Everyonce in a while I get the red oil light to flicker on while I'm driving... usually when I hit the clutch to brake. The RPMs drop to 600 and I get a little flicker of the oil light. But then turns off. I have no external oil leaks, meaning that my parking spot is dry always. But I seem be losing oil, how do I find out where and how? I use 5w30 Mobil 1 full synthetic. I have about 74000. Please help.

 

So you are actually low on oil according to the dipstick?

 

Or dipsticks SUCK, I can't get an accurate reading on it.. the whole thing is always submerged in oil, then when I drain it I'll only have like 1.5-1.75 litres of oil come out.

 

Our dipsticks have two raised sections to keep the oil off the reading surface... Just let the engine sit at least 5 minutes after shutting it off before cleaning the dipstick and then taking reading.

 

I was concerned about the same thing, and I got some sneid replies a while back saying use search etc.

Anyway, the oil pressure sender IS a source of a possible/probable leak. I had mine replaced and still I had to keep adding oil between changes. Finally, I went to the dealership just before I hit 60k and told them I'd like to have it fixed before the powertrain warranty is gone. They put no leaks found at this time on the bill, but oddly enough, I just checked the oil the other day and it's not low this time. It leads me to believe they did something, because after 20k of adding oil it doesn't just stop on its own. Me too, never any oil on the ground. So my best advice is to tell the dealership how much oil you're adding and tell them you'd like it fixed. You can rest assured you're not the only one. Shame it can happen with only 74k on the motor. Good luck.

 

If the oil is actually low, however. It has to be going somewhere... Since you don't see any leaking on the floor then the only other place it can go is out the tailpipe.

Is your car spewing white smoke at startup or under hard acceleration?

 

No smoke noticed. But unless its real minor and I don't see it out the back window.

Chunger, even when I fill the car up with new oil, I rarely get a good reading on the dip stick.

Also-I checked a Spark plug and they are dry as well. I'm wondering if there is any chance of the oil going into the tranny?

 

if it was the rear main seal oil would pass through the little pry bar crack in the bottom of the tranny and leak out. if the dipstick isnt reading right u might not have enough in there to read. its happened to me before. it really depends on how u drive if u get near redline very often then id definately see oil consumption going up. also check your intake tract to see if any oil is coming back through the valvetrain. -Pete

 

thanks pete, I do race the engine to 5k at least a couple of times a day. How do I check the valvetrain? I have a bypass filter on the valve cover, and it used to be saturated with oil, but has seemingly stayed dry for the last few months. When I've checked my oil, even when just putting fresh oil in after a oil change, I've never got a good solid reading on the dipstick.. I put in 4 quarts in an oil change, I make it about 2k miles when that light starts to poke its head up.

 

Could be the oil pressure switch. GF's 240 had that problem where the oil light would come on and go off.
It was less then $100 to fix at the dealer.

 

Rear seal is a possibility, and that got me thinking because there's grime on the manual tranny's housing. At the same time, let's be real....if VQ's needs rear seals replaced so early it's a poorly constructed motor. I think poor suppliers to Nissan Motors causes these problems that we don't expect, and it causes owners to chase their tails like a 2 month-old puppy in a cage.

Long story short, other people like myself have experienced the can't get a reading on the dipstick syndrome and adding oil between changes as early as 40k. Nissan wont seem to say what's going on but with my experience you go to the dealer and the problems mysteriously disappear without them acknowledging them.

 

 

AMSOIL recommends letting the car sit for 8 hours so all the synthetic oil drains into oil pan. I check the oil 1st thing in the AM after car has sat all night. It is very easy to read then, yes I know the oil is cold but this technigue really works.

 

That's not necessary with most cars, at least the ones that I owned: Pontiac OHV I6, OHV V8, Toyota DOHC I4, DOHC V6, Volvo SOHC I4, SOHC V6, Ford OHV I4.

If the Maxima had a dry sump I'd understand, but I think it's nothing more than saving a few $ on the dipstick and tube.

True, with the Max it needs to sit. Now get this, it matters whether you're parked uphill or down. ^*($)(*&$)&* transverse mounted eh?

 

I agree but the Maxima has the hardest to read dip stick of an car i have ever owned. A guesstimate is that I have owned about 30 cars from C Gas coupes to GTOs to Mustang to Infiniti. How can they build such a fantastic engine and then put such a poor dipstick on it?
Be well!!!!

 

Hmmm I'll try the dipstick in the morning, I did add 1 quart of oil to my car this afternoon and let it sit for 10 minutes or so STILL NO READING. Well it showed on the Full side but not on the empty, so it was backwards. So if this was the dipstick (====E========F==========O
I had oil here
(=====E=====OIL==F===oiloiloiloiloil========O
Make sense?

Should I take the car to the dealer tomorrow? Someone said if the rear seal is damaged that it should be leaking to the ground right? I assume the rear seal means the seal that goes from the engine to the tranny? All of that area is bone dry.

 

if your rear main seal was leaking then id assume that it would seap out. theres no gasket between the bellhousing and the block. as far as your valvetrain, if you have oil in your intake i would bring it to the dealer and say why does my car have an oil saturated air filter. it could also be the sensor, mine was done because it was leaking and faulty before my warranty was up. id say read up on checking the health of your oil pressure sender unit usually sensors can be checked with a multitestor, im not too familiar with the procedures though, anyone know what im talking about ?

 

I would start using 10W30 grade oil.

 

why? I was told that 10w could cause your oil pump to work harder...too hard under high RPMS

 

If you are not leaking oil, your engine is burning oil. Too much oil is blowing by your piston ring. With thicker oil, you will minimize oil passing through into the combustion chamber. On my camry with 186K miles, I use 10w30 for this reason. The car still burns a bit of oil, about 1 qt every 2k miles. I wouldn't worry about the oil pump working harder. It's not like using 20W50. Are you sure you don't have any leaks? Jack the car up and look up into the engine bay. Check for fresh oil leaks. If it's spotless, than the oil is geting burned up. I would start using heavier grade to see if that helps.

 

Someone showed me the white piece of paper behind the exhaust trick to see if it was coming out the tail... it was pretty clean. I'll try it, my car doesn't smoke when I start it up or rev it up high... How much oil do you burn when you rev high? I'm wondering if its from racing on the freeway everyday to work? Well not racing but my tach hits 5500 everyday at least once trying to get into traffic

 

Welcome to the club, I posted this about 3 months ago, I have a 97 with 82K miles and I have the same problem, I replaced the oil pressure sensor and the problem did not go away. The engine performs flawless with the exception of the light, I do notice if I try and run the ac the light comes on more frequently and she trys to stall, I now change the oil every 2K miles. I like you see the higher RPM every single day. I am willing to bet everyone that has this problem has a manual tranny.

 

My car doesn't try to stall, I'm wondering if I set my idle a little higher, I have a few turn play before it bumps up the RPMs if it will prevent the light from popping on. (assuming it is coming on when the RPMS bottom out). But I still would like to figure out where the oil is going, unless i'm just burning it up in the High RPMS. I know with my Pathfinder Nissan said its still within specs to burn 1 qt of oil per 1k miles. I thought that was crazy, but thats what their service manager told me. Also if I was burning oil from a ring leak like 1max2nv suggested, would I see any residual on the sparkplug?

 

I think the most important question is how much oil are we talking about? From my own experience the pressure unit was 1/3 quart every 3500 miles or so. We all know a modern car should use 0 oil between changes. Burning oil to me is unlikely. Adding a quart is alot of oil. The only thing I know is I told the dealer that I thought I was losing oil before the warranty was over, they said nothing is wrong, and mysteriously the problem is now gone. Can you say first Nissan/last Nissan? You probably need to talk to an honest dealer that would admit it's a common problem, they don't do anything about it unless the customer brings it up, and also be willing to share the solution.

 

Your oil level is where you have "OIL" on the diagram above... Those "bumps" I pointed out keep oil from transfering onto the portion of the dipstick between the 2 bumps from the dipstick tube.

BTW: 10-30W is what the dealer normally uses for our cars.

 

really? my owners manual says to use 5w30, what the real difference here? 0w30/5w30/10w30?

 

Ok something else is coming to my attention...

I put the car up on a lift to take a look underneath it. Other than some old stuff that had a good inch of dirt stuck to it, the car is bone dry underneath... I talked to the guy at Autozone, he said that there have been a lot of complaints about mobil 1's supersyn formula that it breaksdown and is blown out. Has anyone heard this? or experiencd mobil 1 problems?

 

The haynes manual lists incorrect/low idle setting as a possible cause for the oil pressure light coming on. Hopefully your infinti just does not like the Mobil 1 oil.

 

That's a good point. I have an oil pressure gauge. The higher the RPM, the higher the oil pressure. If could very well be too low of an idle. Still..Louie needs to read his dipstick better

 

Ok so I've learned how to do it properly, I've added 2 quarts of oil and It's barely showing signs of oil at the end of the stick

 

Ok, I'm still in need of help. Toolrocks and I did a compression test and a vaccuum test on my car on saturday. The results were

210psi on all 6 cylinders-the first crank usually brought me up to 120-140 psi then by the 3rd I was at 210.

The Vaccuum test yielded a very steady -25psi of vaccuum with out any bouncing or tremors on the needle. The seep hole is dry on the underside of the car. I still have no idea where 2 quarts of oil could've gone... out the breather element on valve cover? maybe?

 

2 quarts is a huge amount of oil--I was annoyed that I had to add 1/4-1/3 qt every 1500 miles or so when I had the leak last year. Is it possible that you didn't really lose 2 quarts and somehow the dipstick is affecting your perception of how much oil we're talking about?

I would suggest you check again after 1k miles of driving--and make sure you park in the exact same spot when checking. Also let the car sit overnight. It all sounds very dumb, but this Maxima is impossible to get an accurate reading on without doing so.

I believe I had a leak fixed but again the dealer didn't acknowledge it yet it mysteriously disappeared. Hopefully you're not really losing that much oil. Good luck.

 

I wish... I had to add 2 more quarts to get the oil to register on the dip stick. I plan on dumping the oil this upcoming weekend. If I don't have 6 quarts of oil, i'll know that I have a problem.

 

How's your coolant looking? Is it clear or milky? Just wondering about a blown head gasket or cracked block. Nobody has made mention of that possibility yet. Good luck.

 

I think a blown head gasket or cracked block would produce oil dripping. I'm not sure, but I did check my coolant, and its good and green with no oily swirls. My engine bay under undercarriage are both dry, no signs of recent oil loss.

 

I don't have any signs of leaking, and I don't see any smoke out the tail, and there is no sign of oil being burned on my plugs, but for some reason I am losing oil? Really ****es me off. Going to change my PC valve and Oil Pressure Sending Unit and see if that helps....

 

How much oil are you losing? I'm adding about 2qt to each 3000 miles driven. So I'm losing A LOT of oil. I've been told that the oil sending units in our cars leak often. But I doubt it would be 2qts with out having a big oil slick in the driveway.