So a few months ago I took my car to the dealer to start an oil consumption test because my car seems to be going through oil like crazy (no leaks). Anyway after 3 checks, the results were that my car is burning 1 quart about every 1200 miles. The service department manager says that Nissan's rule is that 1 quart per 1000 miles is acceptable, and I am burning less than that so I am out of luck.

Does anyone know if that really is Nissan's rule or is he making it up? That just seems way out of line. Even if it burned a quart every 2000 miles that is crazy. It seemed to be getting better toward the end of the test, but if it keeps up what can I do besides call Nissan directly and complain?

There are about 22K miles on it, so its well out of its "seat the rings" period, and I pretty much followed the breakin rules to a T back when I first got it.

 

mine is, too. gonna have it checked friday. they had to perform tests on yours 3 different times? my build date was 11/02. when was yours?

 

I have a spare motor that was a warranty removal for same reason. it was sludged up from running damn Quaker State oil. It had 16,000 miles on it and the oil rings were stuck down and there was 1/4" of sludge in the heads and on the chain guide rails. It stunk of burnt oil so bad I had to have it cleaned right away cause the wife said "What is that nasty smell coming from the garage." I have ways of freeing up the stuck oil rings. This problem won't effect power production for a long time but running it out of oil will.

 

My '04 Z loses about 1/4 - 1/2 quart between every oil change (3k miles) - I check it each time (old habit). Man, if I had a newer Z car that burned a quart of oil every 1k miles & the dealer told me it was acceptable, I'd tell 'em to shove it - that's 3/5's of the capacity between changes...BS!! He11, even my RX-7 didn't burn that much - ha! Either something's definitely screwed in your engine or it's leaking (and you said it isn't leaking). I'd go to another dealer, call Nissan, or make a friend in the oil business...........

 

Hmmmm... trying to think how to put this.

Ok, so my father was having this same problem with a particular vehicle of his (not a Nissan). I'll just make this real simple ... your car needs to be over a quart low when you go back to have it checked at 1k mile intervals. In my father's case, his vehicle was burning a quart every 1200 miles, but by the time he got to the end of his rope with the manufacturer, he did manage to show his vehicle was 1.5 quarts low at 1K mile intervals. Am I being clear enough?

 

Sneaky....if all else fails, I like that. Besides, if it's losing a quart every 1200 miles, it's as screwed as if it were losing a quart every 1k miles....IMO

 

Exactly. I certainly don't condone fraud, but this BS about 1 quart every 1K miles being acceptable is ... well ... unacceptable.

 

as to the original question though, 1qt/1000 is not only Nissan's, but pretty much the industry's standard. Mine was 1qt/600 miles, but they didn't even perform a consumption test, just a leakdown test, which it failed miserably, so they replaced it.

 

That's correct my friend........but unlike some dealerships/manufacturers, I'm sure you would've been just as concerned if your engine was losing a quart every 1k miles as you were at a quart every 600 miles. Standards are in place as a measuring stick & unfortunately in most cases are strictly adhered to - went thru that a long while ago with another car. As for this thread, I was just feeling empathy with Da Gimp about being called on the carpet over a 200 mile difference between his experience & the standard - a figure like that should be accepted as within tolerance. Just my opinion.........

 

Was this a VQ35DE?

 

If you think it's sludge try this...

www.auto-rx.com

 

Yes it was a motor from an automatic G35 from the Chicago area. It is a VQ35DE. I got it for $1180 delivered, off of E-BaY.