A little update.
I did call 1800 Nissan1 and within 3 days the dealership has called me back saying they will do a compression test on my car.
After they pretty much told me, oh yeah thats normal just dump in oil in your car.
Screw Nissan dealers and they crappy service. Its sad sometimes.
I'll keep ya'll posted on what happens, I will do the compression test next week.
Should I take it for one somewhere else before I go to Nissan?

 

No, but make sure they do a compression AND leakdown test. Compression will only tell part of the story... If they don't find a problem insist on an oil consumption test (they will lock your dipstick and drainplug) and have fun for those couple thousand miles...

 

My DD is not even a "perfect high mileage Z".... my DD is a mid-90's Ford with over 182K on the odo that burns and leaks NO oil. Plus different manufacturing facilities should not have tolerances that out of whack if that is what you were implying. Example: Factory A cars burn no oil while Factory B cars burn 1qt/1000 miles.... now that seems a little ignorant to me. Did your comment bashing me help the OP solve his problem? Didn't think so.



But to move on, it's ridiculous that Nissan claims it's normal to burn up to a qt of oil per 1000 miles. Does it state that in our owner's manual that we should add a quart per 1000 miles if necessary?

 

ok heres my input....i have an 03 and i did a compression test and found out in cylinder #5 my seal on the VC aka valve cover (where the coil pack goes into the sparkplug) had a bad leak. then i did some research and found out a lot of VQ engines have that problem and in that same cylinder. The cheapest way to fix it is to buy a new right side valve cover (not the side you put oil in). My engine seems to of had that problem for a while now because i had oil consumption since i bought the car a couple years ago. It will eventually cause the coilpack to go bad and wont ignite the sparkplug so you will be running on 5 cylinders and not know it. I have also read about how someone who had a frontier had an oil consumption problem and he cleaned his VC's because they got clogged where the PCV hose goes from one cover to the next and then into the intake. Also somehow if it is clogged it can cause the oil to be sucked through the PCV hoses and into the intake to be detonated in the combustion chamber. So thats two ways that oil can be consumed in our engines that a lot of people dont know about. Bad seal on the VC #5 cylinder and oil being sucked into the intake to be ignited. I know there are a lot of people who have taken off their upper plenum and saw all the oil resin. Its all because of poor design of the VC's and PCV lines. Thats one reason i suggest the oil catch can for even stock engines. It helps with detonation further down the road. hope this info can help some of you out. tomorrow im actually changing my VC's, VC gaskets, coil pack (because it was warped and soft from the leak over the years), and a new silicon pcv hose that goes to the intake because mine is really worn (im assuming from all the oil going through it). It all costs me $508 with shipping. Thats not what everyone needs but thats what i need. But as far as the compression test if the compression test is good then there is no reason for you to have a leakdown test. With my compression test i had 175 psi on cylinders #2,4,5,6 and on cylinders #1,3 i had 170. About 3% difference which is nothing. Your suppose to have at least 140psi. If i had 175 and another cylinder with 140 thats about 20% and thats a problem so then you would do a leak down test to find out where the leak is ex. leaking through the rings. Also if your doing a compression test and it slowly laggs up to pressure when your turning over the engine then there might also be a leak through your piston rings fyi. Your suppose to turn it over about 5 times (average) to get the rated psi. any questions feel free to ask.

 

I track my car and DD 8/12 months of the year. I live with my oil burning problem for now.

 

I have heard about the pcv issues and the vc gasket. I will stay in touch with you. When are you planning on doing all the work on your car?
I want to see what you're results were like. Why are you replacing the valve cover btw?

 

Good info...

 

i replaced the VC's, VC gaskets, #5 coil pack, PVC hose from right VC to intake, and all the spark plugs. I did that plus paint my headlights in a day in my garage. I reset my ECU and now i have a s**t ton better gas mileage. During my next oil change im going to check the #5 cylinder again and see if the leak stopped. Im startin to think that the reason the #5 cylinder leaks more than any other cylinder seal on the VC is because its not easy to torque the 2 bolts closest to the firewall on the right VC (near the battery). Its really tight in there and i didnt have a torque wrench. Im good at estimating torque because im a diesel mechanic at my job on base. anyways its a little zoned out right now because i just got some mouth surgery done and im on perks....message me for questions bout this or transmission info which im very knowledgeable in as well.

 

Any update on this. I think Im suffering the same issues but on 6th Cylinder under the TB

 

I’m experiencing a similar situation; I purchased my 05 base in January, the Z had 31,500 and was a trade in at a dodge dealership so prior history is unknown. After purchasing it I had it serviced the following day at a well known independent shop who recommended Royal Purple. Since the service I have seen a slight oil loss:

31,500: Oil Change w/RP
33,500: add ½ Quart RP
34,000: add ½ Quart RP
35,150: Oil level unchanged.

As you can see the loss appears to be inconsistent. I’m taking the car in tomorrow to do a base-line dyno run but while there I will speak to the service manager about a leak down and compression check. If that urns out okay and its not VC/PCV issue then I’m switching back to regular dino-oil to see if it’s a viscosity issue with the synthetic. Updates to follow. Oh many thanks winterdevilg35 for the info.

 

try a thicker oil. German Castrol 0w30 or Rotella Tsyn 5w40. both are thicker oils that seem to do very well in the VQ. worth a shot. the m1 5w30 seems to be a bit too thin and does do so well in the VQ. Royal Purple is water, stay away from that crap.

 

Yeah that’s what I’m finding out about RP. Damn shame I didn’t do my research before going to the shop and taking their advice. I’ll be doing my own oil changes now.

 

When you have an issue with an obvious warranty issue (1qt burned per 1k miles is not normal or acceptable), take it to another dealership and start the whole process all over again.

Wash, rinse, repeat until either NNA makes it right or you find a competent dealer.

 

Just finished switching my cam cover over (Throttle body side) as I had a similar thing of oil on the spark plugs. I see what you mean about that bolt by the firewall!!!! Not easy to get the correct torque on it at all. Only managed to start the car up and leave it idling for 20/25 mins but dont appear to have any leaks from the outer cover which is good news!

Will update in about 300 miles time when I know better.

Dan