I've been lazy in posting this but I think its something that you guys should know about.

Since my 30k mile service last year I've been dealing with oil consumptions problems. My only modifications are test pipes and nismo exhaust.. other than the clutch and flywheel everything else is cosmetic. I never went into the dealership making demands, I always went in explaining my problem and was up front about the modifications I've done. At any rate, originally I would lose all oil by the time I needed another oil change. Over time the problem got worse and worse.

Two of the dealerships I dealt with, Nalley Infiniti and Infiniti of South Atlanta (insert middle finger smiley) denied me service cause of my modifications. I wrote Infiniti directly about this and they never even responded. When I did call they told me that modifying my car voids my warranty although Nalley Infiniti was the one who suggested AND installed the exhaust and pipes. The second time I called I was advised to just try another dealership.

After dealing with other dealerships for 8 months and 20k miles I went to Infiniti of Gwinnett and they agreed to change the oil and do an oil consumption test. About 1,000 miles after my oil change I was driving down the interstate, hear a knocking, and right when I let off of the gas my engine basically blew. I know other owners have had oil consumption problems but all of those people got their problem fixed in a timely manner, I dealt with it for 8 months so I guess this is what happens after losing oil for that long.

Apparently there was a big crack in the block but I haven't heard exactly what happened. Everything is covered under warranty now with no problems. I do think its BS that Infiniti of Gwinnett has to pick up the slack for the other dealerships.

Also, for those who throw around the magnusson moss act. Yes it is very true, but just know that some dealerships will call your bluff and force you to take legal action.

 

Wow, good info. Thanks for sharing. I hope everything works out well. It sounds like you were pretty reasonable. What I don't get about some dealerships is their poor service attitude and the fact that it goes unaddressed by the manufacturer. Isn't warranty work just as profitable to the dealer as any other? With Porsches and BMWs in the past, the service departments have always been on the car owner's side while maintaining honesty and credibility. My experience with Austin Infiniti has been the same so far.

The power of the consumer and the internet is that maybe others will drive a ways to avoid giving their money to Nalley Infiniti and Infiniti of South Atlanta after this.

 

so, it was sudden @ 30k? Using Mobil1? I'm doing my own oil changes and this oil consumption thing has me really freaked out (checking it every other week). I have a 05/03 built coupe, I've mostly been hearing about late 02, early 03 having problems. So, I'm close to that range. So far, I'm not using a drop. I have some valve ticking but not sure thats related.

 

Yeah mine was an 02-early 03 model. I dont want to scare you or anything but when the oil consumption really became annoying I started getting a constant ticking, but I'm not 100% sure if its oil related. I wasn't using Mobil 1, my oil changes were done by the dealership and I think they used penzoil?

Although my warranty will be up in 8k miles I'm still going to document all oil changes and what type of oil was used.

Honestly I'm sure most owners get decent service from these dealerships. I didn't get the run around till they found out my car is modified.. and from then on it was routine. Their angle wasn't "whats causing the problem" any longer, it was "how can we avoid responsibility."

 

The dealers get paid by Infiniti for warranty work so don't cry over them replacing your engine...they are getting paid to do so.

 

just drive your car through Nalley Infiniti's front door!!!!!

 

When you are talking about oil consumption problems, do you mean the engine is burning up the motor oil too quickly?

 

tony, I had the exact same problem with my '03 sedan. The difference was that I did not know my engine was consuming oil until my engine failed at 29,500 miles. The dealership tried to blame the problem on my mods (Injen CAI, Borla exhaust). I went back and forth with Consumer Affairs for two months until they finally replaced my engine under warranty. In the end I demanded Infiniti pay me for two months car payments since I was paying for a car that I was not driving. They sent me a check for $1,300.

I know of five or six other G35 owners (you included) this has happened too. Most of them are bone stock. Looks like a very small percentage of the VQ engines are faulty.

 

yeah is it leaking? like what is going on? did they give an explination or anything? sure does suck

 

No leaks at all. It's just consuming oil. They did not give me an explanation. I don't think they bothered to figure it out. Cheaper just to replace the engine.

 

"Isn't warranty work just as profitable to the dealer as any other?"

No Nissan is biggest customer therefore they demand and get a discount on hours per job.......warranty hours vs customer paid hours. There are other situations where there is less than the full markup on parts or backend discounts credits, etc.

Do too much [dollar amount] warranty work per car sold and you may not be a TEAM player and dealership get audited. A high sales dealership has lots of leeway [what it can cover] without prior approval but parts are still subject to post change examination and backbilling!

When a dealer refuses to cover it is usually because they know they will get hasssled in future, up to you to help them get ZONE approval to cover the work.

After all your warranty is with Nissan not the dealer!

 

Kind of makes you wish you would have financed your car for a shorter term.

 

My issue is not getting the engine replaced. I really wish it did not have to come to this but oh well. I'm just trying to create an 'awareness' cause other owners have dealt with oil consumption and a lot of people are worried about going to dealerships with modified cars.

I do agree with Q45, the impression I got is not that the dealerships did not want to do the work, they just didn't want to deal with Nissan afterwords, and my modifications was a good excuse to get out of fixing the problem. Now I imagine its a lot easier to justify replacing a blown engine than to try and explain why you're going to replace an engine on a modified car that is up and running.

 

Good point. I too am afraid of modding my car just due to the dealer hassles involved. I really wish we had a true tuner division that Infiniti supports (aka...Nismo) and it had a large dealer support system. Only time will tell. Good luck to you...too bad you will have to do another 1200 mile breakin

 

You'd think the dealerships would actually respect nismo parts but I got hassled about the exhaust as well which was confusing. Even moreso that all the parts were installed by the dealer.

I'm so nervous about driving hard right now that I dont think break in will be much of a problem. I'm sure once I pass 1200 miles the fear will wear off and I'll be back to my normal self again.