Yet another oil consumption issue

Kreep

Hey guys,
I haven't posted much in here since I got by Z last year.
I bought my 2009 370Z Sport Touring from a dealer in Colorado last Oct and it had around 15,600 miles on it. LOVE the car!

This summer I noticed that it was eating a lot of oil. I would go 2 or 3 weeks and the dipstick would barley read any oil.

It's still under warranty until May 2014 so I took it into a local dealer here in Vancouver. They topped it up and had me come back in 2,000 miles to check just how much oil she was consuming.

Incidentally when they entered me into their service data base they mentioned that there was a bulletin for the steering locking mechanism and they would replace that for me as well.

After 2,000 miles the dipstick didn't read any oil so they just ordered me a new short block yesterday and will swap it out.
AND they mentioned that this was ALREADY done with me car at around 15,000 miles!! I had no idea. So the odometer is at around 25,000 miles right now. The first replacement engine only lasted 10,000 miles.

I love my car but this does not instill confidence it. I'm worried that this will happen a third time after my warranty expires. Do I sell it? I dunno, like I said I really love my car.

I wonder if my driving had anything to do with the second engine having to be replaced? If I had known when I bought the car it really only had less than 500 or so miles on it I would have been diligent in breaking in the engine. I drove it pretty aggressively, not crazy hard, but aggressively right off the bat.

Super Werty

Well when they replace it you need to find out what went wrong with the 2nd one and see if they have any record of why the first went as well.

I would ask for an extended warranty. That should be reasonable to them

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Japanjay

Same exact thing happened to me. But I picked mine up at 19k. New motor went in at 13k. Then I noticed oil issues at around 30k and had another motor put in. That is when I found out that it had been replaced once prior already. Was pissed since I took the car to the same dealership to be inspected and they said there had been nothing major wrong with it and was good to buy.

Long story short, my third motor is consuming oil. But at this point I am pretty sure it is just how hard I drive the car. Always downshift coming to a stop, sometimes quite high in the revs a times, no SRM, just heel-toe. I just monitor the oil. Seems that every 1500 miles it needs pretty much a quart.

My dealers service managers has been a master tech for some 20 odd years. Said the same issues was happening on the 350z. But he noticed it was only on the guys with manual transmissons that where having the problem, so he started documenting it. He stated everyone that had the oil issue also almost always downshifted and dorve the car somewhat hard at times to quite often (like me). He came to the conclusion that due to the downshift it was creating a negative vacuum and was creating excessive blow-by.

But again this was all theory.

Another good friend of mine that works on drag motors thinks that since this motor is such a high reving motor that it is squeezing through the oil rings in the cylinder when the motor is under extreme load in the upper rpms ranges. His drag motors consume almost whole quart in a single pass.

So my suggestion is to take the new short block, do the proper break in, then drive it just how you did before (what I did). Still consuming oil after another 8-10k, then it is just how hard you drive the car, and will have to pay attention to the oil level and all the maintenance on the vehicle that much more.

Kreep

Thanks guys. japanjay I thought the same thing about downshifting. That makes sense to me.
I don't know how much stock I put into the whole breaking the engine in correctly theory.
These days you shouldn't have to nurse engines to break them in.

Super Werty

If any of that were true, half the people on this forums would be replacing engines constantly. It has got to be some other part failing. And obviously they didnt replace that part when they put in the new longblock

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Japanjay

It is a short block not a long block. But I am guessing that is a typo since you are a subject matter expert. Do you even know what parts are included in either one of those either? Not trying to come across as harsh, but really? They must have missed the "part" that is causing the oil issue huh? Maybe the oil loss bolt broke and they skipped over it 3 times on mine and twice on his now. With once on each vehicle being a broken one installed into the brand new block in Japan by a small fingered Japanese guy in the factory.

Super Werty

lol dont be a douche. Of course I know the difference do you? I never claimed to be an expert I am only offering advice to investigate why the first one had to be replaced. I have my own experience replacing a shortblock in my truck that quickly became a complete longblock replacement when I found previously unseen damage to the heads and timing cover which was causing an oil leak(s).

He also needs to find out what kind of replacement shortblock they used...was it brand new from nissan or did it come remanned from LKQ etc etc.

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SouthArk370Z

As per Super Werty, you need to find out what caused the problem before you jump to any conclusions.

While the break-in period for a modern engine is pretty much zero for a DD, if you're going to be running it hard, I'd wait until at least 500 (maybe even 1000) miles before getting too wild.

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Japanjay

And I just went through another set of rear tires in less than 4 months on the street. And no, that is not from a bad alignment lol. I have hit the top speed cut this summer more than I got fingers and toes. I don't know if even 20% of the people on here have even driven the car up that far even once. Just saying I really really drive this car hard, but at the same time, never sees the rain and all the maintenance is religiously followed. But ever since I have owned the car every 1500 miles it needs almost a quart.

But at the same time, what one person thinks is hard is very subjective and may not be as hard as what another may consider. I cant even count how many times I have seen the oil gauge sit at 260*f. That is when I back off and let it cool down before having more fun in it. I mean why would anyone by a car like this if you are not enjoying.

Chuck33079

On the street? You're my hero. Thanks for making all of us look bad.

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Japanjay

Honda F1's run 0w70, produces around 800ish hp and hangs out in the 15k-19k rpm range. There is a reason they run that weight, if they ran 0w-30 it would squeeze through under the extreme pressures and probably not make it to the end of the race. They are running a heavy weight when hot oil for a specific reason.

I have actually been debating on possibly trying a heavier weight oil for 1500, just to compare.

Joepro

Mine was eating oil when I bought it used, took it to the dealer, found out the block was already replaced less than 1k miles(imagine my anger?)...the master tech I personally know there had me run 2 oil changes on REGULAR DINO oil, no ester or synthetic, now its burns almost NONE, only what I can smell out the tail pope at 7300 RPMs. break it in on regular oil, should be good to go, its taken 12k hard miles now with no problems, also an oil cooler helps IMO, keep the temps down less likely to burn off. Im think 5w-40 would be a good idea too, but shiz is expensive!

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Joepro

6700 miles on my rear PSS, junk tires btw. Guess im in the hard drivers club!

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Kreep

So my car is now in the shop. I contacted Nissan Canada about extending the warranty as going through 2 motors in 25,000 miles doesn't exactly instill confidence in their product seeing my warranty expires in May 2014. They said they would not consider extending the warranty as I bought the car in the states.

Kreep

Their costumer relations manager called me and said it wasn't that I bought it in the states but that Nissan just never has extended anyone warranty unless there was a recall. Which I don't buy.
I posted on one of their social media pages and wonder if they will respond.
https://www.facebook.com/nissancanad...1&notif_t=like