Here's a good one for you. At 3000 miles I changed my oil and put some Mobil 1 5w30 in, 5 1/2 quarts to be exact. My Z now has 6000 miles on it and I go to change the oil again and guess what? I only get 2 1/2 quarts out of the drain. I jacked the car higher on one side and then tilted it forward and back but still nothing, even after letting it drain for 45 min. So I pour some oil in to make sure its flowing through and it is. I'm don't have smoke pouring out the exhaust and there's no leaks anywhere. WTF. So either the aliens stole 3 quarts of oil from my engine in the past 3 months or its baked on the internals. 3 QUARTS, WTF!?

 

Take it to the dealer so you can document the oil change . They will and should have you come back ever so often to check it .If it continues to use that much it should be covered . And the engine should be replaces

 

There have been a couple of instances posted here by people reporting severe oil loss. I believe they all resulted in replacement of the engine. In any case, you should check your oil level regularly.

 

this should be a daily to weekly thing whenever u fill the car up with gas....i do it and im 18 years old...i know how to take care of things...

Ben

 

also u should put in fuel injector cleaner just about every month...REDLINE COMPLETE FUEL SYSTEM CLEANER....best stuff u should use a whole bottle especially if you have never done it before with a full tank of gas, and then buy another to keap in the car because it can be used to treat your car and fuel system every time you put in gas....they have treatment levels 10 gals for every 2oz i dunno....read the bottle i recommend it

Ben

 

i notice the same thing ...

i check my oil before an oil change ... the level is fine. i drain it ... 3.5-4qts ... fill it with 5 qts and check the oil level... it's perfect.

 

Thats Mobil 1 for you !

Same thing with my Impreza RS. The oil burns. Driving habit is also a factor. Do you use engine braking ? I do and this burns oil (ring seals need combustion pressure to scrappe excess oil from the cylinder wall) and I also track the car 1 or 2 times a month.

It's not necessarily bad, as long as you don't loose so much that you run dry.

Other oils might not "evaporate" as much. Your call on trying other oils. But personnaly, I don't think having a full pan of oil at the end of a oil change interval is an indication of better oil quality.

As a side note, with the Mobil 1 I'd lose 10 psi of pressure when the oil pan temps reached 240+ F. Prssure was then 65psi vs normal 75psi. So it is still good.

That was after 20 minutes of non stop lapping at Monza with my Impreza 2.5RS. One cool lap got the temps down and I was good for an other while.

 

mgtibbetts

I'm in the same boat, I'm also using Mobil 1. By modern engine standards that amount of oil usage is excessive get your Nissan dealer to check it out, I'm in the middle of an oil comsumpion test as per instruction from Nissan to my dealer, so get it document by your dealer just in case.

David

 

MG: You lost closer to 2-2.5 quarts..Dont forget, the Oil filter holds about 1/2 a quart. you should still have this checked nevertheless.

Sins: I disagree about the fuel system cleaning...the manual doesnt recommend it and Most Modern higher octane fuels have their own cleaning agents added.

Kolia: that was somewhat ignorant..Yes, driving habits play a role, AS does engine condition and function. Mobil One on the other hand, isnt the culprit. I have used it in previous cars, no Problems or consumption, and Have Just switched to it on my Z. we'll see what happens.........

 

It could be the oil, I burn a lot, on Mobil 1, but not nearly as much as when I was using Royal Purple. I've got 2 qts of Mobil 1 left, and will be switching to dyno oil next to see if it makes a difference.

 

I'm very curious to see your findings running Mobil 1 vs your previous oil.

It might be ignorant, but I don't usually point first to engine condition of a new car in these instances. And just repeating other peoples comments to say "have your engine checked" is not very constructive. I prefer to offer other possibilities that might otherwise be left unexplored.

 

Understandable. I'll be in touch on the status of my oil level.

 

Thanks for the input guys. As for fuel additives, I used an octane booster with fuel injector cleaner from around 2000 miles to 4500 miles until my engine started misfiring at idle every so often and the CEL came on. I pulled the plugs and they had a crap load of dry carbon buildup so I replaced them and scrapped the octane booster. It's been fine since, but I think that booster was definitely making me run rich. I don't know if this has anything to do with the oil though, I'll bring it to the dealer and let them handle it. I'm through trying to figure things out on this car.

 

Oh yeah, BTW. Someone mentioned something about me only losing 2.5 quarts. I put 5 quarts in the engine and 1/2 quart in the filter (I use the huge m105). When I drained the oil and poured out the filter I only got 2.5 quarts total. Just to be clear.
Also, on my FIRST oil change I know I didn't get more than 3.5 quarts out because I use a 2 gallon container to drain into. That thing was under half full but I was in such a hurry (It was starting to rain) that I didn't really bother with it and just figured the engine was breaking in. Gotta go, my phone's ringing, it's probably the dealer.

 

Ok it's probably a stupid question but I'll go for it anyway. I am having the same problem with the oil....About 2 months ago the car was almost out of oil so i went and got Napa synthetic maximum engine protection...guy at the place told me it was the best for racing applications and since I was gonig to a track that day I went with it. So I added I think 2 and half quarts. At the time the car only had maybe 2,000 miles on it..so I figured ok the car is new and it used up the oil breaking everything in...well now I am starting to notice the oil pressure isn't as high anymore and i haven't checked the level bc I haven't had the chance yet but the car only has 3,000 miles on it now. Question is: Would any of my aftermarket mods have an effect on oil loss? CAI or test pipes and dual exhaust? Would they eat up the oil faster or may I have another problem? The check engine light just came on 2 weeks ago I think but I figured that was because of not having any cats anymore. Can I take the car to the dealer or should I put my cats back in 1st so they don't try to say it was something I did? thanks for the help and sorry for the stupid question.

 

I've heard some stuff about high flow cats and test pipes affecting the exhuast valves in a way that keeps them "looser" or something like that. Has to do with lack of adequate back pressure. Anywho, the dealer may use them as an excuse saying that the oil is blowing out through the valves due to the lack of backpressure created by the test pipes.

 

thanks for the info...i love the sound of the car with the pipes but I might just put the cats back in.

 

I had headers ,no cats, and a dual Stillen exhaust.... Have not burned a drop of oil in 10,000 miles . Do not put engine additives in a new car....injector cleaner , octane boost . You do nothing but foul your plugs . If your burning oil , your rings are more that likely bad . Many N/A and F/I guys are seeing oil consumption with this motor . Start documenting the oil burning with the dealer . And when its burning enough oil the dealer should replace the motor

 

I've experienced a severe oil loss like that once in my engines 52k miles. I did a lot of spirited driving that particular 3k mile cycle, but havent experienced it since even with getting on it. Strange. I've kept an eye on my engine since but havent noticed any oil loss since.