370Z Oil Burning
 

I have seen a lot of people on here posting grief about this issue. Are they the minority or the majority of owners?

If the majorit:

Here are a few thoughts from a former LS1 owner (for those of you who know about the Ls1 engine):

I tried 5-30 Mobil 1 15K mile formula. It burned 1qt in around 2K miles. (a mixture of group III and group IV oils, after the loss of a lawsuit to Castrol, Mobil one cheaped-out and no-longer used fully group IV).

I then tried Castrol 10-30 Syntec (A hydrocracked mixture of Group III and group IV oils). It burned about 1qt every 2500-3K or so.

I then tried Castrol 10-40. Lifter noise was more pronounced (loud in an LS1 to begin with). I changed the oil.

I then tried Castrol European Formula 0-30 (which is actually thicker than their 10-30, at operating temperature. "weights" don't mean a darn thing.). It burned 1qt every 4500 miles. GC is a fully group IV oil.

Basically, I tried a few oils and DOUBLED the mileage per quart of oil I burned, all by just changing oils.

Mobil one is a very thin oil, always coming in on the "bottom" end of thickness range for it's "weight" at operating temperature. It usually "shears" out of its rated weight by 2K miles if you get the vehicle up to temp. at all.

Penn. Platinum is a pretty good oil. It does not shear nearly as badly as M1 does.

Castrol 0-30 is on the heavier side for it's "weight", and also shears VERY little as it is a true group IV oil.

Just some food for thought for you guys, some engines are picky about what you put in them.

Anyway, back to this noob's question: Is oil consumption a common 370Z issue, or not really? I know on the 350's it was hell.

Not really common the only time I burned oil was with factory fill oil. But with the car breaking in that was normal. Using redline oil or amsoil I have yet to burn any.

I agree with what you have found about the synthetics, only I haven't tried Pennzoil Platinum yet and still waiting for some information to be returned. My favorite is the European Castrol formula 0w-30 but sourcing it can be a problem.

I've found that if your running harder than normal with high RPM and a hotter than normal oil temp, you will burn off some oil (at least in mine) My observations show that if the oil temp is 110C (230F) I will burn off some oil. I definitely need a oil cooler. I don't like oil temps that are over 100C (212F) and will be doing something about it soon.

For the record, my choice of oil is Castrol GTX 10W-30, just because I change my oil more frequently and can't justify the cost of a synthetic oil with the frequent oil changes.

:tup:

It isn't common. I haven't seen a post about it in awhile and I haven't experienced it. I didn't even burn any during break in.

I check mine at every fill up and have not noticed any loss.

I've got 3600 miles on mine.

I've been running Castrol edge since I did my oil cooler install at around 1600 miles.

Autozone is who carries it around here. Also, why change oil so frequently? With a true group 4 unless you are getting fuel dilution or running hot (which it seems you aren't), there is no need. I have even read that oil analysis with a GOOD oil that doesn't sheer shows less wear towards the end of the usage of the oil than the beginning. Again, this is READ, not personal knowledge.

Any oil temp under 280* should be fine from what I have read in the 'vette world. Is there a reason why this is too high in a 370Z?

370z doesnt come with an oil cooler at all.

Synthetic is fine up to 300, conventional should never be above 260

280 is the point the ECU puts the car into Limp mode to protect the VVEL system. The chances of that happening on the street are extraordinarily slim. Oil temps drop as these cars break in. 220-240 are normal street temps without a cooler. You will drop approximately 25 degrees with a correctly sized cooler installed. If Nissan had not installed an oil temp gauge, no one would be obsessing about this..

Or if Nissan put a 'normal' range on the gauge.

I am simply saying that noone who road-races worries until they get deeeep into the 200's unless the 370 is somehow a different creature, I wouldn't worry, either.

Has anyone spun a main?
Has anyone had pre-mature wear that resulted in compression loss or blow-by?

Lets not start with another Oil Thread.

Got a little over 1200 miles on her and I burned nothing. Checked it almost everytime I put gas in her. Gonna give her a few more miles before I put the RedLine sitting in my garage in her.

:iagree:

Sorry, I can see this is a sore thumb here and it brings out the OMGZ! MY OIL! mentality. My apologies. I was just offering some advice to those who have the issue and looking for a pulse on it.

nothing burnt here and my bitch gets thrashed

Don't worry...There are a few girlymen here who will beat this into another 80 page thread if we let them. All you need to know is here if you have the patience to read it: http://www.the370z.com/nissan-370z-g...mp-issues.html

Oil temperature is always going to be warmer than coolant temperature under hard operation. Many people see 230-260* in "spirited/racing" conditions, and up to 290 or so isn't out of the norm in hot ambient conditions.

Of COURSE the car is less-peppy with the oil at around 260*. The engine is quite obviously heat-soaked. Why wouldn't you expect to lose 10whp or so with the thing heatsoaked?

I will FULLY admit to have not read that full thread, however, please clue me in: Are they any engine failures traced to lubricant over-heating with the 370Z?

I'm much more interested these days in people's results with vented hoods or upgraded radiator fans. Just having the A/C compressor fan running drops my engine temps by 15F. I think a vented hood and an accessory radiator fan would work wonders for our cars' oil and overall engine temps.

A radiator fan instead of an oil cooler? It's like going to war with knives. Plus, water temp is controlled by thermostat, it is not going to dramatically change anything.

NO

ummm....so what's the issue?

x4 :iagree: . I'm at 21,000 miles and no oil burning. Switched to synthetic at about 4000 miles.

There is NO issue. If you do long track driving (HPDE, road course etc), you'll need an oil cooler. If you do autox or 1/4 miles, you don't need any oil cooler. For regular driving, you DO NOT need an oil cooler. There's no engine failure due to lubricant overheating because car has a built in protection system that protects the engine by limiting RPM (limp mode). :)

What about removing the bottom engine cover and cheap plastic ground effect to let the air come across the bottom of the engine? The engine cover and ground effect are probably not necessary below 120 mph, right?

You could very well hurt cooling by removing the tray. Often times those trays serve dual purposes... they keep debris out of the engine bay and they help create a pressure zone within the engine compartment that will pull in more air than it would without the tray.

But more air to the sump isn't going to do anything. If you are concerned about oil temperatures, get an oil cooler. It's a simple solution and it works.

For street driving, removing the tray didn't do much honestly

2nded

Thanks for the info on what not to do - removing the engine tray or shroud.

I would install an oil cooler if it would not void Nissan's warranty, for which all the posts seem to point to as a consequence. While I don't track the car, 20 minutes of "fun" driving in high humidity and ambient temperatures above 75F drive the oil temperature up to 250F. Other forums I have read when searching on "high oil temps" seem to indicate that temperatures below 300F are acceptable when using a higher end oil such as Red Line, so I will continue to use that oil in lieu of an oil cooler.

2009 370z Touring Sport w/NAV 6SPD