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

6MT

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!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Andrew

2009 370Z Sport/Touring 6MT sold
2013 Honda Civic Si coupe D/D

cab83_750

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. And possibly, close this thread!!!!

dad

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

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We can do without any article of luxury we have never had; but once obtained, it is not in human nature to surrender it voluntary.

imag

How many miles were on the car when you got it?

I ask because it's possible that you may never have seated the rings on your car, driving the way you do. I'm sure you've read that school of thought on engine break-in, but if you haven't, it might be worth pondering:

Break In Secrets--How To Break In New Motorcycle and Car Engines For More Power

The issue you're having seems to be explained by that theory pretty well - namely, you didn't push the engine hard enough to seat the rings. Anyway, I'm not trying to flame - it was just a thought.

I actually just added a quart to mine. Did my first oil change at 1K, and I was nearing the low dot on the dipstick at 3800 miles. I'm going to get it changed when I add my oil cooler next week, so it will be interesting to see how the next 3K miles goes. I bought extra ester oil from the dealer on the assumption that it would eat about a quart every 3K miles. If oil consumption stays in that range, it won't bother me.

kannibul

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...

datsunguy

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.

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09 370Z Platinum Graphite/Black Touring Sport 7AT
93 Pathfinder SE V6 4x4 winter driver

Pushing_Tin

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.

Modshack

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..

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Steal my car! (SOLD)...Now Porsche Cayman S
Oil Cooler DIY: Here!

Pushing_Tin

Thanks for the info modshack, +rep for you!

chris410

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.

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Chris
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

cab83_750

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

black09Z

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

Reality

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

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//2005 35th SB #81 [tyra] SOLD
//2006 GT PPW SOLD

antennahead

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

1slow370

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.