Last week my G had a strange vibration/rattling noise at start up. My first thought was that my throw-out bearing finally went bad. However, I noticed my oil light flash while pulling into my garage. It turned out that I was 4 quarts low on oil. All my oil changes have been at the dealership and within the 3750 mile interval. The car does not drip or leak a drop of oil.

After a little research and a call to Pat Goss (automotive guru and host of Goss’s Garage on 106.7 JFK) I found out that a percentage of our cars have problems with their piston rings. He told me that Nissan refuses to admit the problem and that I should be looking for a new engine.

At least I have only 15,000 miles and the warranty should apply. Let’s hope that Infiniti owns up to this problem and does not give me any s$#* for the MREV. There may be some of you out there with the same problem who (like me) can’t get a good reading because of that damn dipstick. Make sure you get this problem on record before your warranty period runs out.

 

Keep us updated...

 

Is this for all year models? I'm getting an 06

 

The noise will go away after you get the oil change. Your car was just starving for oil...

 

I would opt for a new engine.
Rods could have bent from the friction.
I have heard this happen to quite a few people.
Check here and My350z so you get a better aspect of how people had to deal with dealerships about this particular problem.

 

if you're worried about MREV, just take it off before going to the dealer

 

I had the same problem. I changed my oil at 3000 miles and my oil light started coming up during braking and hard cornering after about 3000 miles and then it started making really bad noises. It turned out to somehow have gone through a ton of oil. I took it to the dealership and they thought I had taken oil out in order to get a new engine or something. Screw that! Anyways, they changed to oil and sealed it up and will check it in a couple thousand miles.

 

+1........go back to stock...don't take that chance...

C.

 

yeah i heard that.. couple of my buddies with se-r altimas have had that same problem and one of my buddies on his 350z...

 

So if there's no leak where does the oil go?
Is it leaking as you drive and dripping on the road?

 

Are you kidding? Take all engine mods off, I wouldn't chance it at all

 

It burns up as exhaust gases between gaps in your piston rings.

 

got the same problem now!!! My ses light came on and right away it started making weird metal noises. I too thought it was my throw out bearing since I got a new JWT clutch and lightened flywheel put in not too long ago. Anyway, i pulled over on the side of the road. Turned off the car, waited 5 min., turned it back on and the noise was still there. It sounded like engine noise to me. I turned it off right away and checked the oil. Took out the dipstick and nothing was showing. I called my friend and asked him to bring me 2 quarts of oil a.s.a.p.. I put one quart in and checked the dipstick. Still no show. Put in the other quart and it started to show. This was sat. July 29th. Since it was sat. night, the dealer was closed. Called for a tow truck and they said that no company had any room to hold my car overnight. Had to leave it there overnight. Called the next day, sunday, and got it towed to my house. On monday, got it towed again to the dealer. Talked to the service rep and she said not to worry cause the dipstick doesn't go all the way down on these cars. I said ok. They said to call on tuesday. Called Tuesday and she said, " I got some bad news. You need a new engine. Also, its due to lack of maintanance and it your fault"!!! What? My fault? How is that? She said that the last time she sees that I got my oil change there was at 14,000 miles and that now my car got 22,400. Really? No ****!!! I'm a mechanic, I change the oil myself. She said ok, as long as you have proof. Great, now what do I do? I bought the oil from Pep Boys and don't have the receipt. I bought the oil filter always from Nissan or Infiniti. Maybe they have some records of me buying the filters. Nope, we don't hold records for that. Even though they take down your name they said they don't keep the records. So, I went to my friends garage and asked him for a receipt for the last oil change I got there, which I really did. Brought it to my service rep and she said, it has to be computerized receipt and where's the others. I said, you didn't say anything about the others. Anyway, she called her boss. Happens to be a service advisor that I used to work for across the street when I worked for Nissan.(Both companies are owned by the same people) He was alot better. He said that they have nothing to do with declining or accepting my claim, that it was up to Infiniti Headquarters to decide. He said he would fax over the receipt and go to bat for me. I said cool, that's all I wanted to hear. That someone was on my side helping me out. The service rep was being nasty to me. She was new there and was just mean. Well, this was last thursday. He said he would call me that afternoon and still no call. I finally called today and spoke to my service rep, the lady, and she said that they still haven't heard anything from Headquarters. So she said to call back tomorrow morning. I'll call tomorrow morning and see what happens. I will keep all of you posted. If I get declined, I want to create a record of all those that have had a problem with there engine/oil. If you had or have the same problem please, post up to help us out. This is something Nissan/Infiniti has to own up to and alert owners of there products. If I knew that there was a chance that my car burnt alot of oil in between oil change intervals, I would of took a look every once-in-a-while to make sure it was ok. This problem has to be recognized and resolved. For all the money we pay for these cars, we should be getting no hassle for problems on there part. Anyway, ResIpsa, not trying to jack your thread. Just trying to let you know that you aren't the only one with this problem. I've read at least another 10 on this forum and MY350Z.com. Let us know what happens with your case too... Good Luck...

 

So exactly what is the root cause? Is it because you modded your car and caused the engine to lost oil? Or is this problem came straight from the factory?

 

Thanks for the info.

Pat Goss (http://www.patgosscarworld.com) said it was oil passing the piston rings during acceleration and burning up into the exhaust. Come to think of it my friends always commented about the amount of smoke came out of my exhaust on hard acceleration.

Man, I don't want to have to take the MREV off. I guess I need gaskets?