything and be sure to post up results!

BlackBIRDVQ

iTrader: (15)

As much as most people hate on domestic cars on this forum.... I've had a Chevy before with a 350 V8 in it that had lil over 200K miles on it. It never burned any oil and all it ever needed was a new MAP sensor and TPS sensor.

My almost 160K mile Max doesn't burn any oil eighter.

Its unacceptable for any engine to burn oil. But unfortunatelly even Japanesse quality has gone down, I see TSXs and RSXs burning oil quite alot. They recomend 10K mile oil change intervals, yet half of them would never make it past 6K miles on a oil change. Honda/Acura says its normal for engines to burn 1qt per 1K miles. If I had one, I would let it seize up and let them worry about a new motor- its not like I didn't follow their recomendations of 10K mile oil changes.

VK45DE motors in Infinitis suffer from oil loss problems as well, and its the rings on that motor.

GBAUER

iTrader: (2)

Actually, there was quite a bit of smoke at WOT for the last 60k miles. I first noticed it at around 75k though. The real consumption didn't start to happen until 100k. At around 130k, it started sounding funny at 6,000+ rpms (a rattle?). At 150k, it wouldn't rev over 6k. At 160k it wouldn't rev over 5,500 rpms. It really started losing power at around 80k or so, but I didn't really notice it until 130k. I broke the car in using standard oil per Nissan's recommendations and then switched over to Mobile 1 at 6,000 miles. Used Mobile 1 unitl around 100k miles when I started burning so much oil that I switched to a high-milage oil. At 130k miles, I stopped caring what kind of oil I put in it because I was going through so much.

GBAUER

iTrader: (2)

It was quite ironic to have my superior Japanese car towed by our lowely, domestic Jeep Grand Cherokee that seems to run perfectly....

Kevlo911

iTrader: (36)

Check out the precats on the headers.

GBAUER

iTrader: (2)

I plan on it! Actually, I don't know how much it'll really show since I burned so much oil that I know that they are shot. If they show degredation, however, it might indicate the same problem as the 2.5's. Once it's pulled, I'll sneak into Redline after-hours and pull it apart and post pics. I'll also try to get some good pics of the cylinder walls, piston rings, valves, valve seals, try to filter the oil in the pan, and anything else I can think of.

Anyone else want me to look at something? I really want to find what killed it so I can stop it from happening on the new engine. If the original block is still in pretty good shape, I might bore and stroke it out a little with better materials (rings) and lower-compression piston heads. I will probably also do some work on the crank shaft to make it take higher RPM's and see what can be done up top to the valves.

Jamesrc

Back in Oct I belive, don't remember the exsact day, I down shifted to 4th to pass a truck. When I reached the next stop light the car stalled and I couldn't get it to fire again. Had to have it towed to a dealer my buddy works at. after they replaced some coils and the ECM it still wouldn't run. So out comes the compresion gauge and cylinders 4 & 6 had extremly low numbers. So at 42000 out came the motor and all the cats care of powertrain warrenty. So I know you were not the first, nor was I. Back when I was working a 6th gen got towed to my dealer with a large hole in the side of the block. I belive it only had like 12000 on it.

GBAUER

iTrader: (2)

I know I'm not the first to blow it up, but I haven't seen anyone do a tear-down of an oil-burner yet, so that's more of what I was refering to.

Kevlo911

iTrader: (36)

Check the valves too. If they are sticking or not.

GBAUER

iTrader: (2)

Corey just posted that he thinks my oil pump went. I guess it was over-abused....

Kevlo911

iTrader: (36)

VQ35 oil pumps are suppose to be it's strong point. But I guess lack of oil burnt it out.

Puppetmaster

iTrader: (48)

Check the alignment of the gaps in the piston rings....

Starchild2K2SE

My 3.5 went friday night....im waiting to swap my new motor in, along with all the parts over.....sounds like it's knocking from my head and block....OUCH. Anyway's, I feel your pain....

GBAUER

iTrader: (2)

that's a little too ironic.


Anyone else blow up a 3.5 on Friday?

Starchild2K2SE

My friends just shake their head when they hear my car...im one, if not the fastest 3.5L in NYC...now im back to square one....i have 81,000 on my car....hopefully I can get a motor with about 30,000.....

GBAUER

iTrader: (2)

www.car-part.com ftw!

That's the best place to look.

Did a quick search in the NYC area and they are quite a bit cheaper there than they are here. In NY, they run 700-1000 for a decent engine. Try this place: http://www.empireautosalvage.com/ they have one with 22k for $850. happy hunting!

GBAUER

iTrader: (2)

Update: Redline pulled the old engine today and I got a chance to look at the pre-cats and main cat. The rear pre-cat is completely empty and the front, from what I could see, was pretty much the same. The main cat caught most of the debris and trapped it cloggin it up. We didn't tear down the engine because we need to get the car running before we can play, but from what I've seen so far without pulling the heads, the valves look to be in really good shape up top. The car should be done on Tuesday, so I'll post pics and updates then.

Kevlo911

iTrader: (36)

Sweet. . .

PlanoSER

my car has the worst luck.. I bought it from my brother with its 3rd engine in it.
The first engine failed due to the butterfly screws in the intake manifold backing out.

The second engine failed due to the same thing as your car: the precats deteriorated and the material got into the engine.. That's what happened to my SpecV as well.

MaxKlinger

Yeah, I don't have too much faith in 10k oil change intervals. Personally I never go over 3,000 miles. I also have my oil sent to a lab once a year for testing. Am I ****? Maybe. All I can say is that neither of our Maximas lose any oil: The '02 has 106,000 miles, and the '96 has 230,000 miles. My brother has two Integras and I suspect that they both burn oil.

I'm looking to replace the '96 with a 5.5 Gen in the next year. Is this oil-burning something I really need to be concerned about? Maybe I'll just look for another 4th gen in good condition - the VQ30DE was, IMHO, one of the best engines ever made, period.

Glude

iTrader: (5)

So getting headers will not only give you more power but possibly longer engine life.

PlanoSER

absolutely, and that's why put them on there