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

In another thread, several people have noted that it seems the 370Z burns oil, because after only a 1000 or so miles, their oil is already quite a bit lower than it should be for a car (even new...) - some cars taking a couple quarts to bring it back to normal!

So, this is a thread to see if it's a very widespread issue or not.


Myself, I literally just changed mine and dropped in 5 quarts, and it was just a millimeter or two above the bottom marker. I've got less than a 1/4 mile on it since then ;)

I'll be topping it off and checking every 1K for a while :(


So, I ask that all of us post our total odometer, number of miles since oil change, and how far off the dipstick reading is from when it was changed (or note factory fill).

Also, if yours is off, post your manufacturing date and serial number - this might help with determining if a specific "run" of 370Z's has an issue.

With enough data on this, we could all go to Nissan and get something done about it.

I think the only thing Nissan would do is tell us to regularly check oil levels and top off as necessary. :)

I imagine as much oil as some people are going through, the cats will plug up.

Ok...I'll bite....here is a repost of what I posted in the other thread...


I did an oil change at 3700 miles to synthetic Redline.

Dipstick after change read as...

L o--------|------o H


Now at 6500 Miiles (2800 miles later) it reads...

L o--|------------o H


The movement in oil level is pretty minimal and I'm not worried about this. The sky isn't falling. :)

Deja vu...
 

I think I have some experience with this topic...

My original thread on G35 Driver "EVERYONE: CHECK YOUR OIL!" documenting the oil consumption problem on my G35 now is a sticky with 1,341 posts and 112,164 views.

I was on my third motor when I turned it in for my 370Z. Even the third engine burned over a quart every 1,000 miles.

Guess what? My 370Z also burns a quart every 1,000 miles...

Checked my oil because of this thread. about 3k miles on my oil change and it was a tad over one QT low. Not good.... My damn toyota 4.0 engine had pushing out double the stock rwhp and it wouldn't burn a drop!!!

People...SETTLE DOWN. Using some oil during and even after break-in of an engine is NORMAL!! My level was down almost 3/4 of a quart at 1500 miles. TOTALLY NORMAL!! Wow, unless you have a leak... please, give it some time.

:iagree::iagree::iagree:

Normal for what, the VQ37VHR, or Normal for Nissan?

I've had a more than a half dozen cars, even a few new-off-the-lot, and they didn't burn any (measureable amount of) oil...

Less than 2k miles and I have not had the car for more than 2 months and my oil level went from fine to below low. I don't know about you guys but I did not buy a $40k car to check the oil every week. Hell I don't have to check the oil in my hot rod that often!

Normal for ALL engines.

:bowrofl: It is not normal, maybe for Nissan but it is far from Normal. I have bought many new cars and even in 10k miles they didn't burn anywhere near this much oil.

Really, all of them? I'm pretty sure my lawnmower still has a quart in it, and I've never changed it, added to it, or done anything to it since I bought it 5 years ago.

I figure with the amount of time it's ran, it's got a good 1000 miles worth of use out of it.

On a more serious note...

My 2005 Civic, bought it new off the lot with 150 miles on the odometer. Holds 3 quarts. Oil change interval is 6000 miles by manual. Runs on 5w20 oil. If what you're saying is true, that engine should be bone dry by the time oil change comes up. Since then, I've gone to 15K mile oil changes after the first one...guess what, it's not burned oil either. 70K on it now.

My 97 Ranger - hell, I change the oil when I feel up to to it, which isn't often. MAYBE once a year. I also put whatever oil I have laying around in it...140K miles / 5qt. I bought it with 48K on the odo. It's not burned any oil...

My 2006 Honda VTX 1300c, bought it with 8 miles on the odometer. It doesn't burn oil, got 14K on it now.

78 TBird (first car) - didn't burn oil. Had *at least* 230K miles on it.

82 Malibu, don't remember the mileage, but it also didn't burn oil.

87 cutlass, rebuilt engine, no burn oil.

94 saturn, bought it with 30K, didn't burn oil.

My Dad's 77 CJ-7 had well over 330K miles on it, and it didn't burn oil.


The only thing I have that burns oil is my weedwacker, and hopefully not, my Z.

Exactly.

I'm supposed to take a test drive this weekend and it seems like every thread I read makes me less and less excited for it.

I wish I had known - I'm sure the Mustang GT I was going to test drive at the next dealership wouldn't have burned oil...

Or the Toyota Tacoma at the dealership after that...

Don't do it, I regret buying the car more and more. The car just sits now because Nissan cannot fix the high pitch noise in the cabin and claiming it's NORMAL yet when I drive another car on the lot the noise isn't there.

Ohh give me a break. I have owned BMW 650, Mini Cooper S, Saleen Mustang, Ford 500, Toyota FJ, and a Toyota Solara all in the past 5 years and not ONE has burnt through any oil. Hell the 650 and Mini didn't even go in for oil changes till every 12-15K miles and guess what, they were NEVER low on oil.

This car does burn oil more then any other cars I've owned. I currently have 3k miles, after my first oil change I've almost added 2 quarts since it keeps burning oil.

Yeah, the guys here could scare you out of getting a haircut. Then how would you keep that Mullet trimmed??.....:tup:

I don't, I just let it blow in the breeze.

So tell me, if it was so 'normal' for the motor to burn a quart of oil every 1k miles why do some people burn 1+ quart and some burn none?

Hmm... better sell that junk then. (wow!):shakes head:

Or how about Nissan steps up to the plate and fixes some of these problems they claim are 'normal'.

This is the moment in time where I feel these threads will begin to get ugly. Lets stay on topic and just use this thread to just collect data :)

Edit: Argue whether its normal or not in the "z broke down" thread :)

You better sell that too. :shakes head:

Ask ANY engine manufacturer....

You want examples?
1. 2008 Honda Accord 3.5L at 2000 miles it had used 1 quart of oil. At 5000 miles, it had used another quart. NORMAL!! The engine has 10.000 miles on it now and no longer uses oil. Hmmmm (?!)

2. 2004 Honda Civic 1.7L at 5000 miles had used 1 quart of oil. At 100,000 miles now... uses NO oil. (Again Hmm... (?))

3. 1995 Chev Suburban 5.7L at 5000 miles has used 1.25 quarts oil oil. Now at 189,000 miles... doesn't use ANY oil.

Am I missing something here? AGAIN peolple, calm down or sell your car.

:rolleyes::rolleyes:

I didn't say a qt/1000 was normal. I did say that is generally the threshold that Manufacturers will start to pay attention to you.

Engines and parts are made by people and machines, neither of which are perfect. Everyone interprets break in differently. There are a ton of variables. The world is not a perfect place. Some engines are not truly broken in til they are north of 5000 miles. It took 10K for my Audi Turbo to settle into a no-burn scenario. If everyone revisited this a year or 2 after purchase it would most likely be a non-issue.

:iagree:

:iagree:

dude, change your mowers oil (supposed to do it yearly)...do the filter and spark plug while you are at it too...

Eh, I'm waiting for it to die so I can get a powered-bagging mower. I got it for $89 at Sears when I bought my house and needed a mower and didn't have the money for what I wanted - sort of like my truck ;)

I just checked my oil 10 min. ago.

last changed, 3,200 miles ago with mobil 1, car has 7,350 miles on it and its has lost no oil.

[-----------x]
L H

so all is good.

It is Pointless to collect "Data" when the great majority of these cars are miles away from really being broken in. This is not usable data, it's a bitch thread. Those that aren't happy should really just sell their cars...

Nissan won't tell you what the guidelines are. Maybe somebody else can find that out.
Food for thought. 8.1liter Chevy Big Block V8 burns 3 qt a week, once it hits 80k miles, doesn't burn a drop after that.

Cool - just wondering, what's your manufacturing date and/or serial number?

I am at 3rd oil change, 800 miles since the change, it's at 80% full between L and H. The dealer changes my oil and always uses ester oil. Don't know how far it was filled but I don't see an issue. I change every 3K miles and do not normally check in-between.

^^ and that would be located? I am work and too lazy to spend 1 hour outside looking for it. but if you can point me to the direction ill go get the numbers for you.

:iagree:

6k miles on my car...3k since my oil change at at 80-85% between the "L" & "H" Mark. using castrol edge synthetic (first change at 1k to mobil 1, then another change at 3k to castrol and won't change from now on).

A lot has to do with driving habits, If you drive the **** out of your car, it's going to eat the **** out of your oil...

Stick in the driver's side door for the manu-date. The VIN has the serial number in it (see sticky)

And from spending time here the past few months, apparently a lot of owners do.......(hence my lack of sympathy..;))