BS...Most manufacturers have a 1 Qt per 1000 mile reference before they'll even talk to you about a potential defect..

It has to be more than a 1qt

I had to use the heater trick before on an old Dodge Colt - it couldn't handle going down the highway in Florida (shuttle launch) so opened the windows, turned on the heater to cool the engine :D

That may be technically true, but no properly built and properly broken-in engine should ever consume nearly that much oil. Even engines I've built consumed at most a quart every 3500 miles, under very loose piston-to-cylinder wall and ring gap clearances and high specific output conditions (i.e. 23-25 psi of boost on a 3.0 L V6).

A modern OEM engine ought to never consume any noticeable amount of oil on a single OCI unless you're racing with it. If it does consume, there is most likely something "off" - probably poor break-in. It still gets me that manufacturers suggest an "easy" break-in when they know it's worse for the engine.

Not true. Even on a broken-in engine he could have lost 3.5 quarts of oil over the 5700km that the OP drove and still be considered within spec (see Modshack's note above). On a new engine, he could have lost even more. That's why I said "So much for 'bad luck'."

Exactly. I wasn't referring to some arbitrary cya spec by the manufacturer, who makes those to save themselves from warranty claims. As warmandscsi said above, a properly made modern engine ( when street driving) shouldn't lose oil of any noticeable amount between changes. If it does, you have some sort of defect, or a poor break-in. My 92 explorer loses a quart of oil every 5k miles, and that engine has 170k on it.

Yep.

To make it as concise as possible - a factory-built VQ37VHR that consumes more than a quart every 3000 miles probably has an oil control defect caused by improper break-in. A Nissan engineer would agree with this, but as said above, Nissan's warranty CYA verbiage screws the consumer in this case.

I'm SO glad my wife trusted my engine-building experience and let me break our Z in quick and hard. :)

Dude, that's just over 3,500 miles... no properly built engine should burn up over 3 qts of oil in that short an interval :icon14:

You are a fan of the "hard break-in" approach?

I'm really not sure what to believe, especially given that there is probably some break-in done by Nissan before assembly... can you detail your break-in method?

Also, is this for new cars (that might receive some factory break-in first) or newly built motors (done by you or a shop)?

Ok i guess i am going to give away my age here.But i can remember the time when checking your oil was a part of taking care of your ride. Most people now can't even find the dip stick (not talking about anyone here) With spark plugs lasting 100,000 mile or say they will tell you.And most all new engines lasting that long or longer checking your oil is a lost art form.

This is true. I know it is proper maintenance to check your dip stick once every couple hundred miles I guarantee more than 90% of the moms driving mini vans don't even know where a dip stick is.

I think 3 Quartz is super ridiculous. I would say the max for me would be 1 quart and I have never even seen anything above that.

Dude, read Modshack's comment and do the math:

3,500 miles X (1qt / 1,000 miles) = 3.5 quarts

And then factor in that a new car during its break-in period can burn even more...

just as an added thought, aroudn the forum it seems everyone is finding low oil in their cars during their first oil change time. In my car the oil was slightly low too for the first change?

Any thoughts to perhaps they are originally being sold / delivered with slightly less oil? If any of the dealers here can perhaps just do a simple check would cross that out.

drive em hard so all the seals seal good in the beginning and this wont happen.

Not the case with our 370Z. Oil was fine, and had only gone down approximately an 1/8" on the dipstick before first oil change; oil consistently checked—same place in garage, and the same allotted time before checking oil level.

I advocate breaking in any new or rebuilt engine hard. It's not so much necessary with a new OEM engine or a block that has been properly plateau honed, but every engine with cylinder walls and piston rings needs a bit of break-in. Yes, rings come pre-lapped and cylinders plateau honed, but a "perfect seal" between the compression rings and the cylinder walls doesn't exist until x number of revolutions have been completed by the engine. It takes much longer on a rebuilt engine with rough cylinder walls and raw-faced rings.

I won't go into the specifics of the procedure on a rebuilt or new race engine, but for a new car it's best to take it for some hard pulls with lots of engine braking as soon as you have the opportunity to drive off the lot without dealer supervision. Our Z had 23 miles on it on the lot - probably one or two test-drives - but not too late to do a proper break-in!

We declined a test-drive and took it straight to a nice strip of private road to do a few pulls through the gears. You should start out at about 1/2 throttle, up to 5000 rpm or so, then start getting more aggressive with each set of pulls. Always downshift and use engine braking to slow the car down during this phase. It helps keep the cylinder walls from getting glazed by keeping oil from sitting on the cylinder walls during combustion @ idle. The engine braking action actually forces the piston rings out and scrapes as much oil as possible off the cylinder walls. Never let oil temperature get too high during this phase - you must let the engine cool off if too much heat accumulates. It should only take a few sets of pulls to establish a good ring seal... it's most important not to let your engine idle or sit at the same load or rpm for a long time. For the first few heat cycles of the new engine, you should make sure to do some aggressive pulls.

The purpose of this is to basically file down the peaks of the cross-hatching on the cylinder walls (some decent info and illustrations here: Stealth 316 - Engine Break-In) and create a proper surface finish on the rings. The depth of the cross-hatch "valleys" must be correct to allow proper oil retention without causing glazing (where oil ends up getting coked to the cylinder walls by the extreme heat of combustion).

Anyway, that's some basic info for you and how it applies to a new OEM engine. It's not critical to do this to a new OEM engine, but it definitely will ensure a better seal than if you hadn't done a similar break-in procedure. And contrary to popular belief, the only thing done to a car similar to the Z at the factory is a brief idle and "safety" run up/test to make sure all of the critical components of the car are in order. They do not stick every engine on an engine dyno to measure its performance or to break it in. This is done for most sport bike engines AFAIK, but not many car engines.

Enough about break-ins, let's talk about which engine oil is best to lube up our flimsy doors!

90% of people's mom's here know where my dipstick is. Thank you, thank you, I'll be here all week, don't forget to tip your waitress or bartender.

yea I think they said it was up your own arse tranny style. jk.

I have a 72 VW Bug and it burns AND leaks oil, and I've still never had to put 3 quarts of oil in it between changes.

I know the feeling, I've owned over 29 cars, most new and never had to put oil in. I used to change my oil every 1k miles but now I do mostly freeway driving so I what until 2500- 3000 miles. I use nothing but Castrol Oil and Chevron gas. I was a 1/2 qt low on my new Z with less than 600 miles on it. Sure hope this isn't a problem, I am very particular and meticulious about break in procedures etc. Sounds like I'll have to find another good synthetic oil like Red Line or Royal Purple etc according to some of the threads due to oil temps.

Thanks for the detailed response! :tiphat:

I have a good friend who is an engine builder and he also recommended the rev-up / coast-down method in order to heat cycle, but warned against reving up to redline for the first 800-1000 miles, so it is similar to your procedure, but a little bit less "hard" I guess. However, this was for a rebuilt engine, so not sure if he has different advice for a new engine.

That's great advice too, but for a factory fresh engine, it doesn't matter. The only thing you have to worry about is the transmission/clutch, be it automatic or manual. The engine should be ready to go from the moment you fire it up for the first time - you only will encounter problems if you're too easy (read: follow the owner's manual procedure) on it for the first few hundred to a thousand miles. That is the biggest mistake people make. Driving it as you would normally = OK. Driving it hard = OK. Driving it too soft = bad. That's as simple as I can put it.

For a rebuilt engine, you get the fastest ring sealing by flogging the **** out of the engine without overheating it for the first 50 miles. You DO have to change your oil after your first idle/leak test or first trip, however. Honestly, this is how many drag racing teams have always broken in their engines - and those last at least a whole season of abuse. This is NOT the advice I'd give to somebody I built an engine for or somebody who bought a crate engine - it's way too risky for somebody who isn't disciplined in breaking in a new engine. I must have done this almost a dozen times now, and I've never had any oil consumption problems except for seal/gasket leaks. I've in fact seen a rebuilt engine never achieve good ring sealing when the owner didn't follow my hard break-in advice. I can almost guarantee the engine would have sealed perfectly if it had been broken in hard.

FWIW, I had two Maximas before my Z. The first one was a 1996 and about 120K miles on it. The second was a 2005 SE 6 speed and it had about 80.

I spent a total of about $150 combined in repairs for those two cars. Never even had to replace the brakes.

No, Nissan engines DO NOT SUCK.

I had approx. the same story! Four month ago I had also my 350z stopped dead when I was driving 30 km/h!!! Weird also infinity call me 6 month earlier to change with no reason my EX 3.7 engine!!!

LOL :bowrofl:

thread necro ftw

You make some good arguments. I am picking up my brand new Z in two days. I however trust the engineers who designed the engine more then I trust your advice.

:werd:

I did this off the dealer lot as well, but only up to 4K rpm as prescribed. Varied rpms, and did it between 3rd and 5th on the freeway, and randomly for the next 500 miles.

Then, I began edging toward the 7500rpm redline until I finally reached it at 1200 miles.

Problem with a new car is breaking in the driveline and the rings are two different types of driving somewhat.

just my opinion not trying to stir the pot.............
most everyone on here work hard for their money and love their cars and when you buy a 40 grand sports car you should know how to care for your ride......

how hard can it be to check the oil at each fill up....

the vq is a rock solid engine imho and has all the awards to prove it.

As far as oil burning. Mine needed 1.5 quarts after 1k miles.

My 98 explorer has 145k miles and rarely goes through a quart in 10k miles which is when I change the oil. I use mobile 1 extended ware.

My Expedition uses a little more about 2 quarts in 10k using the same.

My Saturn redline sky uses almost none and I drive that like I stole it.

I might need to report the z to the dealer.

I burned some oil during break-in but less than a quart for sure. I'm at 9k miles now and it doesn't burn at all. Broke it in properly and check the oil level weekly. Is it really too much work to spend 5 min to check the oil each week? Come on...

Yeah I've owned about half a dozen nissans and they are the best brand so far in the price range imho. But everybody has different experiences.

I broke mine in the same exact way. But my redline was 4400rpm and after 700 miles began increasing 1000 rpm every hundred miles. Then at 1200, I began driving it like I stole something till 3000miles, I'm at 4900 miles and I mix the driving. To me its best to keep brake in process going for 5000 miles. Be conscious of how you drive and know when the car needs to be babied and when it needs a beating from 3-5k. Now @ 5k I will be getting my second oil change. My first was at 1200. Redline will be the juice of choice this time.

34 row NISMO Oil cooler goes in next month and tranny cooler in june.

My Z is by far the best car I've ever owned, I was bound to have good luck with a car eventually....

41k on the Z, and not even a rattle. absolutley perfect. I've seen this on Honda motorcycles before, but never an automobile. I didn't think it was possible.

One the break in question...doesn't the factory run each engine up to redline on a rolling road or dyno before they even install/ship it out? It's best to just follow the user manual. Engines these days are incredibly well built and should last 250k miles without a rebuild if kept in good oil. It wasn't like that 30 years ago.

The factory way is fine but we are doing a HP related break-in. More like when you are trying to get good numbers on a dyno, right before you start modding and mod from there. Sqeezing a measly 3-5rwhp for a dyno means something to some of us. Lol. :)

I have owned many cars in my 52 years, including a rock solid 350Z that never needed the Oil checked..

I love my 370Z, but if it needs the oil checked at every fill up, or constant monitoring, then the new engine has flaws that the the 350Z did not..Like oil burning...

I haven't experienced it yet, but if it gets to be an issue, bye , bye Z car...plenty of Cars that are sweet that don't need that constant monitoring..

i hope you guys are wrong, but I will be ready...If the engine goes, they will replace it without charging me..

The 350Z would go like a rocket and never need the Oil checked. Just regular services, and it ran like a Timex watch...

Again, i hope you are wrong, but i will not baby the 370Z...I have the extended warranty for 7 years , and I will use it...I will keep records of all the Oil changes, and I would like to see them blame me for low Oil...

But I hope for the best, but Thanks for the heads up...

No. They didn't do it with my Z06, at least. Unless some lot-tech who loads your car gets happy with it, it's not going to see redline until you do that.

Obviously my Z06 isn't a 370Z, but...


Dyno at around 2,000rpm run on natural gas to verify hp.

That's it.
Other than the 4-wheel alignment which has a max rpm if about 4600 or so, IIRC before a notification is received electronically to the big boss man and a phone-call is placed to Bowling Green and someone gets it. My car saw something like 4200 on it while I watched. That's it. Just going through the gears to get to cruising.

You are correct. When assembly is completed, each car is put onto a four wheel rolling road and tested. The cars are then taken out onto a closed test course around the assembly plant to bed in the brakes and test other functions, systems. After a few laps the cars go back into the factory for final inspection, detailing and preparation for shipping.

I visited the Tochigi assembly plant while in Japan back in November 2010 and saw this with my own eyes.