So I jumped and bought a 2006 G35 6MT Sedan recently with decent mileage and was looking for some help figuring out more about G35s as I got this for my daily and want it to be pretty reliable. So first thing I’ve noticed from driving it a few days is the shifter bounces around a decent bit while driving and idle (very little bit on idle more shakey on higher speeds) and I know that’s sometimes normal but I’m not so sure bc I’m having a hard time shifting smoothly all the time and idk if I’m just having trouble getting used to the car and also my first 6 speed but it shifts smooth and fine decent bit but maybe I just suck.. and I could be imagining things but a weird idle sound a little bit. RMPs are stable and sit right above 600 I think it’s right above where rpm line gaps get wider. I’ve read timing chain guide/tensioner could go bad but just wanna learn more about what I’m in for with this car as a daily with 99k miles. Any help advice and info with anything pertaining to G35s are appreciated

 

Welcome to 6MT sedan ownership! It’s getting rarer these days.

stock the shifter can be pretty wobbly, there are plenty of shifter kits out there that reduce some slop. Some even reduce the shifting experience. Off the top of my head I can think of B&M, Megan Racing. Z1 also sells a kit to upgrade shift feel I believe.

Unfortunately all our cars have is a dummy light for when the oil pressure is significantly low. You may not see the light with blown gaskets.

 

You might have worn engine and transmission mounts causing the shifter wobble. Push the engine side-to-side and see if there's play, be pretty rough, just grab the aluminum plenum and try to rock the car by pushing on the engine. If you can move the engine separately from the chassis then your engine mounts are shot.

Transmission mount you need the car on a lift or jackstands, basically do the same thing by pulling on the tranny tailshaft.

Honestly I wouldn't worry too much about the timing chain, the tensioner however might need to be replaced, how many miles on your car?

Definitely be checking your oil level weekly, you have the rev-up DE engine which is fairly notorious for drinking oil.

 

Ya I think maybe trans mount bc when I accelerate it almost seems like the torque or something moves the shifter back a little. It’s hard to explain without showing somebody. May look into a shifter kit buddy above recommended in the near future. will check engine mounts and trans mounts for sure some day soon when I can get it to my buddys shop. Might also look into one of those shifter kits and some other minor mods like that. Thanks for the advice about the oil I knew they usually ate up oil when “abused” like drifting and stuff but didn’t think I’d have much of that issue dailying it. Anything u can do about that other than adding more oil? Good to know about the gaskets as well but I don’t think that’s any problem on this one. But car is approaching 100k miles so tensioners could be due which is what I assumed from the noise it’s making. It’s kind of a weird rattle almost here n there on idle. Appreciate the feedback guy!

 

That rattle you're hearing is PROBABLY the stock dual mass flywheel. They definitely get noisy as they age.

Not much you can do about the oil consumption, don't downshift to slow down, use your brakes. Decelerating with the engine sucks a lot of oil past the rings, so when you're slowing down just keep it in the gear you were using unless you will NEED a lower gear.

It definitely will be drinking oil as a daily driver, mine with 130k miles drinks about 2 quarts per 3750 mile oil change interval for daily driving. Make a habit of topping it off every week.

EDIT: These engines don't seem to mind drinking oil, they all do it and they all run perfectly fine drinking a lot of oil. Just keep it topped off every week until you get a feel for it's oil consumption. In the future you can add an oil pan spacer which adds an additional 0.75 quarts of oil to the crankcase, that way even if it does get a little low on the dipstick it's still MORE oil in the crankcase than it would have stock.

 

Ya there’s no performance or mechanical decline with the noise but I just wanted to make sure it’s normal and not going to be a problem in the future. Good to know on the downshifts bc I do rev match downshift to 3rd or 4th when coming to a shop I’ll try not to rev match or downshift into higher rpm’s anymore. Good to know the engines are relatively healthy eating up all that oil seems like that’ll be my main concern with this thing. Any recommendations for oil you VQ boys prefer or suggest using? Thanks again for all the info!

 

Personally I like the Valvoline VR-1 conventional oil in 10w30, it meets the same ZDDP levels as the ILSAC GF-3 oil it was designed for back in the early 2000's. You can't buy GF-3 grade oil anymore due to government regulations, everything is GF-5 or GF-6. However RACING OIL doesn't have to meet the same stringent requirements so they can keep the zinc and phosphate levels the same as the older oils.

Plus it's only like $5-$6 per quart so it's not that expensive honestly and it's some fantastic oil. You could TRY running synthetic, but it's a smaller molecule so it's more likely to make it's way past the rings, I just stick to conventional and change oil at 3750 miles. The oil typically isn't too dirty at that mileage because across that same timespan it ends up getting two fresh quarts added to it

They sell that oil in a case of 6 on Amazon for a good price, or most local places like NAPA carry it in stock.


Here's the product sheet so you can see the specs, zinc and phosphate are both at a perfect level for these engines.

https://pisheets.valvolineglobal.com...w30-engine-oil

 

Good to know about synthetics. Appreciate the help. Also just now pretty much popped up a service engine soon light on the dash could that be due to the oil or something like the tensioners finally going? Or could the noise be a faulty o2 sensor that’s gone wrong? Once again I see no changes in the way it drives but plan to run a scanner on it in a few days when I can to see for sure

 

Scan for codes, no sense guessing.

 

Hey congrats on your sedan! I have a revup aswell and the oil consumption is pretty negligible, that being said the car was never abused and has 110k miles. All cars burn oil as they age unfortunately that’s the nature of the combustion engine. Really the only fix is to replace the piston rings, but if you treat the car well and use a good oil you can really help the issue.

 

Good to know. Kinda “green” when it comes to ****ing with cars but have been learning since mustang and e36 ownership and now this. What oil do u use personally bc I read some threads about oil consumption and oils used and I decided to go with what cleric recommended and it seems to be going well my cold start to warm rpm’s goes much faster than whatever oil previous owner had used which looked fairly clean when I checked it but decided to freshen it anyways. Also any tips for getting a proper oil reading lol. I have a K&N intake but I don’t think that’s the problem or getting in the way but I could be wrong any tips will be appreciated

 

Always check the oil on a cold engine before you start it.

Have a flashlight handy (smartphone light is fine), it can be a pain to find the hole for the dipstick if you don't have light shining right on it.

If that K&N filter wasn't brand new take it out and hold it up to the light, you should see light through it, if not it needs to be cleaned.

Also with those K&N filters, I've used them since they hit the market like 25 years ago, the trick is to know when and how to clean them, it's a half-day process to do it right because it needs to be dry before you apply the oil, then you need to soak off the extra oil.

I just clean them yearly, use authentic K&N respray, hose on the degreaser and rinse it THOROUGHLY with water it might take a couple degreaser applications to get it all completely clean. Shake off the water and set it in front of a fan upright (not laying flat on a table) so the air blows through it to dry it off, come back in an hour or two. Next spray on the oil both sides, you can go a little heavy but it shouldn't be dripping off the filter. Lastly lay the filter flat on a few layers of paper towels, leave it for 3-4 hours and all the excess oil will leech onto the towels and leave you with just the right amount on the filter. Make sure the filter element is actually TOUCHING those paper towels.

Clean your MAF with MAF cleaner the week after you refresh your K&N filter. You will have oil splatter on it even with a brand new K&N filter.