370Z Engine Failure
 

Only 5700 kM's in! Car stopped dead. Dealer said he has to order a new engine. I've never had it above 6000 RPM, drove at variable RPM for the first 1000 KM's. Etc. Weird thing is my FX45 had its engine replaced 6 month ago under warranty. Is this bad luck, or do Nissan engines suck?

Most failures like that are oil related. How closely do you monitor oil level?

Bad Luck! :(

I guess the answer is not that much. I was about to take it to the dealer for the 6000kM first service. No light ever came on saying it was low or anything.

yea bad luck, never happened to me before in any nissan.

Bad luck usually.

bad luck or bad gas or bad habits.

ive owned several nissans and infiniti's no issues here.

Play the lottery. Who knows, maybe you'll hit it twice......oh wait you have bad luck. Nevermind.

Trying to say whether it's bad luck or Nissan just has "bad" engines should be put aside until the reason for the failure comes to light. Really, everyone is just speculating (guessing).

I'm calling BS on the OPs story.

Good reply.... OK the dealer just confirmed that the oil was low. And I'm guessing that since I live on a hill when going uphill, where the car stopped, this must make the situation worse. Anyway no service light, or any indicator ever came up, and the first service wasn't quite due. And since I've never had anything like this in the last 35 years of car ownership with all previous Toyota's, Acura's, even GM. Its kind of unexpected. I've never had to add oil that quickly?

So maybe its a feature, or bug, but certainly unexpected...

THX for your input, I guess I won't sell the car as soon as i get it back, and maybe this serves some educational purpose for others.

I replied to the more thoughtful author, and I guess you too.

The FX problem was scored cylinder walls. The dealer said it must have gotten some bad gas. So not an engineering problem but in light of the 370Z going bad, it makes you wonder.

Anyway believe as will....

And to close.

Maybe the good news story here is that NISSAN, or at least my dealer, seems to do a really good job of honoring the warranty. In both cases, well I guess with the FX since the Z hasn't been in for service yet, I had all the dealer service records, and no questions asked. I did expect some hassle with the FX since the problem started before the warranty expired but the replacement engine didn't get installed until 100,000 km's.

So there is some value in having dealer maintenance....

congrats on getting ur problems sorted in a timely and easy manner. sounds like u got a good dealer there. enjoy ur Z when u get it back and small reminder to keep an eye on the oil levels. there are many stories of Zs running dry and no oil low indicator. so watch out

It happened to me at 1800 miles. I never checked the oil. Lesson learned.

So hopefully not like an RX-8 that needs oil topping all the time.

How often do you check your oil?

It helps to have OCD when maintaining your ride. Check and double check. Everything.

Ive had no issues with my Z but i had a 09 Nissan Versa before it that the transmission blew at 4k miles. Dealer didnt have a clue why it happened but covered it under full warranty. I ended up ditching it and buying the Z.

I check every time I need to get gas.

That's old school, I do it to though! I feel like the only person in the state that does it. Do people look at you like your up to something as well?

You probably didn't change your engine oil and engine probably went dunzo...
You were probably couple quarts off.

Sounds like you had a defective motor from the factory. Glad Nissan did the right thing and replaced it.

How many people, after reading threads like this, immediately go check their oil level! I know I sure as heck do!

:iagree: it only takes 30 seconds or less to check it so why not do it?

Piece of advice on the engine replacement.
MAKE SURE they use a Master Tech to install it. I had a flood-damaged engine replaced in my 350 and didn't not request an MT. They used one of their standard shop lackeys and he really didn't know enough about what he was doing to do the replacement.

man this type of thing has got me spooked. i know the 370 is a far better car than the 350 but with the 350 checking the oil was never an issue.
something doesn't smell right here on these motors and it smells like burnt oil.

if you treat the car right and don't track it you shouldn't have to check the oil level after every fill up but i will from now on.

Again, don't trust a light!

Check the oil stick regulary!!!!

So much for the "bad luck" theory... :rolleyes:

A modern car shouldn't need babysitting. These aren't Ferraris.

You might be right, but if people don't compalint about these issues to Nissan North America the issues are not going to be resolved or taken serious.

Nissan North America has a Face Book page and all you have to do is go to the Discussion Board (which is hidden after the tabs) and open a thread or comment on a thread that is related to your issue.

Believe me that you will get some answers! ;)

They also have a Customer Service email address.

And yet, they are still highly complex machines that have many working parts.

There is absolutely no reason a brand new engine (or even one with some miles on it) should drink up that much oil within one change interval unless something is seriously wrong with it.

While he might have avoided the need for a tow truck, that engine must have been fvcked from the day it was built.

I just hit 1800 miles. I've added two quarts and am down half as we speak. If the OP had a similar problem as I, waiting until 3200+ miles would put close to out of oil.

Originally I only thought to check my oil at 500 miles because of high oil temps (245* during break in under 4000 revs). I was down 3/4 qt. Down another 1/2 at 1000 miles, now 2 1/2 qts at 1800.

Any new car that loses more than a half quart between oil changes is defective.

The temp gauge didn't show any overheating? :ugh:

A tip for everyone, if the car starts overheating, crank up the heat on full blast -- that will draw heat off the motor to the heater core and should cool things down enough to find a safe place to pull over. Then call a tow truck.

(Disclaimer: At least this trick used to work -- not sure if more modern cars have the core set up differently... if you don't see temps coming down, get off the road ASAP.)

An overheating engine will potentially warp the head and can murder an auto trans pretty quickly.

it was the take it easy break in period. You have to drive em like you stole em so they wont fail on you.

That is not true. 1.5 qt per 3K miles is within spec for some manufactures. Subaru being one.

Ouch. I think I'd return a car that was burning that much oil. Do they burn at the same rate for the entire life of the engine?

Yes sir. A running joke in the Subaru world is to buy 8 qts of oil per oil change because you will need the extra 3 before the next oil change.

usually they dont. ive owned subies for a long time and ive never even had anything close to that type of consumption even though it might be "in spec". and yea i heard a lot of Z owner's consumption go down after time