Hey guys, i just purchased my 03 g35 about 3 months ago. As of now it has about 169,800 miles on it and i just changed the oil about a month ago. I topped it off with 5 quarts of castrol 5-30 sae high milage oil. So i check the oil consumption today and its reading L. I wanted to know how much oil did i actually use and should i add a quart of oil to be in between the L and H line?

 

The first gen DE motors have a little over a 5 qt. capacity. When you say you "topped off" the oil I assume you mean that's how much was put in as a result of the change. A lot of companies use the 5+ quart containers you can buy in stores and most are 5.5 qts. IIRC. The conventional wisdom is that the difference between the low oil mark on the dipstick and the full line is a quart. Did you check the level immediately after the change? Did you change it yourself or did you take it somewhere to be done? My guess is whoever changed it only put in 5 qts. hence the low reading. Also remember you HAVE to check the oil levels in your cars after the engine has cooled off considerably, if you check it when the motor's still hot you'll get an inaccurate reading. As long as you don't run the motor with the level below the low mark you're ok but if it were me I'd add a least half a quart then check the level again to make sure it's between the lines.

 

Park car on a flat surface and check the level the next morning.

If it's at the L line, dump a quart in there then check the levels again in the morning.

Also, these engines are known to consume oil. Check it every 500 miles or so, 170k is about when mine started with oil consumption. I have to add 1/4 qt a week. Yours may not be that bad, but you need to start keeping an eye on it. If you did an oil change recently and it's already down a quart tells me something is going on.

 

One more thing. If you are consuming oil, start using 10W-30 conventional and run the larger Nissan oil filter. This seems to slow down my burn rate.

If you use Nissan filters, it's the 9E000 one (stock is 65F00). Mobile 1 is M1-110 (stock is M1-108). Or just look up the part number for an Armada in your favorite brand. Same diameter, just 3/4" longer than the stock one.

 

At the same day of this post I quickly identified that the oil capacity was indeed a little over the 5 quart recommendation and added a quart of oil. Low and behold the oil proceeded back to its primary position

 

 

Typically the distance between the L and H mark is exactly 1 quart. Check your oil weekly and top it off by estimating how much you need on the dipstick.

Something else that EVERYONE who owns a G35 should seriously consider is getting an oil pan spacer, they are SUPER easy to install and adds 3/4 quart of oil capacity to the crankcase, an extra 15% oil is great on ANY motor regardless of what it's used for. The pan spacer can be picked up for under $100 as well, personally I use the Z1 motorsports one because I'm a pretty big fan of most of their components and it's also one of the cheapest ones on the market.

That $100 spent is arguably the biggest longevity improvement you can do to this motor.

You also look like you're about due for an oil change.

 

I second this statement. I also advise using the larger filter if you are still using the factory filter setup, doesn't give you much but 20-25% more filter doesn't hurt. I run a braided line B&M oil cooler (roughly 10"x14") along with a 51068 Wix filter on a remote mount. The filter is basically the short version of the large Ford filter that has been around since Adam. Total oil system capacity currently is right at 7 quarts and I am actually thinking about adding the same Z1 Motorsports pan spacer.

 

Always check your oil level once you've changed it and I can guarantee it w/b at the H on the dip stick adding 5 quarts! With your mileage you need to check the oil level once a week without fail! Using the WIX oil filter is a great idea!
Good Luck and enjoy the ride...Gary