so for a while I've always complained about the lack of power on my car. at my work place where I park theres a minor puddle of oil.
Last week I got my oil changed (there was still a decent amount oil in the oil pan I assume. it drained a normal amount of time)
anyway after the oil change boom performance was great. I pressed on the gas and I could feel the acceleration.

a week went by like this (great performance) and then (I'm assuming oil was lost) Performance wasn't great and now I'm back to not so great performance. I step on the gas and the car accelerates but slowly.

so I checked the dipstick it has oil but these dipsticks are very weird so as long as it came out wet it's good to me. anyway I added some oil to the car and I did regain performance for a couple of days and now I'm back at square one.

I've taken the car to 2 mechanics already who told me the oil leak is minor and not worth repairing at this time. also they both said "all engines leak oil"

One of the mechanics suggested doing a tune up.

The car is a 2002 nissan maxima with 117,xxx km.

I'm actually considering taking apart the top part of my engine to see if there's anything visibly wrong but I'm wondering if I could re-use the gaskets or would I need to buy some new ones?

any input would be great. thanks!

 

Which gaskets?

 

You have a car that leaks or burns or both, so you need to learn how to properly check your oil level, and do it often. When the car is cool, and parked on a level surface, remove the dipstick and wipe the oil off it with a cloth or paper towel. Re-insert the dipstick all the way, then pull it straight out again. Rotate it so that you can see the fill-mark. Add oil as necessary.

 

Check your breather tubes on the crankcase. Perhaps excessive oil is increasing crankcase pressure which is increasing compression and oil pressure which enhances performance. Have your mechanic put a mechanical oil pressure gauge and see what they are. Maybe even a compression test. And once you remove the intake manifold I would go ahead and change the plugs and in your case upgrade to 04+ valve covers and gaskets.

 

bro, be very careful with adding oil in your ride. The stick is supposed to be wet....if the dipstick is dry then you got other problems. Listen to ROC's advice.....don't just go adding oil just because...you might overfill the engine. You might also need to do a tune up on the engine. Less oil doesn't mean less performance and vice versa........if that was true I'd have to swap the whole trunk out for an oil pan and have like 300 gallons in there!!!