Well we all know the EARLY VQ35DE's had some ISSUES

OIL Consumption the main one.
leaky sparkplug tubes on valve covers
pre cats clogging up
timing chain noise


How are the 7th gens doing?? i know yall got some miles on them now!!!

ANY oil loss at all??


Any other issues with the motor??



I didn't see a thread on this so i guess their is no major issues!

 

SurraTT - So far, in over two years in my '09, there has been no oil usage. The level pretty much stays at the same point on the dipstick. I have never had any smoky exhaust, pinging, knocking or anything that might hint at a problem.

Of course I break my cars in very slowly and very carefully, waiting past the 2500 mile mark before doing anything aggressive (like exceeding 4K rpms).

Consumer Reports publishes reliability charts reflecting problems subscribers have had with their cars, and the '09 Maxima has big orange ***** (much better than average in reliability) for 'engine major', 'engine minor', 'engine cooling', transmission major', 'transmision minor', 'electrical', 'drive system', 'suspension' and 'brakes.' There will always be a few unlucky folks who have problems, but when we see surveys that cover thousands of '09 Maximas, the overall reliability seems to be very high.

 

Only issues I've had have been with the front suspension, which both were covered under two separate TSB's free of charge. No oil consumption issues at all, no issues with the CVT, no vibration from the RS-A tires.

My only complaint is the clearcoat on these things... wayyyyy too damn soft! Overall, great car. Does everything I want it to and more.

 

21 Oil Changes so far and always shows "full" before changing it out. Pipes are factory clean so no "oil burning," drips, drabs or the like after 107,500 miles to date.

 

That's impressive. 107K on the odo and still no oil consumption issues at all?

 

What's more impressive is putting 107,000 miles on a car in two years.

That's a heckofalot of driving.

Good to hear you guys aren't having oil consumption issues...wish I could say the same.

 

None...this is a nice tight engine and I'm very glad I finally took the plunge into a Maxima.

 

is it same engine as in the infiniti g35, fx35, altima 3.5 ?

 

Good to hear all is well with this car. Got mine a month ago and mods are on the way.

 

its the same as the altima 3.5 i dont think its the same as none of the infiniti

 

Got that right!

I heard rumors that earlier versions of the VQ35DE had some oil consumption issues. Usually the first 10K miles you'll see some extra consumption going on, but after that you shouldn't see any at all.

Time for you to get a 2011 SV Sport

 

COOL!

Thanks for the input guys!!!




Better yet get a 7th gen motor in a 5.5 gen , fully tuned= Best Maxima EVER

 

Oh, and about the other things...

Leaky sparkplug tubes on valve covers- Can't comment on this one. Only 16K on the clock.

pre cats clogging up- no issues so far

timing chain noise- none at all. Get some valvetrain noise from the CVVTCS at idle when its cold, but that's about it.

 

I can't justify 290HP with a CVT.

I <3 my gearbox too much.

However, if I somehow manage to blow up my engine, you can guarantee I'll be scouting high and low for a reasonably priced '09-'10 VQ35.

My car doesn't burn a lot of oil. Just enough that if I push the car hard, I can smell it afterward. Oddly enough, if I use dino oil, the car will burn it. If I run synthetic, it won't. I'm starting to wonder if my PCV valves are just clogged.

 

Zero oil consumption in 29K miles so far. No other issues to report mechanically.

 

wow 107k miles, that gives me some hope with 44k miles.

 

Yeah that earlier 3.5 oil issue is very sparatic.........some do more don't from 350 to 3.5 Alti. I have not had an oil burn issue on the Max at all, also keep in mind that some of the 3.7s in the G's and 370z's have that oil burn issue as well..........

 

Looking good!!!!!!! I wont know what to do without having to add oil every month!!!!!!

 

yeah, I'm jealous of your MT

 

you should change it...its only a few bucks and a few minutes to change...within 10 minutes (at least on my de-k) i had mine changed out.

OAN: thats good to hear about the newer vq engines and no oil consumption, congrats to the 107k mile + max driver too lol sounds like you and i are in teh same boat as far as traveling

 

I don't know if congrats are in order or uppet: for putting those kind of miles on a car so fast!

J/K, but good lord you do a lot of driving dude!

 

LOL!! hey man...i'm one of the people that rack up miles on cars...alot of highway miles, but i do my oil changes every 3k religiously even though i know since i do highway miles i can do 5k miles

 

Hahaha, hey it happens. Shoot, I'm probably going to hit 18K in one year and that's with a 47 mile round trip commute mon-fri!

 

i do about a 400 mile to work commute every week...which basically translates into me doing an oil change every month on the dot. i'm about to get a oil plug valve. advance is ordering me one, i got to stop by today to pick it up so i can use it on my next oil change

 

wow, ppl putting some miles on their car!!!! i hope yall make good money, id hate to put gas in the car much less the buy the car!

 

i stay broke...this maxima is a money pit

naw..but i'm hoping after doing my plugs, replacing one bad coilpack and replacing my pcv valve that i can do one tank of gas for the whole week going back and forth to work..if so ill be doing good and i wont have a need for a second car thats easier on gas

 

I'd rather be car broke than anything else

 

I toyed around with getting an apt in the city I work in, but I really love my own bed too much, plus, the 1.5 hr drive is a nice commute with very little traffic so it does give me time to decompress. The Max makes it easy. (I'm an IT guy so it can be a bit of a stressful job.) The only time I stay in town at work is those few times I indulge in "adult beverages" after work. A hotel room is much cheaper and safer than taking the risk.

 

I'm the complete opposite end of the spectrum. I'm in IT and after a stressful day my version of decompressing is getting home as fast as science fictionally possible That 40 minute drive home for me is like water torture with every red light being another drop on my forehead.

 

I would agree that if I had the "red light traffic" I would be a mess as well. I will drive 20 miles out of my way to avoid them!!! Grrrrrrrr!!!!! Fortunately, I don't have but a handful. Of course not getting home until 1030PM and leaving at 6AM means I miss a lot of that traffic as well (funny how people don't want you taking down systems for maintenance during "our" working hours!!!!)

 

Maintenance... Yeah when i hear that word i just pack a camping kit with me when i leave in the morning and make it an all nighter. No sense in even planning on going home when that happens. Fortunately we have ammenities such as showers, gym, pool/pingpong tables, and basketball court where i work to make those long nights a little shorter.

 

Going to be odd for me not worrying about oil consumption.

I carried a spare quart in my 04 RX8's truck for 6 years.

 

Amenities? I've never heard that word spoken by an IT guy before!!! I know it is time to go home when the flies drop dead when they approach!!!

 

Does anyone have a picture or description of where the pcv valve is? I started getting a exhaust/oil smell coming through my vents a month ago. I had it before and still after an oil change. No oil leaks that I can see.

 

In the rear valve cover.







So these motors seem pretty good! Not having any issues, although the motor does seem a little loud at idle to me.

 

Yeah they definitely fixed the oil consumption issues on the 2009+ VQ35 motor. The noise at idle is probably the noisy VVT system Nissan uses. Although it seems some are louder than others...

 

Yeah, I have had 0 oil loss. The motor has over 100 dyno pulls on it now also!


The noise I'm talking about is when its warm and just sitting there at idle. The valvetrain on the motors are kinda loud to me. On my setup it might be herd more then in 7th gens though.

 

Yeah on both my 2010 and 2011's, never had any issues with oil loss... and that includes over 30 passes at the drag strip and a trip to Tail of the Dragon

I know exactly what you're talking about with the valvetrain clatter. With the stock airbox, it wasn't too noticeable. Now with an open element SRI setup (R2C), it's definitely louder at idle now.

If you think ours is loud, listen to a new Mustang 5.0 Ti-VCT... that valvetrain noise at idle makes ours seem quiet!

 

My expierence with two VQ motors have been great. The first was in a 2006 3.5 Altima--I beat that car like it owed me money and it never burned a drop of oil. Hell I didnt even break the car in and it never let me down over the 67k miles.
My current 2010 Maxima has 34k on it and its the same rock solid engine without a drop of oil missing in between my 3700 mile oil changes. I have been much easier on this car but then again it cost me a lot more money and I hope to keep it at least 6 years

 

loth, if i didn't already have you quoted in my sig, hahahaha

sorry for the OT, lol