Hay guys

My 6th gen maxima uses a fair bit of oil alot actually. Shares the same engine that u guys have so I thought I'd post on the more popular 5th gen section. I thought id ask if it could be
Valves or valve seals? Or rings?

Cheers kurt

 

Our problem seems to be related to one of two things: rings or valve covers. Most who change out valve covers upgrade to 6th gen covers (better design), so that is likely not your issue. That leaves rings. Seems that the rings (in 5th gen engines anyhow) allow for a fair amount of blow-by. It is a hit or miss issue, either you have an oil burner or not. My original engine used about a quart of oil every 1500 miles. YMMV.

 

Are you sure you don't have a leak. It may be a small one but it adds up over time. With our gen there are a number of leaks that sprout up. Valve covers (both banks, but almost all of the time it's the rear), lower oil pan, and the oil cooler seal are the most common. Your gen valve covers are better than ours however that doesn't mean they don't fail. As far as the other items I can't imagine they're much different from ours.

Can a failed PCV valve cause excessive blow-by and more consumption? Might be something to check as well.

 

My buddy mentioned valve stem seals and it makes sense. Mine doesn't burn oil unless I engine brake.

 

I've actually been dealing with this issue as well. In the past 1.5k miles, I've had to change my oil twice. It's kinda understandable considering how hard I push this car, but even then, it's still bothersome. I don't mean to derail the thread, but the guy who does my oil (which I don't trust for ****), keeps pushing me to do an engine flush. He insists that an engine flush will keep it from burning oil (which I don't believe, but don't have any proof for otherwise). I keep saying no because I honestly don't know if it'll **** my engine up or not. I've got 165k on my 03.

I was reading up here and there because I had the chain rattle from low oil pressure, which I'm guessing is caused by the oil consumption, and read that 20w50 in warm weather would keep the car running fine. Got it changed today and it's noticeably thicker. My RPMs drop much quicker.

Any advice?

 

^^^^my advice is not to get and engine flush, its just a sales gimmick to make money it really wont help your issue or any other, it'll likely just cause more problems. A buddy of mine has been a dealer mechanic for over 15 years and says they use to sell those back in the 90's and early 00's like hot cakes just to make money.

 

6th gen valve covers are exactly the same. Im still wondering what all that hype was about.. Besides the price.

 

Yeah, I figured it was. If anything, seafoam could prob do a better job of flushing my engine than their engine flush could. I just ordered some 6th gen valve covers and am waiting for those to come in. When they do, I plan on changing the spark plugs and then seafoaming it. Anything else I can do to reduce the burning?

 

You mean seafoam then replace plugs.

Search for the catch can. I think it would be interesting if people logged the amount of oil burned (how much is topped up) vs how much is actually trapped in the catch can.

 

The timing chain rattle happens because of the chain tensioners, there is a lot of work involved to pull the engine and get the timing chain cover off to replace the tensioners.

In my case it depends on engine load (going uphill) and % throttle given, so I just try and avoid that to not get the noise.

 

There are like 500 threads on the oil burning VQ35DE.........this is 501.