Hi all,

2006 - Touring, approximately 35K miles with Nismo Catback (http://willsani.com/2007/08/26/350z-nismo-catback/) and Nismo Cold air intake. I have all of the manifests from maintenance, oil changes, etc. I take care of it

So, I've been driving the car less and less lately. I had it parked in the driveway (covered too!) for the last week. I decided to take it for a fun ride yesterday. When I turned on the engine, I heard a loud clunking noise, followed by white smoke!! So the white smoke is explained by burning oil but what could be causing these mechanical issues already? Did I get a "Friday car"?

I should add in the recent month, when I rev to 3200 RPM (in gear, not idle), there is a banjo like noise from up from under carriage (like someone striking the cord, I know, silly). I took it in back in March and the Nissan dealer folks told me, "there is nothing wrong".

Any suggestions on troubleshooting and explaining the issue clearly to the shop? I know it's difficult to explain a mechanical issue in print format, but I figure I ask for some guidance from the community.

Thanks a bunch.

 

Welcome. How about a video or photo of the smoke?

 

Working on it. Going to let it sit for a while, so I can re-produce the issue. I'm hoping with a little video evidence, I can show the shop (as well as this forum) what I'm talking about it.

 

'06 was the year of the oil-consumption issue. You'd better keep very close track of your oil levels.

 

Thanks for the clue Now that I think back, I was told that the engine oil was low at the time of change. And looking further, Nissan did put out a TSB: NTB07-088. Sigh...

 

You wouldn't be totally opposed to a new engine would you?

 

Willing to bet it's the dreaded oil consumption. Do some searching around the site... there are thousands of people who have dealt with it. Good luck and find a good/quality dealer to work with. I would imagine you'll be spending a decent amount of time there, and I'm sure there are some guys near you that have been through this already.

 

Thanks for the replies. I definitely didn't want to make the thread sound like a broken record After TreeFiddyZee replied, I did search the forum and found a lot of posts, so I've been educated now.

I can tell you that BoardWalk Nissan in Redwood city California does not fit the bill for a quality dealer. I only have a few other choices, so I'll be exploring them soon (tomorrow).

 

Courtesy Nissan was good... but they went out of business, check the norcal section to find out which dealership is hassle free, and wont hesitate to replace your engine.

 

Agreed. I remember Todd from Courtesy Nissan, and how extremely helpful he was. Always courteous. I took my 03Z there before I bought the 06Z from them.

Thanks for the reply.

 

well well well.. my '06 350z was just taken last week to the nearest dealer because of a noise comming from under the car and it was a random noise. they found out that after 52k miles I needed a new trans, and next week I will be taking my car back to record the oil for 3k miles and they said I will prolly need a new motor aswell.

 

do you warm up your car or do you just hope in it and rip?

because there is a kid at my school who thinks its cool to jump in his car rev it up and do a burnout before it even has a chance to get the oil temp up at all and his car burn oil like crazy you can smell it when your behind him so bad.

 

First off, I'm not in school, so that puerile need to "hop" in, rev up and peel out isn't there. Second, I let the car warm up at least 5-10 minutes. Burning/Wasting gas? Sure...

Needless to say, I think the problem is obvious based on the gamut of information that other forum members have posted about the same issue. I'm guessing this engine is defective, but I won't know until I take the vehicle in. That said, I haven't driven the car for almost a month, so maybe I'll take it in next week and post a sitrep later.

 

I thought I would post the end result. I'm getting a new engine (at 40K) because the oil consumption is way above the "norm". The guys are Falore Nissan in Sunnyvale were extremely helpful and diligent in troubleshooting the issue.

Yay ...

 

Thanks for followup. White smoke is indicative of water in the combustion chamber. Not burning oil. Regardless the new motor will fix it.