Not all of them do it, and sometimes its very little, like in my case. Still, its BS.

 

Yeah, This is becoming a real love/hate thing. I love the looks and the performance etc but this oil thing is really p*ssing me off

 

Who here has an automatic that burns oil? I am really thinking this is a manual transmission equipped VQ35 issue only. It has to do with the way the engine reacts to manual shifting. Everyone on the Altima forum that has this problem has the 5 speed manual too.

 

Do you know of any automatic users here that have this issue? It seems all 6-speed related...

 

when i started having the problem, the dealership pulled that BS about sythetic oil so i switched. 8,000 miles later the problem didnt go away.
i dont understand why nissan would recommend not using sythetic. it is better period. i guess they just dont like that it shows there is problem with the engine

 

i think you might be right. the problem seems to be caused by high engine speeds that you can only get with late shifting the 6-speed

 

GBAUER is auto...

 

hmm...

 

lets get gay george bauer in here to tell us is up with these vq35s!

 

lets leave GBAUER out of this. he doesnt know how to drive and blew his engine.

 

well I really think it's a flaw with the VQ35...There are too many out there that have this problem....people with 6-speeds usually tend to be a bit more heavy on the throttle, because the cars are more fun to drive, which could be why we are seeing this problem mostly in the 6-speeds. This, however, is no excuse. The engine should be able to handle redline runs every day..I know my mom's maxima (2k SE with almost 230k on the clock) has seen it's redline almost every day, and it's running like the day it came off the factory floor and doesn't burn a drop of oil...I am not that hard on my car and at 60k, i have no oil loss, knock on wood...

 

I mean, I dont understand how Nissan has not realized there is a problem with this engine. They dealt with it on thier 4 cyl motors, so why not with our engine? The only reason I can see is that it would hurt the VQ's reputation very much so.....

 

G'AYBAUER

 

So do any of you who consume smoke see any actual leaks, or any blow by on hard acceleration?

Has anyone thought that it may be the rear main seal that is causing this?

 

hey don't blame me, i saw a post made by Donkey calling him GAYBAUER...

 

i had someone drive behind me and there was a quick small puff of smoke when i punched it

 

If it does in fact end up being ring blow-by and is from synthetics, I'm willing to bet it's a combination of cylinder glazing and cheap rings.....
I
f this does end up being the case, I'd be willing to bet that the honing process from the factory is probably to blame..

If this is a 6 speed only problem, I doubt it would be a rev to high problem, rather a problem with lugging the the engine, again as stated above would cause high manifold and pcv vacuum causing the cylinders to glaze...

 

I have 70K on my 6-speed and have been using 5w-30 M1 Syn. since I bought it at 39,000. So far 1/2 quart with 5,000 mile change intervals...which is the same as my SHO was.

 

I play ice hockey with the Western Canada Nissan Regional Rep, basically he handles problems bigger than the dealer can handle on a Corporation level, I should be seeing him in a few weeks ( Sept 10th actually or at the team BBQ Sept 16th). I told him about my earlier cold start up noise issue back in April which the dealer covered under power train warranty, he said if they didn't to let him know. I'll have a little chat with him " off the record" and see what he has to say.

 

I wonder if that Auto RX stuff will help since it's supposed to be good for your rings also.

 

Bingo. If the honing pattern holds too much oil then oil can get up past the rings and be burned.



Well the conditions where there is the most blow-by is high RPM/low load. Quite the opposite of lugging the motor.

 

Well, I was thinking more along the lines of glazing over of the walls being due to lugging, what potentially is causing the blow-by in the first place. Not why the engine burns so much after the problem starts. Either way I don't want to post an explanation and take away from this thread. We are getting way ahead of ourselves, someone needs to do a compression test vs. wet compression test and/or leak down test and see if the rings are even causing the problem....

Research break-in procedures, synthetics, and how the pcv system works (vacuum), you'll better understand what I'm trying to say.

 

This is exactly what I was trying to say before. I have a strong feeling that this is the issue here, and this is what I have read on other websites as well. We definitely need some of you guys to do compression tests on your oil burning motors. This mystery must be solved.

 

Oh i see what you're saying now. In my mind, improper break-in has always been a big possibility for what's causing these issues. That and improper honing techniques. Most people leave their break-in oil in the motor for 3000+ miles among other improper break-in practices.. Then again, i doubt all the 3.0 motors on this site were broken in properly either but they don't burn a drop for the most part. There are a couple people that have swapped 3.5's into 4th gens with rehoned cylinder walls and they haven't complained of burning oil. I wonder if it's as simple as that...

 

nope...already tried that

 

Came across this good discussion on oil viscosity for those interested:

http://www.nissanclub.com/forums/eng...h-america.html

 

Sounds to me like we should all run 20W50 no matter what in these VQ motors! I guess that would taking it to an extreme, but it does sound like we could run a thicker oil for the most part and should have better engine life, along with lower oil consumption.

 

so what cars/years is this problem related to. Has anyone heard of VQ35s in other cars with this problem? Are the 6th gens having this problem?

 

I have an '02 Auto (I35)

I bought the car with 82k and it did not burn any oil by the time I changed it for the second time at 85k. At 85k, I did an AutoRX cycle.

I'm at 104k miles now and I still do not lose a DROP of oil between changes. I did Mobil1 5W-30 from 82k to 95k miles, but I've been conventional (Walmart oil changes) since then.

 

Damn shame if its a 6 speed problem!!!!!!! I've already changed to 10w-30 to be on the safe side. If the car is burning oil at least the thicker oil will buy me time between oil changes. And if it is 6 speeds then wouldnt the thought of cheap rings not be true

 

2000 SE, Mobil 1 5-30 here also and not a drop is burned. 4.5 in and 4.5 out!

 

Remember we are talking about VQ35's here, not VQ30's

 

Oops! Sorry!

 

No its not a 6speed problem. Im auto. And to answer anthor question, I posted in the 6th gen forum and they all said they burn no oil what so ever. Seems like its just us 5.5 gens.

 

see, in that case, I'm thinking that for those of you who are fortunate enough to get your engine replaced under warranty, the problem will most likely not happen again, because maybe nissan did do something different with the newer engines. I know there are several 6th gens over 50k on this forum, and if not one of them has a problem with their's, that has to mean something.

 

Yes, it does mean something. Nissan fooked up something or cheaped out on something in the 02-03 VQ35. Then they must have realized it and fixed it from 04 on. Not fair.

 

People say that once a cylinder wall has glazed over that the only way to deglaze it is to tear it down and break the glaze..... I haven't found anything anywhere about someone trying to remove the egr system (raise combustion chamber temps to 2500+ degrees) and beat the **** out of their engines to try and reseat the rings...Is there a reason this wouldn't work???....This is the way pros seat their rings on rebuilt high compression motors...I wonder why removing the egr and doing this to a glazed over cylinder wall wouldn't help it break the galze and seat?? ..Any thoughts????

 

IMO the only proper way to deglaze a cylinder wall is to rehone it. You can't create the proper crosshatch pattern no matter how hard you beat on the motor. Furthermore, the oil control rings seat almost right away. It's the compression rings that take time. Which brings me back to my original theory...improper honing technique. It might be holding too much oil...

 

Yeah, all five people who answered your question. That is hardly convincing to me.

The other thing is that you have no idea how people are measuring the oil they are draining, or if they are just going by the dipstick, which may or may not be accurate.

Just a couple of things for you to think about if you want to make this avenue of research worthwhile.

 

I've got an auto, and my engine burns oil like crazy too.

When I first got the car, I put full synthetic in, and the engine was clearly burning oil. So I then went back to regular oil and noticed a decrease in the amount being burned. I thought for a while that the engine wasn't burning much...up until the last time I changed the oil. When I did so about two weeks ago, only 3 qts. came out! That's 1.5 quarts low! And I check the dipstick regularly; the oil was still within the meshed region. You'd think if the engine was 1.5 quarts low, the oil shouldn't reach the dipstick, but it does.

I saw something about a love/hate relationship in this thread. It's really become that way with me. I just had to replace the blower motor and motor resistor for about $200, and the car only has 70k miles! I like the power, size, and most of the appearance of the vehicle. But the poor craftsmanship is really starting to show as I'm nearing 100k miles. There are definitely times when I think about trading her in.