Suspected oil consumption? :/
 

Checked my oil level last night and it looks like I'm about 2qts low after 2500 miles.... what I'm gonna do today is change the oil and monitor the oil level every week and this time I'll drive more sensibly. Now I do drive the car pretty hard. Shifting at 7500 rpm quite a bit and I have a heavy foot. I'm also doing downshifts and rev matching when I race to. Does the way you drive determine how much oil your car can use? I remember I had this oil issue in my 06 G35 with the DE motor. But I didn't think this VHR had this issue :/

early model 370's had this issue as well, seeing as it looks like yours is a 2010 it might be one of the unlucky ones. unfortunately unless you purchased an extended warranty through Nissan themselves in the worst case scenario if it continues consuming oil like that you are most likely looking at an engine replacement unless you can live with topping off the oil every now and then.

maybe try a different brand/weight of oil?

So 2011 and up don't have this issue? I seen there was a TSB for the 2009-2010 oil consumption... lucky for me the dealer I bought the car from it came with a engine for life warranty so it should be covered for free. I'm not gonna change the oil myself and I'll just bring it in to them and show it's low and we'll probably change the oil and start an oil consumption test. Then out of it I'll get a free engine if it falls under their decision as a oil consumption

This may help

2010 40th
 

I'm currently in the same boat as you with my 2010, I bought the car march 2015 and I've always used Mobile 1 5W-30 full synthetic oil (Bad idea). I did Autocross, HPDE, 1/4 mile and the ocassional runs to mexico, I always kept an eye on the oil because it would burn a little after really spirited driving and I had no oil cooler so it was to be expected.
Last march when i was changing the oil a week after a track day it was around 3qts low which i thought was a bit excessive so i started keeping an eye on it, come June it was 2qts low not as bad as before, then in September it was 2qts low after 1500 miles due to 1 night at the 1/4mile and some mexico runs all in the same weekend, so i topped it off. In December I did another oil change and installed an oil cooler which helped. Come oil change time in march the weekend after TX2K17 it was 2.5qts low due to 3 consecutive nights of mexico runs.
A friend suggested i try a different oil weight so a month ago, I did an oil change and I went with Castrol edge 0W-40 (European Formula) its been 1K miles and no sign of burning, i'll be doing a track day in 2 weeks then ill really know if it made a difference.
I found the TSB and my car falls in the VIN range my car. I bought my car about 2 years ago from a Lexus dealership also bought an extended warranty but its not a Nissan warranty, currently it has 77K miles so I don't even know if it will cover an engine with this much miles.

Dang man sounds like your oil consumption is terrible. Hopefully your extended warranty covers you because it honestly sounds like you're either in dire need to replace the engine or you might as well just trade it in for a 2011 and up Z since the 2009-2010 have the recall. But it sounds like you got potential now to not deal w the oil burning issues now that you changed the weight of your oil? If you haven't burned anything after 1k miles you may just be lucky enough to be in the clear.... but dude you shall keep me updated in this thread and hopefully we can get our Z's to no longer burn oil anymore. And if all we need to do to fix the problem is change the weight of the oil then that's an easy fix for us!

what is the difference for the engines within the range from that TSB?

Idk man that's a good question, as far as I know all of the 370z's have the same set up so idk why exclusively 2009-2010 would have this issue..

Update, so tonight I did a test run and my girlfriend drove behind me when I did hard accelerations and she said she smelled a weird burning smell out of my exhaust. This was when I was accelerating at high rpms and accelerating hard. I wonder if I'm purely burning oil only when I'm accelerating hard?

**Update** Went to track on saturday and beat on it in 97 degree heat and going all out in the sessions, hottest the oil got was 221 degrees. Came back and let it sit for a day, checked the oil and it was 1.5 quarts low so its still buurning. Next oil change im going with 0W-40 .

The only thing that helped my motor oil consumption issue in the past was when I switched from Mobil 1 5W30 Synthetic Motor Oil to Valvoline SynPower 10W30 Synthetic Motor Oil with earlier oil change intervals. Most people that have a warranty can have there engine replaced under there warranty for the oil consumption issue because there is a TSB for the 2009-2010 Nissan 370's having oil consumption problems. If you can't live with topping of your engine oil every now and then you will have to try to warranty your engine under excessive motor oil consumption issues.

I bought my car used from a dealership and it came with an engine for life warranty and the they changed my oil and filter and we started a 1000 mile oil consumption test and they said if its burning under nissan's standards for block replacement then they will replace it.

dang man u might need a new block

Update: After 500 miles my car is a quarter of a quart low. Not doing too bad.

I think that's abnormal. what is Nissan acceptable level for oil consumption? what is the mileage on your car?

Looks like I'll need to get out a measuring stick and check the mm after 1000 miles. And my mileage is 45,000. Anything at or over 10mm below the H is considered no good and block replacement is needed. So from now on I'll measure my dipstick instead of eyeing it

This definitely sounds like abnormal oil consumption for a VQ engine. Your issue could not only be your short block but, your cylinder heads could also be the root of the problem. Do you see any other signs of oil consumption issue? Do you see any blue smoke coming out of your exhaust?

I burn little less than a quart after 3,000 miles, but I use motul 5w-40

I have an '09 that had the same oil issues.
I did the oil consumption test at 42,000 kms. as per the TSB.
Nissan then replaced my short block. NC, problem solved.
This only applies to vehicles built before Apr.5 2010.
You can get the pdf at: Nissan TSB reference: NTB10-090
Classification: EM10-005
Hope this helps.

Did you notice a difference with a new short block as in power differences? How many miles has it been since you have gotten your short block replaced? And did you follow the break in period and not go over 4,000 rpm for 1200 miles or did your own break in?

they must have made some changes in the short block after April 5, 2010....

I am surprise they broke it down to that specific date for April.

Some oil consumption is expected by all of today's manufacturers and almost designed into the engine. A "looser" engine will make more power and get better fuel economy at the expense of consuming oil. It's as simple as that.

Here is an interesting video from our favourite Australian that provides an excellent explanation on the subject.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xa1kqSo3aeM

Interesting video!

No noticeable difference in performance.
I've added another 24,000 kms. since the replacement.
And yeah, I gave it the mandatory break-in. Now, however, I drive it spirited like a sports car is meant to be driven, and the only oil added is for oil changes.

Nice dude glad to see the short block actually resolved the issue.... moment of truth is coming soon. I'm almost at 1,000 miles and we will see how many mm it's low and see if my block will get replaced

This is somewhat true but there is still unacceptable usage. It seems some manufacturers use it as a scape goat now days too with usage of 1qt every 1000mi and I can tell you after seeing multiple engines of multiple manufactures some will use none while at the same time another of same make model etc will reach near that 1qt at 1k mi and that really sucks for the owner. Especially if they run high grade synthetic oil at 10-15 a qt. For then I say screw the oil changes and just do filter changes. You do the math and at 1k usage and a 10k interval with a 4qt sump you have changed the oil almost 2.5x by the time it's due for a complete change.

Also the fact Nissan has acknowledged a time frame ofnthe engines effected (most likely they tried a new cheaper ring manufacturer and it back fired) means they know they had an issue. Vw had the same thing happen in the v6 passats in early 2000's (sadly my sister just barely met the 1qt at 1k mi and car was nothing but problems) that gen vw quickly made me hate being a vw tech and lost all faith of the product line (1.8t POS, v6 oil consuming POS etc etc) luckily she got to trade it in later for a rogue and it's been great for many years now, which says a lot because she abuses cars and really should just stay with Honda like she's always had in the past (only way to kill a honda is on purpose with a lot of effort), but rogues going on I think 4-5 years now and going strong.

I agree with you.

I did say "some" oil consumption is normal. But, there are people who truly believe that there should be absolutely no oil consumption between oil changes. None. This is almost impossible with today's engines.

Okay guys it's been 970 miles since my last oil change (close enough) I checked oil level and it's about right on the dot at 8mm low. I read the tsb and I'm in the okay range. But we will see how it does until I actually need to do an oil change. But it did better then I expected :)

Ok exact number is 7.62mm low

just fyi... synthetic oil expands more than conventional oil when hot.

Checked oil level after 2000 miles and it's a little over a half quart low. I'm not sure why it's doing much better this time. Last time I was way lower after 2500 miles

Well if it's any consolation, that is about what I'm getting on my '16 Nismo. However it presently only has 7000km on the Odometer and it's probably still breaking-in. Its always run on Nissan Ester oil from new (1st oil change done at 4000 km). I am planning to switch to Redline oil eventually which is an Ester-based synthetic or so I've read.

I wonder if Nissan Ester oil is very volatile and increases consumption. Anyone know?


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