Totally violated the break in rules, did not use a drop from 1 to 3600 miles. just took it in for its first service and will watch this close.

Coming from a rotary world, i can state that burning less than a quart of oil per 1K km is very close to nothing...
My Z has 1000km so far and hasn't use ANY oil!

Here are some thoughts concerning oil burning:

Variable Valve Timing:
I have noticed that cars with variable valve timing and lift tend to use a little more oil than cars without however. I also have a 00 Celica GTS that uses something called VVTL-I using the oil pressure to control the intake cam timing position and lift function. It burns about 1 quart per 1000 miles. I've accepted that its part of the cars normal operation. I have great compression in all cylinders. It takes much more oil pressure to operate an engine with variable valve timing.

Oil Temps and Oil Burning:
Our cars have a tendency to run high oil temps. Higher oil temps mean that the oil will burnoff a little bit. Even if you're one of the lucky people who don't get above 220F, its still hotter than most cars. High RPM driving, tight engine clearances, and high oil pressure combined will result in higher temps. 370Z owners deal with all three.

Oil Capacity and Oil Burning:
The standard rule of thumb that auto techs and repair manuals have been citing is that up to 1 quart per 1000 miles is normal. I would tend to think this is too general of a rule. If your car has a 3.5 quart capacity, one quart per 1000 miles would seem significant. For a large V8 with an 8.5 quart capacity, 1 quart usage over 1K wouldn't be.

Also, that standard 1qt/1K mi rule of thumb came out decades ago when engines were a lot bigger than they are today and used more oil. I remember seeing that rule of thumb one of my old auto shop teachers 1970's textbooks that he had lying on the shelf. It surprises me that the auto industry hasn't updated their recommendation based on newer engine designs, oil capacities, etc. Less warranty claims?

Oil does NOT burn off due to high engine temps. That would be catastrophic.

David,

You have a good point. However, I believe that Nissan should come forward and state this. And I mean they should have stated this before and should reiterate it again NOW! The Oil Consumption issue should be addressed by Nissan similar to how they addressed the temp-issue: come forward and officially state the parameters; I, for one, have calmed down once Nissan responded to AK about the cooling parameters.

My point is that Nissan should officially address the Oil Consumption issue like the Cooling Issue:

1. If Nissan said that 260 is OK, it 'would' be fine with me.
2. If Nissan said that 1 qt every 1000 miles is OK, then we would have a guideline.

Nissan's way of not laying out the cards (specs, characteristics, parameters, etc.) has been causing all the confusion to all of us.

Let's put it this way:

1. If I had known that at 260, I go into limp-mode, I would not have bought the car.
2. If I had known that the car will use 1 qt every <1000 miles, I probably would 'not' have bought the car.

In summary, I was not concerned about the oil consumption issue as I have owned Porsches and I know that it 'would' be normal for a 911 to use 1qt/1K miles (on a side note, my Porsche do not use 1qt/1K miles). However, as for the 370Z, I am starting the oil consumption test as the dealer themselves stated that, "the car is using oil more than I am confortable with. Let's start a test and we will call Nissan." (i.e., the dealer, themselves, don't know the parameters).

I rest my case. :)

man....this is getting ridiculous. Until you guys are at 20k+ miles and still burning a quart every 1k miles, you do not have any case. What's with all the fuss?

Rotary engines have to burn oil otherwise they die a quick death - for those it's the nature of the beast just to keep that engine running. It's a part of the design.

A reciprocating engine, for the most part shouldn't burn oil (or any meaningful/measureable amount - not with the tolerances we have today...

Kannibul,
I was just putting things into perspective regarding oil consumption... On track days with my previous Rx8, i would easily burn 1 quart of oil per 40-50miles (which is normal for a rotary engine).
Now my breaking-in period is almost completed (1500km), so we will see the numbers. So far, no oil level changes...

FWIW, just got back from a 4,500 mile "road trip" that took me back and forth (several times) over the Rockies in the US and Canada. My current mileage is 16,767. My Z was broken in according to the manual. I'm running Mobil 1 and a stock Nissan oil filter. The last oil change was at ~10,400 miles. I checked the oil level prior to, during and at the end of the trip - no oil consumption.

^^There you go. Now ppl that have oil sipping cars. Get over it. It'll be fine. 16k has to be the highest mileage car here. There's living proof.

I know its not apples-apples.. but my '05 revup started consuming oil at 28k miles...

A MT might use more oil than an AT due to the driver and if they over-rev during a shift. Just my .02

Now that just sounds bananas!:icon14:

Update:

I just came back from the dealer after 555 miles. They have confirmed that I am using 1/2 qt. Notes:

1. They did not give me assurance that it is normal.
2. They did not give me assurance that is not normal.
3. They said that they will escalate my case to the Manager.
4. They told me to come back after 700 miles.
5. Finally, they admitted that they do not have 'oil consumptions specifications' from the dealer.


I wish Nissan should just said, "The norm for the 3.7 engine is 1 qt/1000 miles."

Then we can put this 'unknown' to bed.

how was ur 555 miles driven? if it was babied and ur car used half a quart, i think that's just bananas. not right.

Cough cough! Oh no! The sky is falling, the sky is falling!

My experience: first 1500 miles.... 1/2 quart used
second 1500 miles... 1/2 quart used

Wuff!! (nuff said) wow!

btw, that's sarcasm for... IT'S NORMAL PEOPLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

185 miles since change, and my oil leve has gone UP.

Odd, I know - I dumped in a 5qt jug of oil after draining and swapping to the larger version of the OEM filter size.

I checked the oil then - I was about 1/8th up from the bottom mark.

Couple weeks later, checked it on a random day - totally full. I hadn't started the car for a couple days, so I assume this is due to ALL the oil draining out, where when I was changing the oil perhaps there was still some in the cylinder heads and in the pan....

Anyhow...

I would say 6-7 miles per day of street driving and 50-54 miles fwy driving (to/from work is 59.9 miles round trip). I never ever redline my car. If there is such a thing as "average RPM range" on the freeway, I would guess that mine would be between 3500 and 4500 RPM.

My 'shift light' is set at 5.5K and I have seen it go on possibly no more than 3 times for the last 5K miles.


I hope that the next 800 miles would be the end of my engine break-in period :) Then, I would make others happy when their theory of 'longer engine break-in' proves right. :stirthepot: And possibly, close this thread!!!! :worship:

1 RB straight 6, 3 VG V6s, and 5 VQ V6s, that makes 9 6cyl. Nissans I've owned. Of those 9 none, and I mean none, have ever used more than a 1/4 quart of oil between changes no matter how hard they were driven. It's just one of the reasons Nissan is my favorite car company.

Every newsgroup, remember those, or forum that I belonged to along the way for Zs Maximas and Pathfinders always had some owners who had oil consumption issues. And I don't care what Nissan says normal would be, 1 quart every thousand miles is NOT normal to me and borders on excessive. Only if I had an Rx8 would I consider that "normal". When I read these posts I would just think how lucky I was that it wasn't me.

So now I'll get to the point. When my 370 was new it had very sooty exhaust tips after the first week or so. I steel wooled the soot off and a week later same thing dirty again. I started keeping a close eye on the oil and for a minute I thought my luck had run out. I thought SOB this is the one that's gonna be an oil hog.

After a few thousand miles the soot stopped accumulating and It made it to the first oil change about a fourth of a quart low. Now I'm 3000 miles into that change and the the level still shows full. I think this one is going to turn out to be just as good as the others.

For all you guys who have oil issues you have my sympathy and I could understand why you would never want another Nissan. For my 2 pennies though you still have a better chance of getting a Nissan that doesn't consume oil than a lot of other brands that I can think of. Not gonna name names or start finger pointing because there are good and bad examples in every make of car.

My car has the sooty exhaust tips and I drive it hard. It now has 5600 miles and uses virtually no oil. My car was built Nov 2008.

The oil threads will never go away! Unless Nissan fixes the issue!

Not from oil. The soot is from Fueling (running rich). If you run it hard you leave the O2 controlled Closed loop control behind, and enter open loop that uses pre-built fuel maps. These typically are a bit rich as most Dynos here have shown..

Thanks for the info modshack, +rep for you! :tup:

Modshack is correct, what you see on your exhaust is from your fuel mixture. Black means that your car is running rich, normal for a stock fuel map. The oil consumption is probably due to the seals breaking in so you're getting blow by. As the motors break in the consumption should level out. If not, Nissan better start preparing new motors for everyone because 1 qt Every thousand miles indicated major issues. That being said, some blow by during break in is nothing out of the ordinary. I wouldn't panic if this takes place over the first 5 to 10k miles. However, if anyone is burning 1 qt Every thousand miles after 5 -10k, I would suggest taking it to a dealer and having it documented to be on the safe side.

mobil 1... Accept no substitutes! :)

I don't think I would mind getting a new engine after 12000 miles! Yeah, in my dreams! :)

I've got 10k on the clock and haven't burnt an ounce ( with redlining ) since my last change 3000 miles ago. It takes a bit for the rings to seat properly. just give it a bit.

Yes, the first few thousand miles is totally common on any new engine to burn at least 1/2 quart to a full quart of oil as the engine runs in. If people are just getting around to checking the oil level on the factory fill they're probably worrying about nothing.

I would only worry if the oil consumption was persistent. If I drained the factory fill at 1200 miles, I wouldn't be too suprised to see some oil missing when I went to drain it again at ~4,000 miles...still in the very early stages of the engine's life. I would start to worry if 1/2+ quart was missing if I checked the level at maybe 5,000 miles and kept on burning it thereafter, but no sooner than that.

relax guys. its just a VQ thing they all do it (G35,G37, 350Z, 370Z) when you do your oil change just buy an extra quart then halfway in between oil changes add the extra one and your be fine. its just how they made the engine. it also might have to do with how much you "play" with your car too. ex: drive like a grandma = less oil burn

I would disagree..
After having 2 sep v2 motor replacements for my '05 and '06, no oil was lost, not even the slightest impression of oil loss.
And my driving style has not changed. I did not abuse them but I drove those cars like they were meant to be driven, hard.
Also gave both a hard break-in... So, its not inherent in all Vq's.

The z34 is growing on me, so I hope that these issues get addressed asap....


*/me -hopes this does not become a OC issue with the vq37hr:shakes head:

Closing in on 3000 miles...not a drop lower than when I picked the car up.

:iagree: As one who had an OC '06, and followed and contributed to the massive thread on the subject over at that "other forum" (smiles), I can tell you that we tried hard to find a reason or common link to the problem, and as you state, some were consumption free and some were not...... and some replacements were consumption free and some were not. So I would also concur that "they all do it" is not accurate.

John

my Z even smells like burnt engine oil after it stops. :D (300 miles on the odo)
been keeping an eye on the level but no issues here. :)

btw, my G35C is a 04 original owner. it does not burn any oil. if i put in full, the next oil change it's still at full. pretty werd, huh?

Yeah i think it's hit or miss with this one as I'm over 8,000 now running that ester oil that i pay too much for and I have never seen it go down. I gave her a ruff break in like every other new motor i've had and now i DD and get it out on the weekends to drive it like i stole it (250-270 oil temp) and the level doesn't change at all.

mine oil consumption has stopped (im at 5.5k miles). last check i did, the oil level has not changed after roughly 1.2k miles. previously it had burned about 1.25 qts at 3k miles.

im at 350miles. checked again this am. still at the top. :)

i check it in the morning while cold. basically pull out dipstick, wipe off tip, dip...wait 3-4seconds...pull out dipstick. i wonder if some of you are measuring it at different times of the day or just pulling out the
dip stick and looking at the tip without wiping it down and re-dipping? that sometimes can throw off your readings.

I did a thread on this exact issue, and people just started flaming each other.

Yea, that was unfortunate. You asked a legitimate question and wasn't trashing the car, or another member, and some people got all hot and bothered.......... like this was a personal attack on them or the Z. LOL

John

REad through this thread, it happens here too.

Don't wanna get in a flame war. Essentially what happened was, the "seasoned track" guys who owned performance cars before were condescending towards people who never owned performance cars before, because they didn't know that hipo engines consume oil normally. There were comments like "for all you who never owned cars that went above 6,000 RPM i.e. Honda Accords etc., :gtfo2:." "I've owned this, that and they all consumed oil."