370Z oil consumption

persian54

I guess what I originally meant to say wasn't portrayed corrected:


From my little bit of reading on this forum (my knowledge on this engine is very minimal, even at best), consuming more than 1qt of oil every 1k miles is excessive.
Where it's lead to some owners getting several engines parts replaced, and in some cases even getting new engines.
How was diagnosis achieved?
By topping off and checking how much was burned correct?

Thus, for an engine to be burning excessive amounts of oil, and then needing excessive warranty repair (I feel that a new engine is as excessive as you can get), can't one blame Nissan for the 1qt/1k miles?

If it was standard for the Z to burn 1qt/1k miles, then that's a choice you make when purchasing the car.

However, if burning 1qt/1k Miles is NOT standard, and in fact a fault in the engine/Nissan design etc, then why should the owner be held accountable for the oil?


On my 335i, we don't have an oil consumption problem... except we have the High Pressure Fuel Pump.. which is worse IMHO as having a car shut down on you is dangerous, to say the least.

In the 19k and 14 months I've had my 335i, I've had 2 oil changes;
One covered under BMW warranty/maintenance, the other I did myself at 7500.
I think it's total BS to change oil at 12-15k, especially on a twin turbo car...
Maybe stock... but for a car pushing upwards of 430wtq... I wasn't going to wait until 12-15k
But... during all this time, I never needed to top off... and my car runs at 240 oil temp Daily driving, hitting 250-260 spirited driving, and 280+ on a hot track day.
But then again, these cars have completely different engines..
I was just surprised that for a car that burns oil at a much higher temp hasn't (don't mean doesn't, I can't speak for all owners) needed a top off..

and then again, not even all Z's seem to need top-offs... it seems just a few...

So, again sorry if what I originally said came off as incorrect; it's not that one can or cannot afford the qt, it's if it's worth it.

Esther oil is about 12/qt if I've read corrected?
If so, it puts it right around how much my oil costs me.

Thanks.

sonic370

To me the $64,000 question is how are these engines being treated?

If you are burning a quart of oil every 1000 miles and only driving it on the street normal than nissan needs to step up and replace entire motor.

on the other hand if you track your car or drive it like you stole it every time
you get behind the wheel.remember the old saying buyer beware.

mattjk

my engine burned a quart every 1k miles when it was new, up until about 4k. Now at 8900 miles, it doesn't burn any. I've been using regular 5w30 valvoline for break-in every 2k miles.

I'm going to wait a little longer to change to redline, but these engines just seem to burn oil when new. They just take a long time to seat the rings fully.

I also did not baby my engine, it drove it hard right off the lot. I am a firm believer in fast break-in = strong engine.

Totus44

It's now pretty common knowledge if you talk to Nissan service techs that there was a break-in, seals seating issue with a number of cars in '09.

The oil consumption test was done by Nissan service, they sealed the dip stick and the car was inspected every 1K, three times. Exceeding a 1QT was a failure. What triggered the test initiation for me was the car fail-safing into limp mode about 1K past my first oil change at 3750. It did this because the oil level was critically low.

The other tell tale sign you have this specific issue will the pressure of oil in your exhaust system, or as my wife described it...the garage smells like french fries, lol!

The new engine I've broken in harder as this was the third time (original, short block replacement, engine replacement). The '10 engine seems to be a big improvement. After to next post-service inspection i'll finally get to start doing some mods, having kept my Z bone stock throughout this ordeal.

Was it a pain, yes. But all I had to do with service to say the word "Toyota" and they got the point and bent other backwards to earn my business.

FricFrac

Fair enough. My car was burning a lot of oil - around 2 liters per oil change. It seems to have calmed down now since my 18,000 km oil change. I was never too worried about it. If it remained an issue then I would have the engine replaced for free which to me is win/win other than a slight inconvenience of not having the car available to me.

I'm sure pretty much every vehicle made has some failure with the engine, etc. People with problems make the most noise. Unfortunately in this thread there is a LOT of people with "oil consumption issues" that haven't put enough mileage for the engine to be fully broken in. Some people are suggesting an engine isn't fully seated until 20,000 miles! For those who do have a real problem Nissan verifys and replaces. Is there really any issue here?

There are lots of comments about "oh my VehicleX never burnt a drop of oil!". So what? There are lots of other vehicles that do. Its very common for high compression engines to consume oil. If a liter or two of oil is an issue then don't buy this car. If you want what has been claimed as the best sports car value on the planet then buy a $17 gallon of Penzoil Platnium 5W30 and stick it on the shelf in the garage and do the minor maintainance of keeping your oil topped up and enjoy a fantastic sports car. It's amazing that for the very first year that the car was produced that there is virtually no problems with it.

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persian54

hmm. so no problems on the 10s?

So would it be worth it to buy a 10 vs a 9, even though it'll cost about 10-15% more?

WarmAndSCSI

About 5200 miles on our 2010 Z, oil changed to Castrol Syntec 0W-30 at 2050 miles or so. I left about 3/5 a bottle of 0W-30 after the change for top-offs and I still have 1/3 a bottle left after topping her off to the "full" dot at the last fill-up.

So maybe 1/4 qt. consumption over 3150 miles. Seems healthy to me!

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bluzman

I've got an '09 (bought 17 Jan 09). It now has ~33,500 miles on the odometer and it's been ~3,500 miles since the last oil and oil filter change (Mobil 1 and Bosch filter as usual). As always, there's been no apparent oil consumption. FWIW, I broke it in per the manual but I've never babied it since then.

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SCHREP

I have an 09 370z with aprox 18500, last oil change was at 15000. I just had
to add 3 qts. Have been using castrol synthetic.
Not pleased

wishihadnav

^^3qts is too much imo

NISMOFO

Those with the oil consumption issue, do you drive you cars hard at all......redline or anything like that....or just casual driving?

NeverBoneStck

This sounds like the 06 rev up oil consumption thread.. Fail by Nissan!!

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cossie1600

I am lucky, no oil consumption on mine. I track and autox my car 80% of the time, I still don't have to use more than one quart in between oil change

sonic370

this is not meant to be a smart xss remark.
but why would anyone drive their car until it went into limp mode.

wouldn't common sense say check your oil way before then.
wonder how much oil is left in the motor when it hits limp mode. 2 quarts??

there was a guy i know who drove his with only a quart and a half left in it
and the dealer told him tough xxit.

i mean if you take your car into a dealer with one quart in it,there gonna
look at you like your an idiot.

wilsonp

If the car never lights up the low oil light, or the temperature never goes up more than it normally does for you, how would you know or why would you expect you need to check the oil between changes?

I have never had a car that needed checking between changes, until now (maybe).

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