Hello,

I bought my car with 77k miles. Back then it used to burn 1st per 3k miles roughly... I had a problem with one of my cats getting loose inside, replaced it around 90k miles. At that time, the car burnt about a qt every 1500 miles. Now 125k miles on the odometer and I'm down to 300 miles per qt... Will gutting my precats now help reduce the oil burning or is it pretty much like putting a band-aid on a gunshot wound?

I love the car but damn, Nissan F'ed up with their cat converter suppliers around those years (2002-2004)

 

Well, I have headers and oil still burns. So I don't think gutting cats will help either.

 

not sure gutting cats would help, sounds like you need a heart transplant really bad.

 

The theory was the pre-cats would fain and in turn get sucked into the engine and then damage the cyl walls, therefore leading to oil consumption.

With that theory on hand, if that damage is already done, then, no.

I installed headers at 40k, so I'm a happy non oil burning camper @ 129k.

 

Such a good engine destroyed because Nissan went fir the low bidder on the precats... Pisses me off.

Will an 05 maxima engine fit an 03MT?

 

Yes.

Be aware of the timing tensioner issues of the 04-05's though.

 

So it's either getting an 02/03 engine with potentially bad piston rings, get an 04/05 engine with possible bad tensionners, or get a new car...

 

The 04-05 is your best bet. Nissan offers updated tensioners which can be installed quickly when the engine is out.

 

Good info in here. Glad my pre cats are gutted and I'm only burning about a half qt every 3k miles.

 

Used engine with low mileage costs about $1200-1400, shipped. $1000-1200 if i can find one locally... How much does it cost to get an engine swap done by a professional?

 

Change the tensioners when the engine is out will be alot easier. Might also want to change the rear vc gasket while the engine is out.

You tried car-part.com correct? There's a shop in Bmore that specialize in Nissan/Infiniti.

 

Heck, while engine out Do cams too will be alot cheaper and easier to do!!!

 

I think I'll just buy a newer car in the $20k range and trade in my maxima before it's too late. Buying a used engine is like playing Russian roulette... I may get another oil burner. The maxima is a good car but it's almost 10 yr old now... I want a RWD manual car next. 06 BMW 330i is very tempting...

 

Is this an urban legend that was started by the 3rd party cat makers on this forum? Has anyone actually experienced and verified this?

 

I've experienced it... The day my rear precat started rattling is the day my oil consumption went drastically up...

 

No, as already cleared up. Your engine is the reason oil is burning, not the cats. Changing them should make 0 difference.

This. Though, I think below is your better option

Like I said I agree with your thought on this. Not sure the 20k range is necessary, especially if you're only getting a 330i, IMO, that will leave you wanting way more power. Those cars are pretty slow, and repairing them is much more involved.
I know it seems to be all anyone is chatting about here this last couple weeks with Rochester's new car coming in, but don't overlook the G's. If you want a RWD manual, and enjoy the luxury found in the Maxima, there's really not much out there unless you like paying a crapload for a car. The 3.5 liter pulls pretty darn good mileage out as well. The 03/04 has pretty much no problems at all, save for a few skimped pennies on gauge face, and a cheaper ECU (but still MUCH better than the Maxima's).
The 05/06 has records of oil burning issues but is the better rounded car.
Then getting into the 2nd, 3rd gen you're in heaven all around, but the price is up in your 20k range.

You can get one heck of a better car than a Bimmer 330i for 20k.

The theory is sound, though it could easily be argued that the oil consumption is caused in the engine, and the excessive oil passing through is what causes the cat's to fail and break up. So in short, the idea that the cat's are what causes oil burning issues is certainly not verified, but plausible.
That's based off what I've heard/read on the topic. My short stint with the Maxima 3.5 liter lasted for maybe 50mins of run time before the engine blew up. Personally, I think the positioning of the CrankCase recirculation/VCV and the valve cover design causes too much oil to get into the intake also. Though this is not the problem for the OP, it can certainly start a bad chain of events. Search "home depot catch can" for a way to rectify this poor design..
But if you have to do e-tests, may want to either hide it, or switch it back when it's e-test time.

 

2006 maxima engines fit as well. Buying an engine for that price? Is insane, I have seen them go for at most $800 man. Don't give up just yet, and most of the time they are low miles so no real "Russian roulette" risk.

 

I've done the catch can mod already but it caught almost nothing over the 6 month period I had it on, so I removed it...

Where can you get a VQ35DE engine with low miles under $800 Clint??

 

i have an 02 which i suffered from oil burning issues alot

i slapped in an 05 engine with 46k and havent had any oil burning issues since last feb when i slapped the engine in

i was gonna slap an 07 murano engine but since i got the 05 engine at $300 i was like wth why not

just change the engine and you will be happy and at the same time slap headers on

 

gutting the cats will do nothing to stop or slow down oil burning problems. What you are experiencing is excessive oil burning due to bad piston rings and scratched and backed cylinder walls. You can try to rebuild the motor you have or as said earlier just throw in a used low mileage 6th gen engine. It is getting very hard to find a 5.5 gen motor with under 100k miles and the price on the engines keeps going up do to the increased demand for this motors. I've been following the prices closely over the past couple of years as I have more customers coming to the shop with excessive oil burning problems on their cars that keep aging.

Every time I pulled the engine out to swap it out, the cats were badly deteriorated and most had pieces of the catalyst floating around on the top of the cat and suggests that the theory of the cat particles getting sucked in and damaging the engine is very plausible. I have seen the same exact problem with the altima QR25 engine (actually even more of a problem on the altimas 02-03 than the maxima of same year).

Either way, your engine is toast and needs serious help.

good luck.

 

Try Here.....http://www.car-part.com/

 

Have done any research on the 330i? 2006 is the 1st year of the E90 and I would stay away. Try an 07 or later. Fun car. I had a 2007 328I E90.

 

Yeah, I wouldn't complain about reliability then jump into a (newer) BMW, especially a used one LOL.

Get an E34 M5 and profit (over 300 HP I6, nice).