370Z - Oil Consumption TSB

alb84z31t

Both incorrect, the proper count is four mississippi!

onzedge

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Mikes350z

Thank you for the info, going to the dealer tomorrow.

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'09 370Z Touring w/Sport & Nav 6-Speed Magnetic Black Persimmon HKS NAV Tool Backup Camera 35% Tint SOLD
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ZEDHEAD

Please don't rely on the low oil pressure light as an indicator for oil level (yes, people who are intimidated by the complex engineering of new vehicles do this). I believe that oil consumption is a very serious issue with the 09-June10 370Z, while some may take this lightly I can understand where they are coming from. However, if only a handful of people watch their oil level more often it will increase their engine life...MY WORK IS DONE!

Cell

My vin ends with 504xxx instead of 503xxx... does that mean I am fine?

I have been checking my dipstick and been OCD about this oil consumption problem.

kenchan

yah, kinda like TPMS, the threshold is too low. it just tells you one's a dumbarse for not checking routinely.

cosmicdust73

In the case of my 2009 370z Touring, the low oil light did not come on. I found out the hard way with a damaged sprocket and engine misfires. Fast forward 1 and a half months and the car is still in the shop undergoing multiple engine rebuilds (i.e. new short block) and the service department has been unable to get the engine running like new. After the first rebuild the engine ate itself and set off 2 additional sprocket codes... meaning more damage. Luckily I'm trading it in and Nissan can fix the car on their own time.

cosmicdust73

I'll be getting a 2013 soon as I got fed up with my 2009 oil consumption issues and I was thinking of trading mine in anyways. My question is... how exactly does checking your oil every time you fill your tank necessarily protect you from this problem? You either get the problem or you don't, correct? Meaning... if you have it, you are going to face major engine work and weeks if not months without your Z. I'm only asking because I want to do the right thing with my new car.

Japanjay

Funny, because today I jsut entered my used 2009 in for this. I bought the car thinking it was all original. Carfax can back spotless, even took it to the dealership doing the test and nothing came back in the service dept. Pulled the trigger and bought it.

Hit 3k miles and took it in for the first oil change. Changed everything to royal purple: rear diff, trans, engine with a K&N oil filter. Got to the next 3k change and scheduled for a monday morning, decided to check it the friday before.... Was no oil on the stick!!!! I WAS LIKE WTF???? It was only 3k miles, no way should it be any close to that low. I got super lucky, no noises. Immediately went to the store got 3 bottles of royal purple. Only got me to the half way point. Good enough to make it to monday.

Got the oil changed and this time went with Amsoil and a purolator. Set the maintence alert to go off in 1.5k. Again super low, almost 2 quarts, but still on the end of the stick. Reset the alert, and again almost 2 quarts for the second 1.5k miles.

Went down to the dealership with paper work my neighbor Tim, owns a 09 Z too, sat on my front door with the print out on the Bulletin. Confronted them about, and they did some digging. Come to find out the whole long block was changed out exactly one month prior to the service bulletin. June 29th 2010, bulletin came out on july 29 2010. They are still waiting on the faxes from the dealership with all the details, ie: why customer brought it in, what the techs found, ...

Had them do the $110 using the Ester oil so as there is no, "Well lets try using the better stuff..." While there spoke with their master tech, has been for something like 10 years or so. Actually he was pulling the trans out of a GTR while I talked with about the consumption issue. He stated it is something he has only seen in the 6spd manuals. I had been taslking to various people in different car communties and we all were concluding severe blow-by. Their tech concured that was what was actually happening, but I was thinking it was happening in the upper regions of the RPM band, 5.5k and up. He stated that is was actually during a hard down shift that the pre-2010's created a very strong vacuum that pulled oil out and was blowing it through the intake.

Which lead me in to one of my major concerns, if it was indeed blow-by, if he could have the tech pull the intakes off and check the throttle bodys for residue build up. He said that when I brought it back in for the 1k mile measurement that they would pull them then and check.

Spoke to him about my second major concern, which since it is severe blow by, it is greatly reducing the life span of my cats. He stated that if it did fail he personally see that those would get replaced even if they are not listed in the parts list bulletin. He agreed that would be clogged muuch sooner and should be replaced.

Last but not least brought up my concern that since this has already happened once obviously, and it didnt get corrected, even with the first replacement being a whole long not short block, would it even make a difference if it was changed again. His respone was that the few he has been involved with the consumption issue was resolved....

Well folks I got about 950 miles before the first check and I intend to drive it just as hard as have been to get a true reading on what I have been experiencing. Will keep this updated as it progresses.

Side note: I hope I dont have to deal with the horror of not haing the car for a month or so. I guess I do have the rainy season fast approaching on my side and dont intend to drive it in the rain. Will be driving the other car so maybe it wont hurt as bad not coming home to it....

cab83_750

I honestly do miss my Z even though I continue to read some of the problematic exceptions.

No affiliations but Thousand Oaks Nissan was awesome and exceptional with service when I had my Z.

cosmicdust73

Japanjay - that is crazy that your car still has the oil consumption issue even after a full long block replacement! Good luck to you! Hope they figure out the problem. On my 2009, the scary part about it all is that their master tech rebuilt the engine with a new short block but then the engine wasn't running properly due to something that went wrong with the timing. (I may be mistaken here but it has something to do with timing I think). Basically the engine ran into a self inflicted problem and now both timing sprockets may need replacing despite the fact that one of them is only 1 month old! Definitely does not give me confidence should this problem pop up on a future Z.

Montez

Well in this case if its low you could add oil instead of driving around and totally destroy your motor from oil starvation.......but I see what you are saying. The VQ since the inception of the 3.5 has had hit and miss oil consumption problems......Z's, Maxi's, the 3.0 VQ's were a gem. etc.

TypeOne

I have an 09... and haven't had any issues with it except the hatch springs.

sfearl1

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Japanjay

It was a full long block one month prior to the TSB. So I think it was a long block from the old batch. I requested that since the block should have a different VIN stamped on that they pull the birth date of it if possible. Was curious as to how long the motor sat idle before being a new heart in my car. The master tech stated that is more than likely why it is again having this problem since it was pre TSB.