2006 G35 sedan with manual gearbox and 110k miles. The other day, I noticed a strange sound when driving at low speed - sounded like a rattle or frequent tapping that went away when releasing the throttle. I've had increasing oil consumption in the last 20k miles or so, so I checked the dipstick and it didn't have any oil on it, other than the residual you get from snaking the damn thing out of the tube. It's been 4k miles since my last change. I added a few quarts and the noise is gone. My guess is I was hearing the pump run dry.

Has anybody else experienced this? I would have expected a warning light if it got that low. I'm thinking there must have been some permanent damage, but is it likely catastrophic?

 

There's no way to tell about possible damage atm. You could always do a compression check, check the oil for milky signs which would be a sign of a blown head gasket etc. You need to check your oil often, it's almost inexcusable knowing you had increasing OC you let it get that dry. But I'm not trying to preach, hell I'm the farthest thing from being a perfect owner.

So lesson learned and just keep an eye on things, hopefully all is well.

 

Even though my oil consumption is reasonable (used about 1/3rd of a quart in a 1900 mile trip) I still check my oil level every 500 miles. Hell, I even do it in my Accord even though so far it doesn't use any oil between 7500 mile synthetic oil changes.

 

You should adjust your oil change interval to 3-3.5k miles.

I had the rattling issue before (usually from a cold-start) and it was due to low oil level. I normally add a quart of oil in between oil changes also.

 

What kind of oil are you using? Conventional or Synthetic and what weight?

 

Synthetic, 5W-30.

 

I would recommend changing to conventional 5w30 and stick with 3k oil change intervals. Also try to keep the RPMs below 3k until it is fully up to operating temp.

Mine consumes oil too and it gets much worse with synthetic. These steps have slowed my consumption.

 

couldn't have said this better myself ...

 

I found this would accelerate the rate at which I burned oil as well. Used to jump on it when cold and see a nice blue cloud behind me. When warmed up, not so much.


I always used conventional oil however. Started noticing oil comsumption around 80K miles. By 170K, I was burning 1qt per 1500 miles

 

I have also thought about switching to 10w30 but only while the weather is warm.

 

I tried that and it didn't change a thing. My G burns almost 2 qts. between 5000K mile changes now. 5AT 137K miles.

 

Still better than my '02 VQ35 Maxima, about a quart every 1500 miles or so. Just goes with the territory. Just wish checking the oil was easier on our cars.

 

It's all in the wrist.

 

Yep, I've almost given up on oil changes and just change out the filter every 5000K miles lol.

 

I just kept 1-2 quarts in the trunk, and checked and added every 1K miles.