Oil consumption problems with 2006 350Z

I love the responses here. They have no idea what they are talking
about. I purchased a 2006 350Z in july of 07 never off the lot and
had 80 miles on it. i got to about 2800 miles and it started sounding
like there was a jack hammer in my engine. I had it towed to the
dealership from which i bought it. They told me there was a leak
somewhere they could not locate. They filled the oil back up and i
left. I thought to myself maybe since it was an 06 and i bought it in
07 but was never driven that the oil was maybe just low so i wasnt
that concerned, my fault. the sticker they put on my car to bring it
back and have the oil changed again was for 6000 miles, well again at
5100 miles my car made the exact same sound and i checked the oil and
there was none, absolutley none left in the engine. I really doubt
that could be operator error in this case. i dont drive it like crazy,
dont race it or drive it like a hot rod. I drive it like its any
other car. So i now have the car back in the dealership so they can
decide what is going on. So for everyone who is saying that if you
took care of your car it wouldnt happen is completely out of their
mind. I could just be a dumb girl but im pretty sure that when
synthetic oil is being put in a car it shouldnt go empty after 2200
miles, changed maybe, but enpty no. Its a consumption issue or a
leak. Im just waiting for the dealership to tell me to just put oil
in it constantly till they figure it out, but let me tell you i will
be getting a new engine not letting them give me the run around.

Same problem with my 2006 350Z (purchased new). It's due to a faulty
engine design; the engine was designed primarily for automatic
transmissions which experience less powerful vaccuum levels. I have a
manual transmission and the problem is more pronounced with manual
transmission cars. I don't hot-rod it, but I do take it on long trips
up and down the west coast. One trip from Sacramento to San Diego then
up to Oregon, and back to Sacramento burned virtually all the oil. I
have tracked my consumption with Future Nissan in Roseville since my
first oil-change. I have asked them to repair it under warranty and
they refused. They acknowledge the defect, but state that Nissan of
USA has not provided them with a technical solution. I have been in
contact with Nissan of USA for several months, and have received
nothing but a run-around. Their last promise to call me with a status
on Friday Oct 12th failed; no call .. nothing but silence. I'm ready
to file for a buy-back after having trusted Nissan for the last 25,000
miles and supporting their dealer who it seems just leads me on. I
love the vehicle, but having owned new Acuras, Hondas, Toyotas, Fords,
Mazdas, BMWs, and even other Nissans (yes I'm a 'seasoned veteran')
that have not consumed even detectible amounts of oil, this one is
clearly a class-defect. It also affects Infinitis with the same
engine/driveline.

I have a 05 350Z touring edition. I first noticed the Oil Consumption
problem about 9 months ago and had the car towed in to the dealer.
The sorry as service manager at the time gave the bull$hit line "oh
its a high performance car and it will burn a little OIl". So I start
to watch the Oil. God Bless America that guy got canned. I later
took it back with a quart low after about 7 hundred miles. This new
guy started a consumption monitoring process, which means I bring it
by every few hundred miles. long story short after about 15 hundred
miles I have a new motor at Nissan ready to be installed next week. I
have about 28 thousand miles on my Z. So be persistant and they will
have to get you a new motor. Oh yea they tried change out the valves
after the second visit. Good Luck Find a
Good dealer/service dept. or speak with the dealers store manager.

He could have posted more information, but likely Nissan does not need
it.

Sites like this are indicitive of a serious problem with this engine.

http://www.350ztech.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=20808&st=100&start=
100

Based on these owners, some say that they lose an entire crank case of
oil all at once.

Another summarized his dealers answer as "The dealership basically
told me, "Nissan may come up with some solution some time. You should
add 1 quart of oil every 200 miles until we let you know otherwise.""

200 miles!!! That's impressive oil consumption and this alleged
design issue would have nothing to do with someones failing to check
or change their oil.

Dude, I'm a teenage girl with just a beginner's permit, I was raised
by gay men, and even I know how to check my oil.

Way to much info missing. For example, for the first 1,000 miles, how
did you drive it? If you raced it, and drove it hard, and did not
give it a proper 1,000 break in period, then your going to burn more
oil. Second, who changed it? Third, CHECK YOUR OIL! Be a man, and
check your oil! Fourth, if your going to write a letter like this,
make it more grown up, include ALL relevant information. What about
the warranty? You should be covered. After all that, THEN come back
and write a better letter.

There is a load of information missing here. Who changed the oil
prior to 13,000 miles? Where is the source of the loss/leak? Is
there something actually wrong with the engine, either the source of
the leak, or the result of low oil?

There is no way to respond to this letter without more information.
As far as trading it in, I can't see why the dealership wouldn't mind
giving you fair market value of the car on a trade, but I don't see
them giving you an even trade without more documentation/explanation.

In order to get anything out of the dealership you will have to
produce the maintenance records proving that you properly maintained
the vehicle.

However, I'm sure Nissan North American will be happy to allow you to
trade in this vehicle and will give you the appropriate trade-in value
for your current car.

Although I change my oil every 3-4 months I still check all of the
fluids myself at the top of each month, but then my van is almost 14
years old. The same goes for my husbands Chevy Lumina, both vehicles
are going on 200,000 miles.

I have to find this letter and the comments funny; not because of
anything the OP or commentors have said, but because my DH hasn't
changed the oil in his 1997 Sentra in over three years and it's still
running great.
I keep pestering him about it, but you know guys...he tells me "If it
ain't broke, don't fix it" I, on the other hand, religiously change
the oil in my van every 3K/3months and every other visit is
accompanied by "scheduled maintainence".

I'm sure the dealer will let you trade there, but dont be looking for
any compensation from the dealer or Nissan.

Wonder if he drove it to the dealer sounding like that or had it
towed. That would be the first thing I would check, but then again, I
check my oil.

NEWSFLASH: Checking the oil can keep you from running out of oil, but
it does not solve the oil consumption problem. A new engine shouldn't
burn and/or lose a significant amount of oil during normal operation.

Just some quick math if you will: If the car runs on 6 quarts of oil
and runs out before the 3000 mile oil change; that means the engine is
burning more than a quart of oil every 500 miles.

How many of us expect to put a quart of oil into a new car every two
or so fill ups at the gas station? I guarantee that anyone in a
similar situation would be at the dealer just like this fella, I know
I would.

My only concern is this; why would you want to trade in a lemon for
another potential lemon?

The 350Z is a high compression engine. I'm not surprised at all that
there was no oil.

Furthermore, the OP fails to mention if in the 13000 miles he's driven
the car (presumably since Oct. or Nov. of last year!) whether he's
bothered to get an oil change. He should have had at least 3
(assuming 4K miles per change) by this point one within the past month
or so if he is averaging 1K miles per month.

But apparently he's either not having the service done at the
dealership or not having it done at all (which I suspect is more
likely the case) or someone working on that car would have noticed
that the oil was running low.

Failure to properly maintain your car per the manufacturers
specifications does not equate to a poorly made car - it equates to an
idiot owner who spent thousands of dollars on a car that he's not
maintaining properly.

Sorry, not Nissan's problem!

Even if you had done regular oil changes, you should check your oil in
between changes. If you had, you would have noticed the oil
consumption. I highly doubt they are going to give you another 350Z.

Get yourself a CHEVY, keep American dollars in America!

..and before everyone starts with the "Nissans are made in America by
Americans" bit, let me remind you that the profits are going right
back to Japan.

A Chevy is made in America, by Americans and the profits stay here.

As Bill O'Reilly would say "THE SPIN STOPS HERE!"

I agree with the first poster. Also, although most of us don't do it,
I remember being taught that you should check your oil every time you
fill your car up with gas, as it's the best and fastest way to
determine that you have an oil leak/problem, before it does any damage
to your engine.

One would think that someone buying a brand new sporty car would take
better care of it. Funny, I take better care of my 1993 Nissan
pickup!

You know, most cars have to have regular oil changes every 3,000 miles
or so. If you were taking care of your car by doing preventative
maintenance, then you would have either not had this problem or
discovered it a lot sooner. Since you don't say in your letter if you
actually DID have the oil changed regularly, we have to assume that
you did not. I don't think that you have a case with Nissan if this is
due to owner neglect!!


Next time take care of your vehicle and this won't happen.