wiseman

Ive read a lot about the oil consumption issues in the 05 -07 on this and other G boards. Thank you all for sharing. My G37S has consumed 20 quarts of oil during the past 10 months (20,000 miles) I just thought that since I drive into NYC every day I was causing the oil to evaporate. Infiniti should really alert owners to this problem, I am a computer guy and not a mechanic. All I knew was the oil in my car was brand new every month from the quarts I was putting in.

The story is I had warmed up my car on a cold day for about 5 minutes. Started driving out of neighborhood... I made it 4 blocks and the engine started making clanging noises at higher rpms. I went right over to Infiniti of massapequa. They werent completely helpful breaking me the news my engine was blown. They made it seem like I was neglecting having oil changes. Although as I just said I was putting 2 quarts in every months on my own. I have all the receipts to prove I bought all the Mobile 1 oil. This is helping me vent since my wife is tired of hearing about my engine.

Well I will be the first to say the oil consumption issue has not been resolved in 08. Possibly this was a bad batch of new VWEL engines although I have a feeling somewhere in the machining process they have some flaws. Why else would these engines have these problems?


Any feedback on this topic from the board?

amoney805

iTrader: (3)

Do you know the manufacture date of your ride?

nogoodname

iTrader: (3)

knock on wood, My G doesn't have these issues and by my sig, I'm pretty lucky.

bought ur G sometime in Nov-Dec?

Black Betty

iTrader: (60)

This is the first I have heard anyone here post regarding this type of issue on the G37. I know that you said you are a computer guy and not a mechanic, but you should have taken your car back to the dealership when you had to put in the first quart of oil prematurely. At the very latest the second quart. That's not normal. By keeping it and continuing to just pump more oil in without actually diagnosing and fixing the problem, you just let it get continually worse. Good luck to you in getting a satisfactory resolution from the dealership or Infiniti. Keep us posted on what they discover the issue to be and how you get it resolved.

cmh2007

if you knew your new car was using that much oil every month, you should have taken it in immediately and had it looked at. oil usage that high is a sure fire sign that you have major problems brewing as you now know

wiseman

My car was purchased in December 2007, so it was probably manufactured in August or September 07. I had a 2004 6MT for 42 months that also went through lots of oil. I just figured I do a lot of city driving so Id always put quarts of oil in to supplment between oil changes. Little did I know any engine that consumes that much oil needs to be replaced. So whether or not I should have brought it in for the quarts of oil it was consuming the engine needed to be replaced anyway. They did give me a problem initially in service but I am still waiting to hear about full warranty coverage. No brand new car should burn that much oil out of the factory. The car was a lemon right out the factory. I am just warning the board to look out for 2008 Oil consumption issues so you dont have to deal with a stressfull situation like me now.

Does anyone have a G37S with over 20,000 miles yet?

By the way, the car also makes awful cracking, popping noises noises when you turn off the car. Sounds like popcorn popping. And when you do a slow turn on unlevel surface in reverse or forward, such as backing out of my driveway, you hear snapping in the suspension.

I am not happy with this car. Ive started owning Zs and Gs in 1982 so I am a loyal Nissan/Infiniti guy.

Cars owned... 1982 280ZX, 1985 300zx, 1988 supra turbo, Audi Allroads V8, 2004 G35 6MT and now 2008 G37S . By far this 2008 G37S is the least reliable car ive ever owned. My wife owns a Murano. I am seriously looking to move into a lexus or bmw if all the issues are not completely resolved during this service.

NeverBoneStock

iTrader: (25)

There was a couple of members on here that posted consumption issues too. No one posted the outcome of their test .. This would suck do to me buying a G due to consumption issues with my 06 Z.. Three failed engines .. Please keep us posted .

Black Betty

iTrader: (60)

Yes wiseman, you do have an issue and hopefully Infiniti steps up and gets you a brand new engine. I purchased in November '07 and have 31.5K on the clock now. I haven't had to add a drop of oil in a year.

The cracklihng/popping noise may be normal - every car does that as the engine cools. Perhaps yours may be doing it more than normal due to the engine overheating because of being low on oil?

wiseman

Yeah I figured the popping is just the catalytic converter getting hot from engine being turned off. Do you drive your car fast or usually just cruise at same speed? I happen to like giving the car gas and usually only get 14.8 miles per gallon. If you baby the car I would not be surprised for your car to be fine. Like the guy who blew three engines... if you drive the car hard before I guess the seals are broken in you get this problem in my opinion. Z guy, neverbonestock do you drive the car hard or mellow? black betty?

It sucks for a person who likes performance to have the car not hold up and have oil piston seal problems. Especially if you bought the car. I have a two year lease thats up next year. May get the GT-R if this G37S experience gets better. I hope...

Black Betty

iTrader: (60)

I take care of my car. I commute with it so it's not very hard on the car cruising at highway speeds. I accelerate quickly sometimes and drive spirited, but not like a pissed off teenager. I get closer to about 20 MPG average so I can see our driving styles and the way we treat our cars is very different. I'm the guy who buys a car and drives it for a while problem free rather than the guy who blow engines.

Good luck getting any better performance and durability out of the GTR.

G-ThirtySe7en

I guess there's a reason they recommend a 1200 mile break-in period.

wiseman

Betty wow 20mpg average. I assume that doesnt include any city driving. I have 20 stop signs before i get to a main road and drive into NYC which has tons of traffic. I am a 40 year old father of two not some angry teenager.

Black Betty

iTrader: (60)

Yes, my daily commute is about 20 miles one way and it's 80% highway. Some Houston traffic but mostly open road as I travel all over Texas for work.

I'm not saying you are a kid, we are close to the same age. You simply drive your car much harder and in a more demanding way than I do.

Mike

iTrader: (1)

Many members here can verify that I can get high teens in bumper to bumper traffic, and high twenties combined. Oh, and I don't drive like a granny.

Basic hypermiling techniques go a LONG way, and have absolutely no affect on how long it takes to get places.

wiseman

Great explanation of why some cars consume lots of oil...

When the oil level goes down, it has either been burned inside the engine or it has leaked past a gasket or seal, says Jim Kerr. Determining how the oil disappears when there are no external leaks may seem complicated but it is really very simple, he says.

Some engines use more oil than others, but how much is too much? Leaf through the repair manuals of several auto manufacturers and you will find a variety of specifications. One states that the engine should use no more than 1 quart (.946 litres) of oil in 3200 km. Another states a litre in 500 km. This wide range of specifications challenges anyone to determine what is excessive. A lot has to do with the design of engine, the application, the oil viscosity and how it is operated.

When the oil level goes down, it has either been burned inside the engine or it has leaked past a gasket or seal. Even a small leak will cause the oil level to drop rapidly, but this problem is easily noticeable because of the oil stains on the bottom of the car and the driveway.

Determining how the oil disappears when there are no external leaks may seem complicated but it is really very simple. There are only a few ways where oil can enter the combustion chamber and be burned in the engine: past the valve guides, past the piston rings, through the engine ventilation system, or on some engines, through a leaking intake manifold gasket. Let's look at each in a little more detail.

The engine's valves move inside valve guides that are part of the cylinder head. A little oil inside the guide is necessary to provide lubrication for the moving parts and oil seals are used to limit the amount of oil that can enter. Excessive clearances between the valves and the guides or worn seals can allow too much oil to run down the guides and be drawn into the engine.

The only time you will see oil smoke from the tailpipe of a vehicle with worn valve guides or seals is when you first start up the engine after it has sat for several hours. The oil has had time to run down the guides and collect behind the valves. As the engine is cranked, the oil runs into the combustion chamber and is quickly burned. Stop and go driving will tend to pull more oil down the intake guides because of higher intake manifold vacuum but the oil is burned as it is pulled in and the problem has to be very bad before the oil smoke can be seen behind the vehicle.

The first step in repairing this problem is to replace the valve seals. Often the mechanic can estimate the wear in the valve guides while the seals are replaced. If guide clearance is too large, the cylinder heads must be removed for repairs.

Worn piston rings and cylinder walls allow oil past the piston into the combustion chamber. Oil is thrown onto the cylinder walls from the crankshaft bearings so large bearing clearances can also cause oil consumption because there is too much oil on the cylinder wall for the rings to control. High rpm driving will also throw more oil on the cylinder walls, so oil consumption can occur even with good piston rings.

Oil that goes past the piston rings may leave a smoke haze behind the vehicle while driving but won't cause a cloud of smoke at engine start-up. Engine compression test results may appear to be fine but this is because the large amounts of oil on the cylinder walls help seal the rings at cranking speeds, so the best way to diagnose bad rings is visually. Remove the spark plugs and use a small light to look at the top of the piston. Normal burning cylinders will have an even brown or black carbon coating on the piston top while a piston with oil coming past the rings will have the carbon washed off around the edge of the piston.

Industrial engines and high performance engines are often built with larger clearances and will use more oil. Operating any engine under heavy loads or high rpm will also cause it to use more oil. Using an oil with a higher viscosity will reduce oil consumption but also uses more horsepower from the engine too.

Finally, other ways oil can be consumed in the engine are not common but a leaking intake manifold gasket on some V6 and V8 engines can allow oil to be pulled into the combustion chamber. Because the leak is on the underside of the intake manifold, it can be difficult to test for, but often this type of problem will cause the spark plug to foul in the one cylinder affected by the leak.

The engine ventilation system's job is to remove harmful vapours from the crankcase. It does this by pulling the fumes through a PCV valve or orifice into the intake manifold where the fumes are burned. If the wrong PCV valve is installed, the flow rate may be too high and oil mist can be pulled through as well. This can use a lot of oil quickly, so always replace the PCV valve with the correct one.

Fixing excessive oil consumption can be costly but some of the problems can be repaired at relatively low cost. For most drivers, the engine oil shouldn't drop below the "add" mark between oil changes. If it does, the challenge is to find out how the oil is being consumed.