Z Owners, check your oil, post mileage and how far "down" it is...

davidyan

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?

FuszNissan

Too many varibles.
Did you follow break in
Did you change your oil before the first oil change
Whats your altitude, temp,
How often do you drive
Have you redline before
Ect...ect..ect..

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LouFuszNissan
ZDAYZ 2012

Moemeister

7070miles oil gets changed every 1500 w/ MO1 5/30 and a MOA*i work at a shop so its free why not take advantage of it* the car burned about 1/2 a quart regularly every 1000 miles or so... being the oil temp is almost always 225-245degrees that can be expected since the installation of my oilcooler and spacer and larger filter *m1-107 gm filter... the m1-104s round gasket is junk* oil temps have stayed below 225 at all times and ive not burned but maybe a 1/4 quart and the car DOES get driven.

ejrives

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.

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antennahead

I did an oil change at 2000 miles with Nissan Ester Oil.

Dipstick after change read as...

L o------------l---o H


Now at 4600 Miiles (2600 miles later) it reads...

L o-----l----------o H

Coming from an '06 Z OC car, if this maintains I will be a very happy camper!

John

cab83_750

I am burning oil like 1 qt every 600 miles. Never redlined the puppy. Dealer said we start an oil consumption test starting this Saturday.

kannibul

Manufacturing date and serial number?

(reason being is this could indicate a run of bad parts!)

cab83_750

1/09. Stick. Why the serial #? Is that the vin? Isn't posting vin a no no?

FYI. No redline ever. Car has a about 5000 miles. Broken correctly.

6SPD_FTW

Drove the car off the lot w/ 43mi on the odo. It used about a quart by 1500mi, changed oil to Mobil 1 (non-synthetic) 5W-30 and ran that for 2000 miles. It used 1/2 quart. Ran Castrol GTX 5W-30 for 4000 miles with 1/2 qt oil usage. Changed to Castrol Syntec 0W-30 about 100 miles ago and will repost oil usage after I accumulate more miles.

Break-in...I have driven it like an ******* since day 1. An immediate 350mi highway trip, frequent redline. Pretty much broke every rule in the book WELL before the 1200mi recommendation. I get 28mpg with gentle city driving and so far, have very acceptable oil usage.

The 2007 Altima 3.5SE I came from used 1 1/2 quarts of oil during the first 1500 miles. After that, oil usage dropped to NONE during the 5000 mile oil change intervals for the remainder of the 40,000 miles I owned the car.

Late,
Trav

cab83_750

Oh, in searching the Web, Nissan has a guideline of '1 qt/1000 miles' is normal. ?????

earwicker7

I had my oil changed at 600 miles. It's now just over 2,200 miles. I check the oil levels after every fill-up at the gas station. I've never had to add a drop.

zZSportZz

It dawned on me at work that I've been reading a lot of posts about the oil issues and I've seen statements such as "it took 2 quarts of oil to get me back to full" and "my car was 2 quarts lower than H".

Please make sure that you are not adding oil until it hits the H then come post here how you've burned oil. Per than manual, the H line (hole) is the never to exceed line. This isn't your FULL line. DO NOT FILL TO THE H.

5 1/8ths quarts of oil will get you right to the center of the 2 holes as per my oil change. So if you are going above that....your car never had that much oil in it to begin with. Wouldn't be surprised if a ton of people are running out over filling their cars. They now have 7 quarts of oil in it and claim they burned 2

So the real question is...how much oil have you burned from where u are at now to the center of the 2 holes?

Make sure you follow this....

I'm sure most of you know this already but I thought I would post it because you NEVER KNOW...on this board

__________________
--Rick

chris410

Good post! On the drive home I was thinking about posting up a note about not over filling! That will do as much if not more damage as running it a little low.

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Current: 2014 WRX Stage I + SPT / 2013 Hayabusa 202HP
Former:09 370Z 7-AT PW/Ark Type 2 exhaust/Evo R lip/TSW Nurburgring carbon

wstar

Just to throw my data in here: I never experienced any oil burning (at least not enough for me to notice) on my factory fill, the first batch of oil I put in (also Nissan Ester), the first batch of Motul I put in, or this most recent batch of Motul (when I added the cooler and pan spacer).

I was a *little* bit low this time around when I changed my oil today. We're talking, it moved from just under the H dot to about perfectly in the middle over the course of 2,150 miles (this was from 7K to 9150). However, I already spotted the likely cause of most of that. I have a very tiny leak at the oil pan gasket (the one I recently replaced myself, so that's not unusual for me) that was seeping out barely enough to make a small stain on the undercover. I'm just going to live with it for now and fix it at the next change.

In summary, no noticeable oil consumption from my engine so far.

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SDWayne

When I first got the car I checked the level every 200 or so miles to get a read on the oil consumption. There was none. Changed oil at 1000 miles to synthetic. Just checked it after reading this thread and at 2300 miles into this oil change, (3340 miles total) there has been no noticed usage.

I did adhere to mfg, recommended break in procedures. Only violated 4000 rpm a couple of times, my fault.

I hardly ever redline the motor, trying to make it last I guess.

However it is a high performance engine and I would expect more usage then a lower compression engine.

Eh, so what if it uses a little, not a show stopper for me.

Wayne