My G burns oil, tried almost every different oil there is. Conventional, synthetic blend, full synthetic, amsoil, castrol, german castrol, mobil1 etc. My valve covers are new, not sure on other's conditions since oil do tend to poll up on the spark plug holes. Never had any car consume oil except for this car.

 

How do you change the filter and not the oil? Do you have lightning quick ninja reflexes to get the new one on before the oil drains?

 

Sure it's normal. Normal for Mobil 1 anyway...put in a real oil and you won't burn even half as much.

 

I can't imagine where you guys get your opinions about engine oil. Using synthetic oil is far better than dino oil, runs cooler and cleaner. Synthetic oil regardless of brand doesn't cause oil consumption. I used Mobil1 in my last Z, didn't use a drop between changes at 125K miles....and it's still on the street. And it's not advisable to go back to dino oil after using synthetic, thought you like to know!

 

Mine burns 1/4 quart or less between oil changes (3,500-4,000 miles). Not even sure if it's actually 'burning' that or if it's just due to the fact that I'm using the slightly larger M45 filter. I guess I should get in the habit of checking the level right after an oil change, but I always forget.

 

I think it's kind of funny that you're one of the guys constantly complaining about what a crappy car the G is, yet yours doesn't even suffer from the worst problem these cars have.

 

I don't have problems with Oil consumption.. Knock on wood. But then again, my car has barely 10k miles and this isn't my daily driver.

I did have problems with the following:

1) At low speed, the Tranny make some type of grinding sound.
- Fixed thru warranty

2) Rear was making some strange popping clanking noise
- Fixed thru warranty - Cause - Loose axle bolt, re-torqued and it's all good

3) Creaking sound coming from the dash,
- Not yet fixed, "supposedly Normal" according to this forum, yet this is a TSB on it.

4) Creaking sound coming from rear seat
- Not yet fixed. TSB is issued on this

5) Horrible uneven tire wear, aligned to spec by Nissan and then again by Performance Plus in LB. Problems still recurs.
- Front driver side - Outer tire wear, horrible feathering
- Front passenger side - feathering, not bad is driver side
- Both Rear - feathering inside

6) Creaking noise from the sunroof.
- Not fixed yet. TSB issued.

7) Right side, rear speaker
- popping noise?? Static?

I might take the car in when Infiniti issues a recall on the air bags. I'll let them take a look at all this..

But it's nice to see that you're happy that your car burns oil. If that was my car, I would be really pissed. Maybe when it's out of warranty it'll show signs of oil consumption.

 

My 2003 doesn't burn very much oil. I check oil every few weeks, and it's usually almost exactly at the level I filled it. I think I might have to drive like 10k miles before I lost a quart.

 

I"m using M1 Full Synthetic 10/30 in mine. I've been getting people telling me it has great protection, however it breaks down right around 3K miles, so if your **** about changing your oil on time, then yay, use M1, but if not, then don't.

However, next oil change I'll try using... Castrol? I'll see what I get on the Maxima.

Oil filter drain hole is higher than the oil pan, therefore it doesn't drain the entire system. Did this on the mother's Maxima w/ a VQ35DE when a fram toughguard had a bad seal. Thank god I started the car up to check for leaks.



To the OP, my mother's 05 Maxima VQ35DE 88K consumes about 1.5 every 3500 on M1 10W30 Full Synthetic w/ Fram filters. About 80/20 split on city/highway driving.
My 04 Brembo coupe 82K consumes about .75 every 3K on M1 10W30 Full Synthetic w/ M1 filters. About 50/50 split on city/highway driving.

EDIT: I also just put on TP's and I will see if the myth of TP's leading to greater oil consumption is true.

 

It's actually harmful. This causes the oil to become extremely thick and "sludgy"
Going Dino to Synthetic is fine, but if you go from Synthetic to Dino you MUST do a full engine flush.

 

I asked the very same question.... I said it must have been messy as hell... But someone replied that the car has some type of valve that prevents oil from leaking when the drain bolt isn't removed...

Can anyone verify this?

 

Posted above that the oil filter drain hole is higher than the oil pan.

 

Even so, oil still leaks out.... Changing the oil filter w/o draining the oil is messy if you try to quickly put the filter back in.

But, if you just remove the filter, and let some oil drain out, wait for the pouring to turn into drips and then put it back in, then it will be less messy.

Even if you do it that way, you're going to be missing a good amount of oil.

So how much oil drains out if you just remove the filter?

 

False.

Only the amount of oil that was in the oil filter will drain out. Try this next time you change your oil. Let me go look under my car to double check if the G35 Oil filter vertical placement is similar to the Maxima.

EDIT: Looks like I was wrong. Oil filter placement on the G is infact lower than the Maxima. Check valve theory could be possible... I'll test this theory next time I change my oil (just changed it this morning )

 

I change my own oil all the time and I know that a good amount of oil leaks out of the filter area.. But then again, the drain bolt is removed at the same time.

Next time, I'll remove the filter 1st just to see what happens.