Hey Guys, been following the forums for a while now.

Today, I had the intention to replace my thermostat in the G. I live in a town house with my cousin and that requires me to move the car from the parking to my house driveway and move his car out the way.

Anyway, I go to start the car this morning and to my surprise, it begins tapping like a ****. It was odd. I check the dipstick and there was absolutely no oil. Odd enough, there was oil when I checked last week.

I topped the oil off with 3 quarts and check the dipstick whichx brought the level back to normal. I between the L and H.

The tapping sound went away and the the sound that I heard while driving, thought it was rocks went away as well.

My O ring on the oil cooler needs replacing is all.

Any thoughts on what this could be. My dad put some special engine treatment before he gave it to me and it kept the crank and Pistons lubed.

I feel that I should get another oil change done.

 

Did you wait 10 to 15 minutes after you shut off the car to check the oil? If not, then you might not get the correct reading and add too much oil. And also check for any signs of leaking.

 

Defiantly waited before I got a reading and topped off to get oil. But the odd thing is that, now, it's on normal levels and running smoother than it ever has. No other leaks besides the O ring by the oil cooler. There used to be start up grind which is now gone too. My feeling was that I was low on oil for some time.

It's good now but very worrying as I don't know where the oil went? I know I don't burn oil, have only a very small leak. Hmm. The only ruling is that the oil change I got the first time, not enough oil was put in the first time.

 

You didn't say what year this car is or if it's a manual or auto. All these things play into the oil consumption problem with these cars.

It can be:

Bad rings
sucking oil through the PCV system
Valve cover leaks
Oil cooler leaks (sounds like what you have)

The 05' to 06' manual cars are the worst.

The best thing you can do now it to check your oil EVERY fill up until you can figure out how much oil it's using. Then KEEP it FULL. It flat ran out of oil and the damage may be done so check it OFTEN.

 

My bad for leaving out some details.

It's an 04 G35 X.

Could be a clogged PCV valve. Will look into replacing that soon.

I checked the oil this morning and shows halfway between L and H. So I think I'm okay for now. I keep Mobile 1 synthetic in my garage and one quart in my car just in case.

I don't think I burn oil, will look into it however.

No leaks on valve covers or anywhere else. Just the O ring.

Should I get a complete oil change done? It's been about 2000 since my last.

 

Well in order to do the O-ring, you should drain your oil prior so this can be a lot less mess.

Pending how bad your leak is, 3qts could be leaking out in one week. Obvious leaks is what we are looking for here, this isn't something minor like a PCV or valve covers. Yes PCV and valve covers do leak but rarely do they leak this much.

If your going to do the O ring on the cooler, you can also do the PCV as its 5 minute job and a $10-15 part ( the PCV).

When you put "speical treatment" in your oil, it can do many things, the most common i've heard is, it will thin out your oil to get into spots it normally shouldn't. Either way, i wouldn't run it for a very long time. I do stuff like seafoam and BG 44k every now and then. But when i use it, i put them in like 500 miles before i do my oil change. I try not to drive hard on those 500 miles.

Hope this gives you some direction. Keep a qt or two of oil in the car is always a good idea.

 

Awesome! Thanks for the tip.

I keep a bottle of Mobile 1 Full Synthetic on my car at all times.

The treatment, I'm avoiding now. I should do the o ring soon, just haven't had the time to get to it yet. Last time I had an oil change was 5 months ago. So it may have leaked over a period of time. Car runs smoothest it has in a while.

Will keep this thread posted.
Would O ring really leak that much? When I checked the car, it was leaking very little, barely any if any.

 

CV35Driver, there's no reason to replace the PCV valve! Take it out, shake it and see if it rattles. Rattle means it working correctly! As long as it's out give it a shot of carb cleaner, keeping your fingers on both ends shake it good then clean and reinstall...Gary

 

Thanks Gary!

Will defiantly look into checking to see if it rattles and give it a shot of carb cleaner.

In case, it does burn oil, should I go with a different brand of oil, or go to a heavier weight or both?

I ran valvoline before and now run Mobile 1 full synthetic.

So far, car has been a blast to drive daily.

I just hope the low oil it had, didn't do damage.

 

You shouldn't use higher weight oil as it causes other issues down the road, but if you do run 10/15-40 as it's less likely to go "as fast" I've read.

 

I wont be switching to a higher weight oil.

Ill keep it at 5W-30 but switch it up to something different when it comes to brands.

Im looking to switch it up using Castrol or something similar.

Thanks for the help guys.

 

If your car burns/leaks, oil, it doesn't care what brand it burns/leaks. Check the level in the morning after sitting over night. Check it again after 400 miles. That should tell you how often you need to check it and how much it's using.

 

I'm looking into doing that every 3-4 days and monitor the dipstick.

Doing an oil change today, the grinding from before at startup has gone away to a very little sound. Barely audible.

Would you guys advise for me to drop the oil pan and to check for metal shavings?

Running smooth now. No chattering sound coming from the engine anymore as well.

 

If you have metal shavings you'll see them once you drain the oil pan. Or you can catch a little bit of the a cup or just run your hands thu what ever you drained the oil into.

 

In the event I do see metal shavings, should I be worried greatly in the age left of the engine or not worry too much about it?

So far, im going to take the car and get the O ring replaced today along with do a complete oil change.