Car burning oil

[punky]

My car is a 2002 maxima, around 160K and it is burning some oil.
From checking the maxima.org forum, its quite normal for these engine to burn oil. However i still wanna check if there's any leaks or any potential problems. From opening engine cover and have a look around, i can't see any oil leaking. I look at the bottom and i don't notice any leaks either. I've read somewhere that foamy coolant could mean oil leak somewhere too, but my coolant is looking normal. Other than that I can't think of anything else. Looking for other suggestions where to look to make sure that everything is normal.

[misterrick]

Originally posted by punky
My car is a 2002 maxima, around 160K and it is burning some oil.
From checking the maxima.org forum, its quite normal for these engine to burn oil. However i still wanna check if there's any leaks or any potential problems. From opening engine cover and have a look around, i can't see any oil leaking. I look at the bottom and i don't notice any leaks either. I've read somewhere that foamy coolant could mean oil leak somewhere too, but my coolant is looking normal. Other than that I can't think of anything else. Looking for other suggestions where to look to make sure that everything is normal.

if you cant see any visible leaks then its probably either your rings going or possibly bad valve seals.

do you know its burning oil because you see the smoke in the exhaust? or because you have to top up your oil level frequently?

[punky]

i haven't seen smoke out of the exhaust, but i check my oil every couple of weeks, and lately it dips low often so i have to fill it here any there.

[AE92_TreunoSC]

They leak oil from timing covers and valve covers, generally it starts around 200,000kms.

Maximas have stupid dipsticks that can easily be misinterpreted, are you sure you are getting accurate readings?

A quick blowby/oil burning test is to take the oil cap off while its running and rev it to about 2000 rpm, its hard to tell but if its blowing gasses out of the hole with force, its likely the car has excessive blowby resulting in oil consumption.

I do it on all the cars I see at work that have 1liter/week consumption and its definitely a quick way to tell between a good engine and a worn engine.

Only way to tell for sure is a leak down test.

[punky]

you are absolutely right, i can't never get a consistence reading with my dipstick, and here i'm thinking im retarded for not knowing how to read the dip stick.

also is reading oil level in the cold morning the best time?

i'll have to check the timing cover, and see if that's causing the leak. Valve covers looks good though.

[AE92_TreunoSC]

I always find it needs to be sitting for 15+ minutes after running or even after topping it up. Best to check it in the morning yes.

My own maxima I always check after filling up with gas and I usually get a good reading the first try. But I work on nissans for a living so I have a better eye for the "real" level I imagine.

[DonJuan]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe I've ever heard of the VQ35 having oil cunsumption due to bad rings under normal wear and driving. I was under the assumption that the crome moly rings were more resistant, and that the oil consumption was more often attributed to damage from a starvation issue or seals etc.

Dad's got an 02 Max, but it is babied and only has 58k on it.

[misterrick]

Originally posted by DonJuan
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't believe I've ever heard of the VQ35 having oil cunsumption due to bad rings under normal wear and driving. I was under the assumption that the crome moly rings were more resistant, and that the oil consumption was more often attributed to damage from a starvation issue or seals etc.

Dad's got an 02 Max, but it is babied and only has 58k on it.

it could be that a previous owner didnt like to warm up their vehicle and the like..

[punky]

Ok so i've been doing my readings in the morning only and i was super careful with the dipstick. I actually got consistent reading multiple times. I'm starting to wonder if my car was ever burning oil at all. I guess i'll check in a few weeks and see. My car is definitely not showing any signs of oil burning as i can see.