My 2017 Max has 12k miles so far, I got the car with about 100 miles on it.
I have been smelling burning oil off and on since new, Its hard to place where the smell is coming from, sometimes its strong, sometimes its faint. I first thought it was just the car being broken in but for it to still be like that after 12k doesn't make sense. There are no leaks that I can see.

has this happened to others?


I don't drive the car everyday as I have another car so this my leisure car, I have had the oil changed at 5k and 10k with full syn.

 

Yep, just in the past few days (now that it is warmer outside) I've noticed a strong odor like burning oil coming from my '17 SL (17k miles) when I park it in the garage and then reenter the garage from the house after a few minutes. Smells just like burning oil but I have a lift and I have checked that engine over from top to bottom and it is tight all over. Can't tell where the smell is coming from. As others have noted I also get a whiff of antifreeze odor. It is not coming from the overflow container as I suspected, but it is definitely coming from the area of the radiator cap, but all around the cap, radiator, and hoses is dry with no staining. Go figure. My '07 Altima always had the same antifreeze smell (that was coming from the overflow container) but never that burned oil smell.

 

First off, sometimes oil get's places it shouldn't during the filter change. If it's on a cooler part of the motor it may take a while for it to heat up and smell, also may take a very long time for it all to burn off, but then you have another oil change, and more residue spilled.

That said, I'd take it to the dealership for the next oil change, ask them to triple check for oil leaks, and if there's any residue from filter removal, ask that they clean that up real good so that you can rule that out if you smell the oil again. And, if you smell it again, go straight back. Warrantee is there, use it!

 

Thanks, I was planning on taking it to the dealer but I do not think its oil from an oil change.... That would make sense if I had started to smell it after my first oil change at 5k miles... but since I noticed with just over 100 miles, and the entire 5-6 months leading up to the 5k oil change, and then the entire time leading up to current day..... Is it possible its oil from an oil change? yes, How likely is it? extremely unlikely.

I had wanted to see if other have had the same issue and so far we have 1 person, may or may not be the similar but thats one of the reason for posting on these boards... to see if others have had issues so I might have some ammo in case the dealer doesn't find anything.

Sometime over the spring/summer I will bring it in and have them look at it.

 

There is a TSB that comes up for the 2017 Maxima in regards to "oil leaking".NTB17-008b -REVISED-
VARIOUS NISSAN MODELS; OIL LEAKING AROUND VALVE TIMING CONTROL SOLENOID VALVE
Engine oil is leaking from a valve timing control solenoid valve,
And
The valve timing control solenoid valve operates correctly and is not externally damaged.



If you go to nissanhelp.com it shows all the TSB/Recalls for all Nissans.

 

Nice, Thanks I will check that out.

last night I checked the nhtsa with my vin and that came up with nothing. Im glad theres a nissan one.

 

maybe my nose is bad... is this the same as the hot “cat converter” smell??
i smell a bad odor during hard acceleration (above 4k rpm) while on sport mode. this also happens on my dad’s 7th gen.

 

The reason you can't find anything related to this on the National Highway Traffic SAFETY Administration website is that TSB17-08b is because the NHTSA website only lists safety recalls.

The oil leak TSB is not a recall that is safety related.

 

In the case of my 17 Max SL there's not a trace of oil anywhere on the bottom or up the sides of the engine. I had the car up on my rack last night. The only thing I have not done is to remove the top engine cover to see if there's any oil leaking around that solenoid that was referred to earlier. PS I do my own oil changes and I can do those without spilling nary a drop. Oh and the catalytic converter smell, smells more like rotten eggs I believe it is sulfur dioxide produced from the cats when they're over rich with fuel.

 

Mine has had a burning smell since the 2nd oil change. Thought it was oil spilled during the service, but it hasn't improved. I had my 3rd oil change done about a month ago and now it's leaking oil. I have an appointment to have it checked out this weekend.

 

Please let us know what the techs find.

 

Had my car into the dealer on Saturday. They found that the express service they also have on site spilled a lot of oil. After they cleaned everything, they changed the oil again. Then they put the car on a lift and let it sit for a while and saw no leaking.

I went a day with no burning smell and no oil leaking. On Monday, I pulled out of my garage and saw a new small build up of oil on the ground. It is obviously still leaking, so I called the service manager that I worked with previously. I'm going to have to drop off the Maxima tonight to be looked at again.

 

Any update? What did they finallly end up replacing?

 

They used a UV dye and found the oil pan was leaking. Still no burning smell after they cleaned up the original mess from my previous oil change.

 

Thanks. I occasionally get the smell but no leaking.

 

I dropped my Max off at the dealer a few days ago for both a burning oil smell and an antifreeze smell around the radiator cap. The dealer checked the engine from top to bottom and could find no oil residue that could be causing the burning. He also checked the cooling system including a pressurization check of the radiator cap. Again he could find nothing. I've been on vacation since and just got back so I'll let you guys know if I discover these smells again. I'm sure I'll find the same smells again because the dealer really did nothing.