I am amazed that 1.5 quarts low and it still shows on the dipstick? That just seems incorrect from a design perspective. Did you take into account the oil inside the filter?

So technically, if you are having someone else do your oil changes, they could leave out a quart or more in the process and no one would know. How can we have a 4.5 quart capacity in the 3.5L and be missing 1/3 of the total oil capacity and not get a engine oil low light (idiot light) or better yet, still show good on the stick?

 

^^ Yes, that included the oil in the filter. I put it all in the oil pan and then poured it all into a 1 gallon container and it only filled the container to just above 3 qts.

 

Wow, how can we ever be sure that what we have in the crankcase is sufficient to protect the motor, especially at high speeds or in hot of cold conditions? If the vehicle can be a quart or more low and still show on the dipstick, we could be setting ourselves up for catastrophic engine failure.

 

When im ready for a change my oil is usually very low on the dip stick. Just something ive noticed but never really thought much of it since my last car burned a good amount of oil too.

 

Yeah, that's exactly how I measured my oil the last time I did an oil change, and it filled the gallon up and a little over 1/4 of a quart in a quart bottle. But i've been putting 4 1/4 quarts in during oil changes because that' what I thought was the correct amount, which means I burn no oil

 

Has anyone here thought of running a 20w oil or even 40w? I was talking to an Altima SE-R owner today at work and he said he researched this problem somewhat, and it was reccomended to run a 40w oil...

 

Our cars do not take 4.5 quarts. If you were to let all the oil drain out for no less than 4 hours then you might get 4.3-4.35 but with the engine brand new it takes 4.4. if you let the oil drain out for about half an hour to where its down to a barely small drip then 4.25 fills it right to the top after waiting 20 minutes to accurately check the dipstick.

There is no way the problem can be caused by the six speeds themselves unless it is like one person stated that they are just revving up alot higher because its a stick.

Also, synthetic oil does not burn. Its impossible. The oil is going somewhere. Also, it is true that if you do have worn or cracked piston rings or any leaks that synthetic oil will go thru the very small cracks. Other than that if you have no worn piston rings, synthetic oil will very well keep you from getting worn or cracked rings because of the better protection.

When you start your car up cold and its got the little top end engine noise, the synthetic would also help with that problem as well seen as how it flows atleast twice as fast as conventional oil at all temps. low and high.

When I first bought my 03 maxima it had 36k on it and every once and a while it would get the little engine noise when the car sat for a while. I found out the dealership changed the oil when they received the car and obvioulsy put conventional. I then changed to mobil 1 5w 30 and even tho the filter was empty and the car had sat for a while when i started it up there was no engine noise. Since then there hasnt been. Knock on wood.

Just some thoughts..........

 

Sounds like synthetic oil eliminates the problem with timing chain rattle at startup? Has anyone else found this to be true?

I have the same rattle for a second when I first start my car in the morning, but it hasn't bother me. I have always run conventional oil.

 

No. I switched from regular to synthetic and while it reduced the cold start rattle, it did not eliminate it completely.

 

Not True for my 2000 either. I run Mobil 1 5/20 and I still have timing chain rattle once in a while.

 

What makes you run 5w20 rather than 5w30?

 

Car runs better and returns more oil on the change.

 

reducing cold start rattle: nissan filter. Just buy them. they work better.

 

I've always used Nissan filters.

 

what recall are you talking about?
You might talk about the butterfly screws inspection campaign right?
But yes they do believe pieces of the cat could get sucked in due to valve overlap. Intake/exhaust

 

you mean that particular tech at that nissan dealership

 

The cold start rattle is caused by a sprocket. Nissan says to replace it. Perhaps that is of a new design to retain more oil. To do that you have to have the side cover off. Not fun!

 

Really? I always thought it was my starter slowly on its way out.

 

Synthetic did nothing for me as far as cold start noise. I don't believe its a type of oil issue. I run conventional oil only cause I just don't buy into the marketing hype of synthetic anymore.(I use to use mobil 1). Anyway it's very scary that if the car is 1.5 qt low on oil and you don't get a low oil light then the only choice you have is to check the oil like every other day. I drove from Boston to Jacksonville, FL over the weekend and I checked my oil level 5-6 times just because of this thread. Car didn't burn any oil and the oil was still clean(not dark in color) from the oil change I did the day before I left.

 

my 02 6-speed w/ 50k is in the dealership now on oil loss problems - say it's losing compression - and they'll probably want to replace the engine! i've changed the oil every 3k miles.

lawsuit!

 

Maximas have been well known for many years since at least the 4th gen to have oil circulation issues. Not that I would persay call it an issue but when cold or been off for a while, they do take an extra second for the oil to travel to the topend of the engine. As far as right now synthetic oil is the best solution I have seen or heard of.
I didn't say that synthetic oil would necessarily fix the problem but it did do a very good job for me.

 

2006 NISSAN ALTIMA Recall ID from NHTSA: 06V223000
Auto Recall Date: 20060621
Vehicle Component: ENGINE AND ENGINE COOLING
Estimated Vehicles Affected: 85000
2006 NISSAN ALTIMA/SENTRA Defect Summary:
CERTAIN PASSENGER VEHICLES EQUIPPED WITH 2.5L ENGINES MAY EXPERIENCE EXCESSIVE ENGINE OIL CONSUMPTION AS A RESULT OF IMPROPER PERFORMANCE OF THE PISTON RINGS.
Defect Consequence:
IF THE OIL IS NOT MAINTAINED AT LEAST AT THE MINIMUM LEVEL, ENGINE DAMAGE CAN OCCUR AND IN EXTREME CASES RESULT IN AN ENGINE FIRE.
Remedy:
NISSAN HAS NOT YET PROVIDED A REMEDY FOR THIS CAMPAIGN. ON JUNE 9, 2006, NISSAN NOTIFIED OWNERS OF THE POSSIBILITY OF EXCESSIVE OIL CONSUMPTION AND THE IMPORTANCE OF MAINTAINING THE OIL AT A PROPER LEVEL. OWNERS MAY CONTACT NISSAN AT 1-800-647-7261.
Notes: NISSAN NORTH AMERICA, INC.,

 

That's not a circulation issue. Which motor that you know of builds full oil pressure while cranking?

 

Anyone????

 

I have to disagree with you on the oil capacity of our cars...I just changed the oil & filter on my '03 SE 6spd w/33k miles (my first time since I bought it ~500 miles ago...these oil consumption threads have me intrigued!) and after adding 4.25 quarts per the owners manual, I checked the dipstick after driving it around the block and waiting 30 minutes. The dipstick read about 1/3 up the crosshatches between L and H (btw, the dipstick design is pretty poor and is extremely hard to read with clean oil without ver good lighting...). I slowly added oil and checked the oil level multiple times over the course of two hours this morning.

All told, I added 4.63 quarts (I have 400ml left in the 5th quart I was adding) and the oil level is sitting dead on the top of the crosshatches. I will be monitoring my oil consumption and measuring how much comes out when I change it in 3k miles. Incidentally, I am using conventional Mobil 5W-30 (called "Clean 5000" by their marketing dept) because that weight was recommended in the owners manual (I changed it yesterday prior to seeing this thread). I'll probably be switching to a heavier 10W-30 as it doesn't get much below 15-20 degrees F in North Carolina in the winter. As for the conventional/synthetic discussion, I change my own oil every 3k so I'd be wasting money if I used synthetic.

On the topic of oil usage, in my short amount of reading, it does appear there is a mild correlation between oil consumption and owners running synthetic oil in their motors. The consumption issue also seems to be exacerbated slightly in those cars that also have a manual tranny (although belief that the org responses could be viewed as a representative sample of all 5.5 gen owners would be just plain wrong). As consumers buying a Maxima, we expect tight tolerances and do not expect our cars to consume oil as our past experience with Japanese cars has likely shown little to no oil consumption.

However, with '02 being the 1st year of the 3.5 in the Maxima, one could almost predict some problems arising (same reason 1st and 2nd yr production quality is almost always lower in any model year redesign) as the engineers can't model and/or test everything. Issues (some big/some small) with the initial design make themselves known through real world use of the cars and the engineers redesign things in subsequent model years to improve quality. This is the way the auto industry works.

It appears (again from a small sample size) that Nissan has improved whatever quality problem they found associated with oil consumption as the issue has been reported considerably less from 6th gen owners. In the meantime, us 5.5 gen owners have to pray that our cars don't have oil consumption issues and if we do happen to be one of the unlucky ones, figure out ways to mitigate our own oil consumption issues or fight Nissan for a new motor in cases where consumption is really bad so that we can spend time enjoying our rides, which is what drove us to buy the Maxima in the first place.

 

I use Nissan filters as well. But no Rattle

 

use mobile 1 full syn 5w-30 / newer car formula. it has 27k on odo. burn about 1 - 1.25 quarts/ 3000 miles. 80% chill'n and 20% redline shifting. always nissan filters.

 

20xxx miles on Mobil 1 5W-30 and 9E000 filter, I too had to add more than 4.25 quarts to get the dip stick to read exactly to the HI mark (more like 4.6). Last time I filled exactly 4.25 and my dip stick read 1/2 between LO and HI.

 

I have used Nissan OEM, Bosch premium, Mobil1, Pure1 filters all fine with no rattle whatsoever. But the oil pressure light always flicker a split of second right after startup. None of my other cars doing such thing, no idea what caused it. Anyone has this problem?

 

I have a 02 SE 6sp with 55K. For the last 10K miles I have been noticing that after about 2K miles between oil changes the engine will start to make a ticking noise when I am just coasting around 1500-2000 rpm. I will add about a ½ -3/4 of a quart and the noise goes away. I have owned this car since new, and I have changed the oil religiously every 3K miles. Most of the oil changes have been done by the dealership. The last time I had it at the dealership I told them about the oil consumption, and they told me to drive it 2K and bring it back. I dove it the 2K and the noise was just starting, and the dealership said it was fine??? Has anyone been able to get Nissan to replace the motor under the extended warrantee for this problem, and if so, what is the best way to approach it?

 

I noticed the oil-burning issue when my car had about 30k. The engine was making a loud knocking noise for several days so I took it to the dealer and they informed me my car had less than 2qts of oil left. Needless to say, I was pissed. I had been using mobil1 5w30 full syn since the first oil change at 3k. The dealer started a consumption test using regular 5w30 which they checked every 500 miles. They said the car was not burning enough to replace the engine (1/2qt every 1k vs. 1qt per 1k with syn). I recently switched to mobil1 clean 5000 5w30 and the car is now burning at LEAST 1qt every 1k. I have 42k on the motor. I purchased an extended warranty due to this problem so I will probably just let the motor destroy itself then they will have to replace the engine. I am very disappointed about all of this because I love my car.

 

when you guys determine how much oil is consumed do you follow what the dipstick measures or the amount of oil that comes out of the oil pan?

 

Careful with the extended warrenty, alot of them won't allow a fix of "oil consuming problems" also they will not replace your engine if it runs out of oil.

 

most of us measure the amount of oil that drains out. it would be kinda stupid to use the dipstick since it doesnt measure correctly anyways, you have to wait 15mins to get a good reading and most of the time it doesnt even give you a good reading anyways.

 

i had a 4th gen 5spd which never burnt a drop of oil. now i have a 5.5gen which burns like crazy i always thought it was because of the way i drive but one of my friend's wife has a murano which is also a 3.5l burns oil at the same rate as the max, i think the two best way of fixing this issue is either by changing to the conventional oil or ripping the motor apart and change the rings (too expensive though)

 

Iam just asking cause if thats the case then both of my previous 4th gens burned oil. when ever i measured with the dipstick the oil level was ok even over 3000 miles, but when i changed my oil and measured howmuch oil came out i would be missing almost 2 qts.

 

I have a 2003 six speed. Got it at 34,500. Put sythetic in shortly after, say 35-36. I haven't seen any oil consumption worth mentioning, I even went 5k before changing the oil and it didn't burn any or at least unnoticeable(synthetic- mobile one). Royal purple in there now with mobile 1 filter.

This stuff scares me but thought i'd mention my car has been ok so far at 47k. A reason some of the cars may burn oil is if they were not broken in properly, when the parts are new they become "married" as they wear and the pistons seat in the cylinder wall. If the breakin process is not done right the parts won't properly "mesh" together and may cause oil consumption the rest of the cars life. A picture of a stupid salesman beating on a new car as he goes for a joy ride comes to mind, or even the 1st owner. Also lugging is very bad, it breaks the seal of oil and causes metal on metal which can cause leaks due to wear.

 

What is "Lugging"?

 

lugging is when your rpms are too low for the gear you are in when using a manual transmission. It puts excessive force on the piston, piston rings, crankshaft, stuff. There is a thin layer of oil riding between the metal parts in your engine(they are hydroplaning essentially) and when you lug the oil seal breaks down and you get metal on metal, very bad. Thats why on 6-speeds the owner's manual says not to shift into 5 until you goin 36 mph and not to shift into sixth until 48 mph. People who ride in 6th gear at like 30 to 47 can be/are causing excessive wear.

 

I ckd. my dipstick first thing this morning and it was about half way thorough the hash marks. After driving the car and bringing her home, I waited for about 20 mins, then re-ckd. and the oil level was almost at the top of the hash marks on the stick. What's up with that?? (The manual does say to let the car reach normal operating temp. then wait about 10 mins to ck. the oil level, so that the oil goes back to the pan, but Ive always thought ckg. oil in the morning allows plenty of time for the oil to get back in the pan. So why do I show less oil when the cars' been sitting overnight for hours)?