OWT = Old Wives Tale??? You got to be kidding - LOL. So you're saying a filter that catches particles will still look "new" after 10K miles? You don't understand the principle of filtration. At some point when the flow rate through the filter slows and the pressure differential builds the bypass valve in the filter will open. Not very good for your engine regardless of the condition of your oil. Personally I would not run my engine that way.

 

This should get interesting

 

You make a very good point and that is why it's important to change your oil filter soon after the break-in period as metal shavings from breaking the engine in will clog your filter. I always do an oil change after about two tanks of gas but regardless changing the filter is more important than the oil itself. Even if you're using AMSOIL you're supposed to change the filter regularly (every 5,000 miles or so right?) and then top of your oil.

 

I have yet to see any particles or metal shavings or anything else for that matter in oil filter media on car that has been manufactured in the last 15 years. Go right on living in the past.

 

Particles and shavings would indicate some SEVERE issues with your engine. They would also be found in your oil pan, but most people don't take their oil pan off for oil changes The filter is designed to catch very fine particles...

Anyways, better safe than sorry right? Oil and filters is relatively inexpensive compared to a new motor, and I'm sure most people would rather keep their factory warranty intact.

 

The engineers at BMW and MB must be really stupid then, recommending the 1st and every oil change at 10-15k mile intervals. I mean they have serious brand value to protect but ignore the value of 'better safe than sorry'.

If you are worried about the warranty, 7500 mile OCI is fine, that's what it calls for in the Owners Manual. If you were to have an oil related failure, it's either going to be due to lack of oil, like the OP, or running conventional oil for too long, or racing the car (like the guy who blew up is motor and got it replaced in another thread). None of these situations should expect warranty coverage and there will be other evidence of the abuse. Even changing oil every 3750 miles won't save your warranty if you track the car or run it out of oil.

 

Hence the reason MB and BMW are not known for long term reliability... BMW's reputation had hit the point where they offer maintenance from the factory for 4 years/50k to improve consumer confidence. Also consider the fact that these long OCI are a form of built-in obscelecence, and that they use a synthetic from the factory. Also, they have larger oil capacities.

The G's filter is tiny. If they wanted to simply extend the OCI, they could have used a larger filter at MINIMAL extra cost to increase filter capacity and surface area. Rather, it is not the filtering of the oil that determines OCI, but the life of the oil itself.

I do recall UOA on my G indicating that my 'regular' synthetic was breaking down to the point where cSt Viscosity at 100C was in the mid 8's. A 30 weight should be about 10 +-1. This was with a 3000 mile OCI. A second sample was the same. Once I switched over to my synthetic of choice, this was no longer an issue.

My G was my daily, and NOT tracked/raced.


All in all, I think the majority of owners have the "better safe than sorry" attitude. I do agree that a lot of it comes from decades upon decades of marketing by oil companies, but my own conclusions were reached via hard evidence. Yes, I do run an extended OCI, but my interval was determined by UOA.

On a side note, if oil breakdown is not an issue, why do professional race teams change fluids every opportunity they get?

 

Just tell Infiniti to do an Oil Consumption Test. They will fill it and mark it. Bring it back in acouple thousand miles.

If several quarts are gone, they will replace your engine.
If it is normal, you are at fault.

 

http://forums.rennlist.com/rennforum...the-997-a.html

Refer to the picture where he pours the oil from the filter into a pan to look for particles.

I suppose Porsche would be expected to have engines of the highest quality... and yet, they have particles when breaking in...

 

Porsche had a problem with motors for quite a while. They replaced a lot of them that blew up. This was due to manufacturing defects, not OCI. The picture you showed was no doubt one of those motors on it's way to the graveyard.

 

The filter application for a '96 Maxima fits the HR engine perfectly and has a slightly larger capacity for those wanting a larger filter.

OP, however you decide to proceed, please post results here. I'm very interested to see how this progresses. FWIW, I'm at over 44K miles with no oil consumption at all. Just recently changed to extended OCI of mileage TBD by UOA (about 4K on synthetic 10w30 now) with filter changes every 5K.

 

+1 for the oil consumption test. IF the car is able to run. i killed a motor on my g35 at 68k miles due to this even though my car was 5at which is super rare. because of this, i always let infiniti do my oil changes in case problems arise.

 

Just an update. The engine was not blown, just a cam timing sensor that overheated due to the lack of oil flow to cool them in the engine.

FWIW I received the car back on the 9th of June, and had the oil changed on the 10th. Went on vacation away from the car the next day, came back and checked the level and it was full. A little less than 2 weeks later I checked the oil level and it was down 1/4 of a quart. It has been consuming about 1/4 of a quart per 2 weeks or about 500 miles since it was repaired. After careful calculation since I have had the car, this figure would be about accurate to when I had my changes and then took it to the dealer for the problem mentioned in the first post.

The car now has over 11K miles on it and is drinking 1/2 quart of oil a month. You guys that are saying oil consumption is normal should probably tell me why I paid $43K for something that drinks oil faster than my beater car that is a 10 year old GM, has 120K miles on it, has a small oil pan leak and has no other problems. Seems to me that the TSB on the VQ35 is going to come back on the 37 at some point. I would reccomend being overly cautious on checking oil level. I was a bit too zealous thinking a brand new car wouldn't have problems like drinking oil--that's what I get for buying a new car? I don't know, but I'm pretty sour on the car right now.

 

that consumption is not normal.

 

^^^^ Agreed. My motor has 7800 miles on it so far and doesn't consume a drop of oil. Definitely take it back and demand an oil consumption test.....you'll likely end up with a new engine.