I have a 97 SE with about 63,000 miles and it seems to be going through a quart of oil about every 1,250 miles. I'm using Mobil 1 5w30 and have been since about 30,000 miles. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Smoke out the tailpipe? That's the only other place oil goes, i think.

is there any strange smells? do you have blue smoke at start up?

No, there aren't any strange smells and the car doesn't smoke. The car seems to be running fine from what I can tell except for that damn oil loss problem. Would a compression test be the next way to go?

Do you cruise at high speed regularly?? Oil consumption increases with higher average RPMs.

DW

I usually cruise at around 80-90mph. My driving is mostly highway miles.

Yes. I doubt it's the high-speed thing that's causing a significant loss of oil, I do a lot of highway driving and lose very little oil.

related question....


I get a smell at start up, when car is cold.... not sure whether it smells like gasoline or something similar. Anyone got any ideas? Is this normal?

Go to a shop and have them put in fluoresant (sp?) tracing fluid. You run it for a few days and go back to the shop. They black light the various seals and if anything leaks. I don't know how flammable it is but it may also be visible in the tailpipe.

I get that too but its because I have a y-pipe. check ans see if there are any exhaust leaks.

Normal, the ECU makes the car run richer at startup.

Okay.

1) Odd oil consumption. Lotsa people blame worn rings but I think worn valve stem seals could be a cuprit. It's what I think my VE is doing.

2) Odd smell at start up. If it's a 3-gen or maybe an older 4-gen, it could be the rubber gas lines that are loose or just old/hardened. When the engine warms, the rubber lines soften and seal again. Open the hood before you start and then start. Examine the lines starting at the output side of the fuel filter

it may actually be alright. another max driver a while back said that he was losing a quart of oil each oilchange/or month, but when he told the service dept. they said it was within tolerance levels. he then went to the honduh dealer and told them what was happening and they told him the same thing. i was thinking, wow, that sucks!

BUT, a few months ago, i did my regular oil scheduled oil change (mobil 1 trisynthetic), and actually measured the amount of oil i was getting back, and realized i was also LOSING A QUART...

kafene.

The number I've heard many different people mention is any more than 1 qt/3000mi is excessive. IMHO, an engine with only 60K on it that is burning oil at that rate has something going on in it. I'm no mechanic though.

if you rev it a lot
like redlining it all the time
you'll eat oil up faster

do you drive like this?

I don't necessarily agree. I drive on road course several time a year where my engine spend up to 2 hours per day running at WOT and up and down through the gears. I have yet to burn oil at these events. I have a 97 SE with 58K on it, and in it's entire life with me, I have only had to add 2 quarts of Mobil 1 to it. Both of these occured on two trips of about 1200 miles cruising at a sustained 80+

i do my oil change at around 3k (sometimes at 3500 miles) which comes to about every five weeks, for your standards, my car is excessive.

kafene.

Seems similar to my issue.... I am really hoping that when I replace the oil pressure switch that it will resolve my issue.

Pour the used oil from the drain pan back into the empty bottles of the new oil. Don't fill to the top, because they didn't come at that level. Try and be consistent. Determine the mass of a new oil filter and then mass your old one after the oil change. Keep the filteration hole upright so you don't lose any oil. When I did this, I found that I had nearly a half a quart of oil in my oil filter.

I doubt this will help you in your scenario, but it's a good way to check for consumption.

IIRC Daniel B Martin posted that oil consumption up to 1qt for 1k miles is ok. Anymore than 1qt in less than 1k = serious problem. The oil pressure senders have been problems on pretty much all nissans. If it is leaking it would be a good time to install an oil psi gauge.

Ok, so where do I get an oil psi gauge,$$??, and how is it installed??

thanks

I answered this question in the 4th gen FAQ's over in the 4th gen forum.

Saw that, but thought you just replaced the Oil Pressure Sending Unit???

Ooops... i guess I misread. I was tired it was 4 AM

No prob At least you were trying to help lol