I just bought a 350Z recently, and I read there were oil consumption issues afflicting some of the earlier 2006 models but not the ones made in the latter half of the year. I was hoping someone could explain to me how I could go about determining whether mine is in the first or second half of the year. I know that it should say in the manual but unfortunately this car does not have its manual. I do know, however, that the car was made in March 2006 if this helps at all. The sticker on the driver side door says 2006 but I don't know if it would say 2006.5 if it was one. If this topic has been already answered elsewhere I apologize, I tried searching already and did not come upon any threads that gave a definitive answer.

 

Change your oil. Drive. Check your oil. Keep an eye on it. report back will tell you if your burning oil
......

 

6mt or Barbie version?

 

6 speed =)

 

The only real difference in 2006 vs 2006½ is the advanced air bags. I don't recall hearing that the early vs late models didn't have oil consumption.

 

all 06 year models feature two engines, the rev-up for manuals and the regular DE engine for the autos. The 06 rev-up engines have the oil consumption problems, but its a crapshoot with that engine because half of them didnt have the oil consumption issue, you get lucky or you dont. Just check your oil and monitor it for oil consumption to determine if you won the lottery on this.

 

 

I have an 06 made in october 2005 , rev up and it doesnt use a drop of oil.
So yes, that would be an early 06 production, I guess some are ok and others are not. Apparently Chrysler is having the same issue right now with some Jeep engines, they have no idea what happens to the oil, it just dissapears somehow, and they are also not doing anything about it.

 

I don't know if Nissan do this, but a friend is a VW nut and with each car he buys he sends the VIN off to Stuttgart and in return they send him a little certificate telling him what date the car was put together on the production line. I don't know if the Tochigi plant is able to supply this information. As Stuart says its a bit of a crapshoot as you don't know how long your motor was sat on the dockside either in Japan or the US.
By far the best and safest thing to do until you get used to the car is to just keep checking the oil.

 

6 speed =)