So, I doubt many of you know but a few, a FEW, VQ35DE's have been burning oil at random miles. It should not burn any oil and if it does it should not be more than a quart. So I wanted to see if any 6th genners have the problem.

Post the year of the car
Mileage
Miles on current oil
Level on Dipstick

And don't think because the dealer or someone else changes the oil, they will check this for you.

No need for any other questions or discussion, if your oil level is low, complain to the dealer while you can. Keep this thread clean and offtopic disscussion out of here.

 

Havent checked mine in a while but I can say that everytime its time for me to get an oil change my oil is at the low line on the dipstick if not a tad lower from what I recall. Im at 59k and my car is an 04, no warranty for me so I dunno what can be done at this point.

 

1k miles to complain, if you let the dealer know before the warranty if over they will still fix it after the warranty mileage because you already notified them of the problem.

How many quarts come out when you drain the oil?

 

Not sure, I dont do my own oil changes. I thought my warranty was up at 35k? Anyways, whats the cause of the oil burning? I remember seeing the thread in the 5th gen forum.

 

powertrain warranty ends at 60k miles. bumper to bumper ends at 36k.

So far many people agree that the oil is probably getting passed the rings somehow (scoring, etc.) There have been many other speculations but so far we haven't had any concrete evidence of the cause.

 

I checked mine today and I will check it again in a week. To date I don't believe I am burning any.

I wonder what results this will produce? I wonder how many others might be encountering this oil burning issue.

Swee

 

I have a lot of mods so I dunno if I would be able to swang that at the dealership.

 

After my 04 was broken in (at about 5 K miles) it was still burning a little oil. My OCI is 7.5K miles and I usually have to add about 1/3 of a quart at about 5 - 6 K miles. I just changed the oil today at 52,500 miles and did not check to see how low it had gone in about 2 K miles since I last added about 1/3 of a quart.

Check out the discussion in my first post on this thread in Fluids and Lubes:
http://forums.maxima.org/showthread....74#post5412274

 

Losing 1/3 of a quart every 5-6k isn't all that bad to me.

 

Oil isn't getting past the rings. It's getting lost through the intake as mist.

 

Could also be the valve seals and we have 24 of them.

 

Well so far, this appears to be a good thing:
In that not so many people have stated having oil burning issues. Am I being overly optimistic that this might not be an issue for the majority anymore?

Or are there a large, unspoken many that are dealing with this and haven't posted yet?

 

So wouldnt the DIY resevoir thing fix the problem then? I was going to make one eventually anyways.

 

Anything less than a quart is just fine. It's when you have to start adding a quart or two when you get problems. So far it seems it is very rare so most people should be good.

 

It is a fix, but the root problem (excessive blow-by) is not getting fixed.

 

I do my own oil changes. I broke the car in properly and did the first oil change at 2000 and then every 3000 thereafter. I don't think I have had to add any oil between if I have it has been a very small amount.

 

What I figured, oh well. Guess I need to start up some DIY projects, the resevoir, maybe rig up the Z thermostat, would love to be the first to do the Z IM on a 6th gen, just dont feel confident that I could do it.

 

That is the way I view it, too. But the effective question on this thread remains: "is your VQ burning any motor oil?" To that question my answer has to be "yes." If my OCI was only 3 K miles (a waste of resources given the quality motor oils and very low-sulfur gasolines in use today), I would not "see" any oil consumption.

I would prefer that my VQ not consume any motor oil, but it is "eating" a little over time.

 

A motor that "consumes" absolutely no oil is a motor that has ZERO blow-by or doesn't have a PCV system. Neither exists.

 

I have always been a fanatic about checking the oil level (and air pressure and tire wear and coolant level and windshield wiper fluid and . . ). I NEVER begin any mountain trip or a long level trip without checking the oil level.

My '04 SL was down about 1/3 of a qt at the first change - 3750 miles, and down about half that the second change - 7,500 miles. But by 15,000 miles, I was unable to detect any lowering of oil level between changes. I'm sure a miniscule amount is being consumed, but the dipstick still seems to be right at 'full' at change time.

I am still under 30,000 miles (my mileage is spread between three vehicles). My '00 SE with 75K is down less than a tenth of a quart at change time. I have owned nothing but Maximas since October, 1984, and have never had one that was ever down as much as a half quart between changes. probably a combination of extremely careful breakin and pure luck.

 

it's not fixing the problem at all, instead of it burning like designed you're now losing it into the catch can, same oil is lost (unless yer pouring it back in the engine)

 

Not exactly loosing it but keeping it from going into the intake manifold and gunking it up.

 

Not just that, but oil vapor lowers the effective octane of the fuel. Keeping it out helps keep the potential for knock/ping down.

 

Doubt it........

 

The PCV is also designed for emissions, not performance.

 

Post the year of the car: 2006
Mileage: about 22500
Miles on current oil: about 2500
Level on Dipstick: with 5 quarts, it's at the full/high mark when cold, sitting for several hours

 

but you don't know that for sure. Don't state it like a fact when there's no evidence to back it up. I collect just as much blowby as the next person but the last time I measured the oil that came out of my car, it was 4 1/4 quarts which was just as much as I put in. I can't imagine an entire quart going through the IM every 1000 miles, which is how much oil some are losing.

http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=486215&page=4

^^ that still isn't proof, but hopefully nissan will release something close to the truth so that sooner can let us know what the problem is.

 

I stand corrected. But i do think that SOME of the oil is being lost through the intake manifold as well.

 

most definitely. I actually need to go empty my blowby catch can tomorrow (this thread reminded me of it) and I usually need to empty it every 1500-2000 miles. Also, there is even more oil that gets past the catch can, so I'm very confident that you can easily see a loss of 1/2 quart in a 5000 mile period just through the IM. I just can't fathom an entire quart going through there every 1000 miles, know what I mean?

 

Oil can be mostly burnt through PCV system, rings blow-by (either block deterioration or rings wear) or valve seal leak.

Excessive PCV system excessive blow-by can be detected with the oil catch canister - how much oil are those guys with carcth can actually catching?

Rings/block can be seen if you open the top and see the cylinder walls or play in piston or if you are good can be seen on the plugs - anyone done that?

With oil seal leaks that can be seen by looking at plugs and usually one is much darker or gunked up more than others and can be seen during plugs change...

There were a few orgers that had their engines replaced - what were the reasons, root causes?

 

Gents, I just performed an oil consumption test on my 05 with 35K. The dealer in Florence .AL put Castrol BLEND 5w30 in it. I ran it for 3500 miles and I was a quart low. I took it to the Mobile dealer and started the oil test. A thousand miles later it was okay. They put a castrol sticker on the windshield but I foundout that they used Valvoline 5W30 this time. I'm continuing to monitor the situation but the Nissan dealer in Pensacola andMobile Sucks A***.

 

I have a higher mileage 6th gen on here, at 68,000 mi so ill go check it out, ive never been told it was low so I never looked...

 

I havent checked mine either. If it was low im sure they would tell me. I guess I should start checking though.

 

so check this out. haven't been on here in a while but thought I would check things out and well this is the discussion I was hoping to find at least one of them. I just went and got a 30k service done on my car at 50k because I was skeptical of my tranny so I wanted a flush and well since alone that was going to cost over $200 I figured I would just do it all at once due to winter. this was now 1200 miles ago. I also wanted them to check into the cold start ticking issue I had. lasts about 5 secs and goes away and sometimes comes back while driving. they had me bring it in and leave it over night a few days after the 30k service. I put 500 miles on it between the two visits. they heard it and investigated to find I was one quart low on oil. I told them they were crazy. I have never lost oil. I do my own oil changes every 3k miles and check my oil all the time. I asked if they were sure they filled it up correctly when they worked on it last. the guy said they use a machine to fill it up and that they can't mess it up. So they wanted me to return in 800 to 1000 miles later. I agreed. the service rep told me I needed to provide proof of oil changes to keep my work under warrenty. I explained how I did my own oil changes and he told me to provide reciepts of purchases. I don't keep reciepts of oil purchases. So this has gotten pretty ugly allready. I left the dealership and made a decision to drive the hell out of my car for the next 800 miles to see if what they claim is correct. After reaching 300 no loss. After 600 no loss, and last night after 827 no loss. I think they ****ed up my oil change. I am going to pay them an unpleasent visit tomorrow night with my conclusion and my demands. My new topic if interested about the tranny problem will soon be posted. I will keep all informed. lesson learned check all fluids even after the work is done at the shop. ohh and keep reciepts of anything and everything done on your car until your 60k is up.

 

i have an 02 3.5 altima with 97,000 miles, it burns about 1-2 quarts between oil changes. at first it bothered me casue i was gonna buy a new motor, But runs good and pulls hard so i guess it doenst really bother me. If my motor blows it wont be from low oil.

 

This may sound petty, but: Mobile is a town in Alabama and Mobil is an oil company that has dealers and stations.

On re-reading your post, perhaps I misunderstood you and that you went to a Nissan dealer in Pensacola and another Nissan dealer in Mobile, AL. Which is it? A Nissan dealer in Mobile, AL -- or a Mobil dealer.

Back on topic: I just changed my oil (myself) and found that I was almost 1 Qt low after putting in what I though was 4.5 quarts. I do my own changes, but I check at least twice after each change to be certain that there is enough oil in the pan. If I had a shop do the work, I certainly would check their work.

 

went to the dealer and hacked out the situation with the service center manager and he told the guy who had been helping me to set me up with an appointment to fix the problem. He was pissed and told me he just wants to stop beating around the bush and wasting my time so he is going to hook me up to a new machine they just got to test for leak by. He told me within the last 6 months he had 3 different 350Zs with the same problem. He began explaining how the production was ****ed in the 04 and early 05 model 3.5 liter engines. He said the problem with all the 350's were the same. Leak by came because of the slip rings being misaligned causing other problems. whether or not nissan is aware of this problem is another question. Deffinitly keep a paper trail of complaints on this if you are having a problem. I will keep everyone posted on my results tomorrow. Another night without my car