i have same problem on my 03, burning oil and nissan couldnt figure out, let me know how the tune goes, what mods do you have?

What is low on the dipstick?? After 2,000 miles, my dipstick is reading less than half on the dipstick between L and H.

thats normal

You guys have got me worried about this issue. I called my Service Dept and they said they haven't heard of any oil consumption problems on their Z's. But that 1 quart per 1,000 sounds really abnormal and monitor my 2 week old car and bring it in if that is happening.

They also recommended Mobil 1 5W30 oil.

i just blew an engine at 4352 miles, and they are saying its due to oil consumption. the oil light never went on, oil pressure was always fine, and engine never overheated :( i'm thinking about how to get rid of my Z if this is what all the 06 engines are doing. anyone know whether lemon law applies here given that replaced engine and known problems on the 06 will cause diminished value? i'm paying way too much (17 and working my ass off for this car) to deal with this stuff. i cant even get a rental to cover me while they have to wait a week for new engine, and then spend another week putting it in. :(

I cannot stress this enough. Do NOT accept the "Gee, I never heard of this happening before." excuse from your service manager, or any excuse for that matter. This is a machining problem in the engine, not yet sure if its poor quality control or a design flaw but it is not the result of the engine being high-performance or high-compressdion. If your service manager tells you something like this they are either "F"ing with you or they are so out of touch with what's happening that you should not trust them to service your vehicle. Try going to a different dealership (any Nissan dealership in North America can perform warranty service and maintainance to your car), you do not need to get your service done where you purchased the car. If you don't have the option of going to another dealer for whatever reason then insist that your service manager call NNA (Nissan North America) to get information on this KNOWN ISSUE. I've been fortunate enough thus far to have been dealing with a knowledgable and proactive service dept at Power Nissan in Irvine, CA. They've been very straightforward with me and have not attempted to blame my driving style or bolt-ons for the oil consumption problem. Anyone in SoCal should give them a try if you're having problems with another service dept. Good luck everyone.

Don't take no for an answer with the rental. This is their problem, not yours. They should allow something like $15 a day for a rental. If they give you static, threaten to report them to the Better Business Bureau. They are most likely taking advantage of you because you're young. If you can bring a parent with you next time. Good luck.

You can't do this type of thing over the phone. You need to take the car in (preferably to another dealer than where this idiot works) so that you can start documenting everything and get any potential problems resolved on their dime rather than yours. BTW the service advisor you spoke with is clearly smoking something. Why would Nissan intentionally ship their cars with oil that will get consumed rapidly? Makes no sense at all.

i wish you were right, but my understanding is that they use enterprise rent-a-car, who will not give a car to someone under 21 or 25:icon22: ( i don't remember which, and its not just rent, they wont allow me to drive it at all). This came up when I asked if they would be giving my a comparable loaner, as in a loaner Z. Apparently this is a ridiculous request?:mad: She informed me that "it won't be a sports car" and that they only allow $35 a day for rental. I'm paying to drive a Z. If I can't drive my Z, then why am I paying for it? I feel like I should get half off my payment if they are going to take half my month to fix a problem that they caused.:icon20: :icon20: :icon20: :icon20: :icon20: i feel cheated. I just don't know what i'm supposed to do while they have my Z for that long. I have work (30 minutes away) and school (10 minutes away). i'm thinking about seeing if i can just get rid of my Z and find something else that might run for more than a few thousand miles without problems :icon22:

Check your paperwork too. Mine had explicitly stated loaner included in price for any overnight repairs.

No sense whatsoever. You are under no obligation to continue dealing with any one Nissan dealership; I would go elsewhere. You are clearly getting jerked around by a dealer with a Sales Mgr who could care less, and is telling you anything to get your non-income producing problem out of his face.

Man it sucks to hear so many people having this problem. Right now the only mods I have is jwt intake, jwt clucth, and magnaflow exhaust. Plenum spacer coming soon not sure which one though.

Good luck to all with this and thanks for the heads up. I just got my z last on monday and i'm going to check this on a daily basis. My commute is about 60 miles so i'm a high milage guy.

Well, I hit my first 1K on my 06 Base today. Checked the dip stick and the oil was barely above the "L" mark. I put in one quart to get it up to the full mark.

So unless the dealer forgot to fill up the fluids when I picked up my Z two weeks ago, I'd have to say my Z is going through 1 quart of oil per 1K.

What recourse do we Z owners have? Or is this something we just have to continue doing. Putting in 1 quart per 1K.

Honestly that doesn't bug me, but it makes me wonder, where's that quart going? Is it being blown out the pipes or where? Is there dangerous build up of excess oil somewhere in my car or what?

i wouldn't be surprised, because the dealer said they were also replacing the cats on my Z.

With my new short block installed, the service guy said that the car might consume about 1 quart of oil on the first 1,000 miles until the rings are seated but after that should diminish considerably (return to normal).

If you use another quart at your 2,000 mile mark, then I would worry.

Do autos have this problem also????

Why would your rings require seating any differently than a factory motor? I took delivery of my 2003 Z with 14 miles, and 8 of those were test drive. No noticeable oil consumption occurred by the 3500 mile first oil change, nor for at least 10k miles thereafter.

I am just curious what the logic is here; the tolerances are so tight this is not a factory 1972 Chevy 350 V8 where then I would buy the argument that rings need seating and likely would consume a quart of oil 1000 miles into break-in, and more ongoing - the rings were never that tight.

His justification seems not logical and more CYA in case you have the same issue and he buys himself 1000-2000 miles of breathing room. Very curious...good luck, watch it like a hawk. I suggest photos on the dipstick when you check it over time. While you certainly can fake anything, photos showing progression of oil level drop over time will help you should you have to take more drastic measures. Keep meticulous records.

I would like to give some hope to 06 owners.

My Z only has 3800 miles and I did the first oil chnage at 700 miles at the dealer(it was free). The current oil has just over 3000 miles and I beat my car pretty good. It's not my daily driver so everytime I take it out it's to have some fun. I also did a trackday at Thunderhill raceway. My Z has used only about 25% of a 1 quart bottle. That's nothing considering how I've driven the car.

Maybe I don't have enough miles yet, so we'll see. I have another trackday coming up and it will have fresh motul synthetic by then.

I'll report back if any consuption occurs. I have my fingers crossed so that it won't burn much. I would say that with trackdays and hard driving 1qt per 3k miles should be normal.

Good luck to those of you dealing with this.

Hello, new to the forum. Purchased my '06 3 weeks ago, Silverstone touring with burnt orange leather. Not new to the Z, had one of the first 1990 300's in my area years back. I have about 1250 miles on mine and after reading this thread decided to do a quick check. Dipstick was about 3/4 or a little more towards full, about 1/4 inch below the H marker. Based on this I feel ok for now, but I hope this is a random issue and doesn't get worse as the miles increase. I love this car and don't want engine issues. My car was made in June of this year, any chance this issue has been quietly fixed on recent production runs? Also, would someone explain to me the references to "short block/long block" I have seen concerning the oil consumption. Thanks, great site.

John

Your recourse is up to you. If you don't care that you have to add oil then continue adding oil. But you shouldn't have to. Even if you don't mind doing it, who knows what kind of long term damage that kind of oil consumption will cause.
Take it to your dealer, have them start an oil consumption test, don't let them bs you. And document everything.

I agree, the dealership should look at it, and document everything. Find a dealership that wont push you around, but respects you and listens to your conserns.

My 03 z33 doesnt burn a drop of oil at 18,000 miles. Did a recent oil change, and measured the oil out of the engine in a beaker, and it was right at the 5 qrt line. It also did not burn any oil during break in.

My dad also owns a G35 and did the break in him self using dyno oil and switched to mobile 1 after 10k miles, it never burned, nor burns now a drop of oil either.

So I called three different dealers and two said they haven't heard anything about the oil consumption problems on the Z and that to drive it for about 3,000 miles and then if I am noticing the same problem then bring it in to start tests.

The third dealer said they have heard something on a very small number of Zs, but that after the driver had put on 3-4,000 miles the problem dissappeared.

They recommended to drive 3K miles (checking and filling oil as you go). Do your 3K oil change and you should notice there is no problem after that.

Anyone think this is a load of crap? or do the Z's really require a long 3-4K break in period in which it does consume a lot of oil.

Load of crap. I was gentle with both my G and Z for about 1k miles just on principle although I do not believe it was really needed.

3-4k break-in with burning oil? Crap.

It might be a good idea to get an oil analysis done. $20.00 www.blackstone-labs.com next time you change your oil. They can tell you allot about whats going on inside your engine.

oh the joys! just talked to my dealer today and they said the engine is on backorder:icon11: , with no ETA whatsoever. meanwhile my baby sits outside in the sun, in the service lot. :icon22: :icon22: :icon22: :icon22:

how can the vq be on backorder? seems like they should have plenty of them around...

So... in summary, is this "issue" related strictly to the new rev up motor? Is the oil consumption more prominent in early release 06 or pretty consistent throughout the model year?

Forget it.... I used the search feature and found it's on many year models.
:icon22:

next chapter
 

:icon10: Those who have been following the Oil Consumption posting know that i have had several issues with my 06 zr....

Picked the Z up monday with COMPLETE ENGINE replacement. (third engine for the car if you are following).Parked it in the driveway monday night, go to take my 10 year old to school on tuesday and she stands in the driveway laughing and screaming "Daddy we are getting a new car"

Yes it pissed oil all over the place.

Bring it back to the shop wednesday morning and there it sits..... Oil cooler was not replaced and it sprung a leak.....

called the folks at www.lemonlawaz.com and they are handling it now..

they just settled another case in AZ for a gentlemen with a leased Z

Option one: replace car with new car and pay "usage fee" no clue what that will be. Register new car, paper work............. etc

Option two: Case out of car...... They pay everything i put into minus, yes "usage fee". Then i need to find a new car that is not a Z... not a good option.... Love the looks and handling of the ZR

Option three: Have the car fixed and take a payout for my headaches.... Warranty stays in place so if i need new engine in another 3k miles then it gets replaced..... I am thinking this is the way to go.....

Anyway, guys stay on top of your issues..... if you are in AZ check out www.lemonlawaz.com and talk to Ian.

I will update you all after Nissan USA makes me a offer in writting.

Yes i am in another rental for now..............

Damn!!!!!3 engines?WOW! Mine is loosing oil too:icon22: Hope the lemon law people take care of you. BTW: my car is going in next week for service, Please tell me you were not dealing with a dealership located at the automall:icon8:

Man thats what Im afraid of. Getting a new engine just to find out it still burns oil. That really sucks, 3 engines!!!! Good luck with the lemon law, hope it works out for you.

For everyone else: Has ANYONE got a new engine (revup, or not) that does not consume oil anymore??? Is there hope??

Here's some replies I just posted in another thread.

Yup, I'm no longer amazed by the incompetence of my dealer or Nissan USA. Two months working on this issue and I still don't have a resolution. Every time I go in they tell me to come back and every time I call Nissan for a solution they tell me to take it in. There's clearly a problem, its losing significantly more than a quart every thousand miles. Pipes are covered in black soot(they never acknowledge that though).
If Nissan would have resolved this promptly I would have been fine but now they've dragged it out so long I don't want to deal with it anymore.
In WA the lemon law states 4 times to fix a non conformity....my 4th visit was a couple weeks ago....
I even sent Nissan a certified letter and no response after 30 days.
Not happy with Nissan.
We have a Murano that's fine but it's definitely discouraged me from purchasing Nissan again.


Yeah, the icing on the cake is we sent a certified letter in a few weeks ago asking for a resolution(as suggested by an atorney). Yesterday afternoon I get a call from some guy at Nissan.... you know what he had the nerve to ask me? He asked if I'd read the manual and noticed the part that says oil consumption is normal.....I wanted to beat him. I kept asking him if more than a quart in less than 1k miles is normal and he just went around in circles. I let him know the industry standard for consumption is quantified at 1 quart per 1k miles and mine is consuming more than that. He kept saying, "the dealer hasn't verified excessive consumption". I pointed out they documented significantly more than 1 quart oil loss per 1k miles. He just kept going around in circles. I finally asked him why he called me if he didn't have a resolution. He didn't have an answer for that. Basically, Nissan has just continued to waste my time and not resolve the problem.
If they would have nipped this in the bud and said they'd fix it when I went in the first couple times(the first call they said they'd have a resolution after the second visit) I would be a happy camper and I would keep this car. But due to their horrid lack of customer service I will never buy another Nissan and I will do my best to get them to buy this piece of crap back.

I'm just posting this up as a warning to other people having problems. Be very careful with Nissan, they haven't shown themselves to be forthcoming with info or competent at solving problems promptly.
Heck, with the Altima recalls it took them 6 months, more than 500 cases and a warning from the NTSB(National Trans Safety Board) before they figured out there was a problem and recalled 80k cars.
Ridiculous.

I just talked to the state atorney general, it sounds like what would be helpful to those of us with consumption problems if we had letters from people with the same car who have the issue and also letters from those who have non consuming cars. Basically, if Nissan trys to say that "some" consumption is normal we'd have proof that most Z's do not leak any and those that are leaking are in fact a "non-conformity". I would be happy to write a certified(meaning signed and witnessed) letter stating my exact problems for anybody needing it.
I think getting this problem fixed requires us being proactive and making Nissan realize there is something wrong with a number of 350Z's.

If anybody doesn't mind sending me a letter stating they're not consuming any oil please PM me. I would really appreciate it. I'd like to have all the paperwork I might have need when it's time for arbitration. I don't want to be caught unprepared.

lets get a list going of people who have oil consumption problems and are willing to write a letter about it.


i'll start

1. stan

2. Jared

and maybe a list with a couple guys that don't have problems. We have to establish a baseline that the norm is the car does not consume oil and we are the exception.

willing to write letters:

Oil Consumption:
1. stan
2. brocken (jared)
3.

No Oil Consumption:
1.

Oil Consumption:
1. stan
2. brocken (jared)
3. Jonathan Allyn (new longblock)

No Oil Consumption:
1.[/QUOTE]

willing to write letters:

Oil Consumption:
1. stan
2. brocken (jared)
3.glowz825 (Greg)

No Oil Consumption:
1.

No oil consumption.
I purchased in April, first oil change mid summer at 4k. About to get a second oil change at 8K.

I run Royal Purple 5w30 (synth).
Car is an '06 base - just an intake.

have my z - lets see for how long....
 

glowz825

Yes it is our friend Jim at the automall.... Scott and JB have been great, I get a new rental every week................

Just picked it up. JB took it home last night and he saw no oil leaks.

I am still going through with the Lemon Law process. The lawyer handling it thinks we should have it resolved with Nissan USA within 30 days. We shall see.

I am taking it on a trip to Greer AZ this weekend. this should test the oil consumption. Lots of mountains, this should have the tach all over the place.
Should get around 1000 miles in 3 days so i will be back at the dealer tuesday..... just for a check up.....


I will keep you posted

I think they need to be '06's too since mine is an '06.

Sounds like you have more probs with your 06 motor than I do. Did you buy yours in Feburay 2006 as well?

As an update, I have 700 miles on my new short block. Has been kept below 4,000 rpm. The black soot crap on the tips seems to be far less than before but I'm totally baby'in the engine so it's too early to know for sure. It has used 1/2 a quart so far in 700 miles.

There is an oil leak someplace but I have no idea how much of that 1/2 quart loss is due to the leak. It seems to be a mild leak, as I have not seen any drips in the driveway or at least not any type of pools but do see and wipe of drops hanging off the skid pan. I think it only leaks when the engine is running and burns off on the headers and any excess blows off the skid plate because I can smell it at times. Some of the suspension components have a coating of oil, so it's gotta be blowing off on the freeways. It's going in on Monday for that.

Yea, i'd write a letter with you guys but mine (and dad's) are 03's.... Just for the anoying fact that lawers will argue anything, make sure they are all 06's.

Bmacs- do you feel it was critical you retained a lawyer for the case? My wife and I are on the fence about it. The state AG agrees that we have a good case.
The lawyer would take some pressure off us but that would mean we'd be more out of pocket now and have to pay a retainer fee. I'd just hate to not win and on top of being stuck with the car, not get the fee back.
But Nissan is a big corp and has a lot of experience with cases like these.
They're already trying to use the loophole of "look in the manual". I just know they'll be sneaky.

You can't top off the oil level if you are doing a consumption test.

Well you could but your readings would be in favor of your dealer.

Right on! My car goes in on the 18th so that ought to be interesting:icon38:

I always wonder with all these 06's getting new blocks or engines, what the hell is it going to do to our resale value?

Buyer: So you had any problems with the car?

Me: Well I did have the shortblock replaced under warranty.

buyer: Oh WOW bye.

All the ones with the oil troubles, I bet you guys have MT right. The ones with auto have no problem. I having my block change right now and nissan think they found the problem. When the MT cars are in high rev the ECU start to suck some oil out of the engine and blowing back in to the intake. Just enough to not see it burn or smoke, just enough use the oil up little at a time. It's kind of a crazy but I was thinking the PVC valve, they said this. Only Manual trans cause we like to rev the engine high. Nissan working on a new unit now, in the near future there might be a recall on the unit or they might change the ones who come in with just that problem

Interesting indeed.... thanks for the post!

Did you get this info from Nissan or the Dealer? I have allways wondered about the PCV valve. I wonder then if installing a catch can would eliminate most of the oil entering the combustion chamber? Of course the catch can would not stop the oil consumption, but oil running up through the PCV us much less of a problem than oil blowing by the piston rings. *Fingers crossed*