I think we all learned from this: Don't trust the freakin' computers. They can get accidentally reset. Then something's gonna get braked. I prefer the old fashioned analog sticker-on-the-windshield method. And, as I said above, check it every other fill-up.

So, even though you knew that modern engines can burn oil, you still didn't check your level. :shakes head:

Argue all you want to but checking the oil periodically is an important part of driving a car. Along with checking the brake reservoir level, tire pressure, and sundry other menial chores.

I just now looked that up.. Read before posting..

great you gave examples of engines that burn oil. neat. so does my piece of **** subaru WRX. And know what? I must be one of those smart engineers, because I check and put oil in it. Guess that also means ive owned a car that burns oil. but its a DESIGN flaw in the stock head gaskets, google will tell you all about that im sure. every car ive owned that DIDNT have a known issue, also didnt oink down oil, AT ALL. Neither do my 68 cougar, 70 cougar and 74 hornet and they are over 30 years old lol. The point myself and some others are trying to make is A: you didnt check the oil and relied on a computer to tell you what to do, and B: that my Z and some others DONT. so its not like its a chronic issue with every single one of them and I just recommended you GIVE A **** and maybe use some of your precious time checking into it. You obviously care enough about the car to ask on the forum so dont get pissed when people give you answers you dont wanna hear. especially when you do something dumb.

and I also agree with chuck. production line vehicles are a luck of the draw.

My new Nismo has burned about a quart of oil in 1900 miles. Luckily I check my oil frequently (had an rx8 before this car). I am a little surprised it's burned this much so far. Topping off with castrol gtx. Before the rx8 I had an STI and it burned very little. Meh, o well.

well now that I have about 8000 miles on it, humbly I admit that my 13 burns oil too. It wasnt at first, but it sure does now. I usually keep the oil like about 2 MM below the H mark, and checked the other day and it was a little below dead center between L and H. took about half a quart. Ive never seen anything like this before outside of my oil burning MACHINE known as the WRX. In my 28 years Ive never seen an engine burn oil like this besides the subi 2.0, 2.5. and the wankle rotary. U win, I have nothing to say.

Were you using Mobil 1 on your Subarus? Once I switched to another brand of oil mine didn't burn any oil. There was a bit in the catch can, but that was it.

no, I run royal purple 5W30. should I try the mobil 1? which kind? high millage?

I'm no mechanic or engineer, here are some things things that I have wondered about.

1. Q: How does one decide what oil change interval to use?
A: no one can give a good answer, so I change mine every 5k miles. Why 5k you might ask? well its super easy to remember to change at 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 etc. no computer or sticker needed. just look at your odometer and know exactly where you are at. 5k is conservative but that's okay by me.

(technique only)

2. Q:What oil should I use?
A: Wow we have beat this thing to DEATH! Please lets not do it again. Use whatever is easy enough to get that you do it on time, every time. (for me Mobile 1 is always coming on sale so I stock up and keep 10-15 quarts always ready to go in if any of my 3 cars hits a 5k increment)

(technique only)

3. Q:Should our car burn oil.
A: Who cares? some do some don't. Some start after a few years, some don't. all that seems to matter is that you check your dipstick when your filling up to make sure you don't toast your engine. (technique only)

If you don't like that your engine burns oil, rebuild it! That's it. Please don't try to make me feel bad that my engine does. Or feel superior that yours does not. It's a machine. It is expensive and difficult to get running perfectly. If my car burns a bit. its way easier to top off now and then then it is to get all bent out of shape and try to make it "perfect"... once I have an extra $5-10k sitting around maybe I'll build an engine with tighter tolerances. Until then It's in the acceptable range.

The car is just a pile of parts. If you goof up and break some, (either due to abuse, normal use or neglect), then swap em out. That's the beauty of any machine, it is essentially immortal. Drive it. break it. upgrade/fix it, repeat.

-low on time/interest? --expect failure and pay for repairs. (perhaps often)
-low on money or high on interest? --Pamper and maintain your Z meticulously... then pay for repairs anyhow (just not as many)

All the moral posturing I see here makes me wonder why we want to tell each other how to enjoy our cars. Yes, I like to understand my Z's systems and construction, but not everyone does. That is cool too.

My advice is. Drive it, love it, break it, fix it, repeat!

Anything can be fixed. (except perhaps self-righteousness)

Mobil 1 was the worst possible oil to run in a Subaru. I ran Rotella or Royal Purple with no issues.

Blackstone labs can give you a very good scientific answer. 5k is over the factory recommendation by almost half and you may have issues with that down the line for warranty work.

A lot of variables involved The only accurate way to tell is with UOA. Your 5K intervals are fine for most DDs. I'm sticking to Nissan's 3750, at least until the warranty runs out.

For most DDs, any high-quality oil will do the job.

I don't know of an engine that doesn't burn some oil. Every car I've owned burned at least a little. I don't get too worried as long as it's less than about a half-quart between oil changes.
I don't put a whole lot of miles on my Z (~7K/year) and don't have to fillup very often so I check my oil every week or two. While I'm under the hood, I check other fluid levels, belts, &c and then check tire condition/pressures.

Amen. I hate to see any equipment abused but the Z was made to be driven. If you feel like you need to baby it, maybe it's not the car for you. :driving:

I like my 370Z. A lot. The best all-around car I've owned - plenty of power, great handling, nice interior, and a sexy exterior. But it's just a car.

sorry to hear, welcome to the club.

I used mobil 1 in my STi and it burned about a quart of oil between changes until 32k miles when the engine blew. After the new block and turbo I switched to regular castrol gtx and it still burned about the same amount until I sold it, heh.

My Nismo has burned a little over a quart before the first oil change at 2500. Swapped to mobil one at the first oil change and it hasn't burned any so far. Currently at 3000 miles so will see how it goes with mobil 1. May have just been break in burning it up.

How are you guys able to tell exactly how much your car has burned? Or are you guys just estimating? Like is the distance between the L and H supposed to represent a certain amount of oil? I always keep mine just below the H.

Got to this link. http://www.the370z.com/370z-technica...level-low.html Open the PDF, follow the instructions listed. :tiphat:

i DD my Z, and run Mobil1. i change it every 4k miles, i burn about a quart in that time period as well.

just throwing that out there.

:icon14:
Nissan says to change your oil and filter at 3750miles, 7500miles, 11250miles, 15000miles, 18750miles, 22500miles, 26250miles, 30000miles, 33750miles, 37500miles, 41250miles, 45000miles, 48750miles, 52500miles, 56250miles, 60000miles etc.

How many of you are running oil coolers?

I find what you say to be really interesting, and the advice you got, do you know any of the reasoning behind that advice from the Nissan/Infinity techs?

Personally I'm OCD about changing my oil 3,000 miles or before, and usually check it everytime I need gas, and never once have I found any less oil on the dip stick. I use nothing but Royal Purple, and synthetic Valvoline oil in all my cars, and so far only Royal Purple in my DD 09 Nismo, but thinking about trying Redline out. I never have had one oil burning issue even racing in super hot weather. I'm also running a 34 row oil cooler.
The only thing weird I've learned about the oil I use is never put royal purple in a subaru, cause it jells up in the heads.


I my opinion Mobil1 is **** oil cross the board. I know some guy swear by it. I ran it twice to try it out. Once in my 240SX, and once in my Titan, and changed the oil out on both even before I hit 1,500 miles. I got worse gas mileage on both, and my VK56DE made valve train noise at higher rpms.

I believe the distance between L and H is one quart. I don't change my own oil in my Nismo, so I could be wrong, but that's how it has measured out on all my other rides I've ever owned.

i got the same performance, mileage, and engine noise the first 15k miles when i used RedLine ester based oil. maybe if i tracked the car alot or ran it like hell everyday id go back to my $90 ester oil changes. but i dont, nor is my sh1t oil doing any harm now.

i even ran the sh1t mobil1 oil in my IS300 for 7 years. that engine was 10x smoother than our VQ and the mobil1 ran great in it. (but thats just my opinion.) ;)

no meh
 

My oil burning stopped. Got the first oil change at 2700 miles at the dealership with mobil 1. Currently at 3800 and haven't burned a drop. So either it was break in oil burn or the factory stuff. :rock:

No.. wait until you put some miles on it.. your car will burn as well.
I burn about 2 quarts now every oil change.. My car has not dropped any oil ever in my garage... Someone else on here said they dont drip ever.. then he came back and said it does now that he hit so many miles. Give it time bro..

What might run good in one car might not in another. I am not a fan of organic/ester oil either, and that's more for the euro cars that like running mobil1 if im not mistaken, and yay if you had good luck with it in your 2JZ. If I am correct about that, it wouldn't surprise me that's why you are burning oil, and why I'm not.

I've heard that some motor oils including Mobil1, and Redline make, and forumlate to run in certain vehicles, or certain conditions, such as turbo, or high reving cars, just as couple examples. The type of oil, and weight of the oil might make a bigger difference with the VQ's, but I'm just speculating.

I started thinking, and forgot I did have a oil burning car once, now that I think of it. I had a Saturn SL2 that burned oil back in 1998 which was common if remember right in those cars. The dealership was doing the oil changes, and I had them switch from organic to the sym-blend, and it got better but never completely stopped burning oil, and it really happened more durning the smmer.

:icon14: My last oil change was $159.00, $22 quarts :icon14:

Who here is running oil coolers, and how big??

25 row Stillen. 45000 miles. About a half quart every 5000 miles. Moble1.

Occasional track use. 5 or 6 lapping days last year.

My biggest problem is getting up to temp (160) during winter temps. I run around all day at 150 or so. Too cool so I have to limit RPMs till spring/warm days.

34 row Z1 cooler with an oil pan spacer. Did 6 trackdays last year. 20,000 miles on the Nismo. Doesn't burn oil either. :D

What oil do you run?

M1 0w-40. 7 qts for an oil change.

Well suckage. I spoke too soon. Burning a half quart every 3000 miles with mobil one. At about 9500 miles. :mad:

That's fine and nothing to be mad about.

try a different oil if you guys are burning. i used mobil1 5w-30 (NOACK = 11-13%) my first few oil changes because i didnt know any better and burned so much oil. switched to pennzoil ultra (the old one, not the newer pureplus one) and immediately stopped burning oil. the reason for that i suspect is due to the low NOACK value of the old pennzoil ultra (NOACK = 6.4%)

the newer pennzoil ultra pureplus has a much higher NOACK of 11.5% so i cant comment. however, ive moved to the 10w-30 version which has a super low NOACK of 5.7%. no burning oil so far and i'll have a UOA done in a few months when i hit the 6k marker

Yeah, I use 0W-40. The oil isn't as thin as 5W-30 when it gets up to operating temp, therefore maybe it won't pass by the rings if you guys are burning oil. I've used it for about 14k miles now. No issues at all. Doesn't the GT-R come from the factory with 0W-40?

now that your engine is sealed(?) wat happens if you go back to mobil1 5w30?
the thing is, my z isnt burning that much oil with the m1 5w30's.

yep. mobil1 doesnt publish their NOACK values, but from what ive seen 0w-40 is in the 8-9% range. its an ok value, but its overall a great oil. i wouldnt run 0w-40 in our cars though unless you're FI'd though. its significantly thicker at operating temp versus a standard 5w/10w-30. your engine may lose some power due to the added thickness.

everyones engine is different :tiphat:. going purely by my own anecdotal evidence, in the last 30k miles, i havent burnt any oil. fill up at 6 quarts just to the top of the dipstick and 6k miles later, i still have the same line on the dipstick :tup:

wait, you use 6qts? :eekdance:

oil cooler :)

:tup: