New engine for Autocar Zed!!!!

[Digsy]

Final report this week and I can't see it doing a great deal for MY06 values.

[lomoto]

Final report this week and I can't see it doing a great deal for MY06 values.

 

Have you read it Digs ?? got a brief run down on it

[Beavis]

I have read it and it does not make good reading. Just got the mag at lunchtime. A year in a 350z final report.

[lomoto]

I have read it and it does not make good reading. Just got the mag at lunchtime. A year in a 350z final report.

 

oh dear,

[jonathan73]

 

Just been out to check mine - I've not checked during the 6500 miles I've driven and it's fine. The dipstick is a bitch to get back in though eh?

[Guest prescience]

I have read it and it does not make good reading. Just got the mag at lunchtime. A year in a 350z final report.

 

oh dear,

 

The problem is also that assuming this is not an issue with MY07, IMO the jungle drums will sound and the (misplaced) assumption will be that all cars pre MY07 have an issue even though it is MY06 specific

[Beavis]

I have read it and it does not make good reading. Just got the mag at lunchtime. A year in a 350z final report.

 

oh dear,

 

The problem is also that assuming this is not an issue with MY07, IMO the jungle drums will sound and the (misplaced) assumption will be that all cars pre MY07 have an issue even though it is MY06 specific

 

 

To be honest it does say it is a MY06 specific problem, but i am a little worried as the GT4 had the 300ps engine. Personally i think Nissan know there a problem with this engine, hence the new engine in the MY07.

[GC350z]

I was also of the opinion that big engines don't use up oil like high revving small ones but last week two days before a service I found the oil level was almost unreadable. My Z is a 2004. Will be checking once a week from now on.

 

 

Guy

[Beavis]

I was also of the opinion that big engines don't use up oil like high revving small ones but last week two days before a service I found the oil level was almost unreadable. My Z is a 2004. Will be checking once a week from now on.

 

 

Guy

 

Must admit this is the only big engine that i have owned thats needed oil top ups between services.

[lomoto]

I was also of the opinion that big engines don't use up oil like high revving small ones but last week two days before a service I found the oil level was almost unreadable. My Z is a 2004. Will be checking once a week from now on.

 

 

Guy

 

Must admit this is the only big engine that i have owned thats needed oil top ups between services.

 

I wouldnt worry to much I had A new 944 Porsche years ago that drank oil, quite normal by all accounts as well

[rickya]

My 4.0 TVR would like to consume every week: Engine oil; clutch fluid; power steering fluid; & lots of superunleaded..........hungury bastard it was Ruined my garage floor & bank statements

[KS2006]

Yeah I read this last night. Doesn't make pleasant reading tbh.

 

Makes you wonder if it was joe public whether we would get an engine swap quite so easily.

 

Based upon the writeup I best wipe off 350z off my potential list as I am over 30 years old - the impression you get is the car was annoying so we fitted 10k of Nismo bits. That made it more annoying so we took em all off.

 

Now its less annoying, thirsty and unreliable.

 

I need to double check but it mentions Rays Alloys. The 19" wheels on there car are Nismo ones (are these made by Rays?).

 

And the small comments on the 2nd page. Yeah every chav wants to race you shame the cars not that fast eh? <6.0 to 60 aint slow in anyones book.

 

I must admit my dad read the article after me and said - why you thinking about one of these then

[get12]

3 Litres in 5000 miles is alot.

 

I had to put two litres in the car in the first 1500 - I am watching it v. v. v. closely and if im not happy then watch out Marshall Nissan!

[get12]

I was also of the opinion that big engines don't use up oil like high revving small ones but last week two days before a service I found the oil level was almost unreadable. My Z is a 2004. Will be checking once a week from now on.

 

 

Guy

 

My previous MY03 hardly drank any oil - never topped it up once in the 6 months I owned it.

[Digsy]

Yeah I read this last night. Doesn't make pleasant reading tbh.

 

Makes you wonder if it was joe public whether we would get an engine swap quite so easily.

 

Based upon the writeup I best wipe off 350z off my potential list as I am over 30 years old - the impression you get is the car was annoying so we fitted 10k of Nismo bits. That made it more annoying so we took em all off.

 

Now its less annoying, thirsty and unreliable.

 

I need to double check but it mentions Rays Alloys. The 19" wheels on there car are Nismo ones (are these made by Rays?).

 

And the small comments on the 2nd page. Yeah every chav wants to race you shame the cars not that fast eh? <6.0 to 60 aint slow in anyones book.

 

I must admit my dad read the article after me and said - why you thinking about one of these then

 

I think that if read in isolation, without knowing just how highly Autocar rate the standard car, it could certainly put people off. I don't see that they said anywhere that the car was "annoying" and that's why they fitted the NISMO bits - they simply had an opportunity to see what they did and that was the reason for getting another Zed (this is their second long termer and they loved the first).

 

Basically, the old, fat bloke who wrote the article thought the NISMO suspension too hard (fair comment unless you are tracking the car regularly), the NISMO exhaust too load on the motorway (its a little boomy at just around 80mph but its worth putting up with unless you do 1000 motorway miles a week) and the NISMO seats too constraining (bear in mind the guy is obviously short for his weight and found the standard seat too tight - run a search on here and see how many have complained about that!). I got the distinct feeling that he would have been much happier in a TT and was not really the appropriate person to select to run a modded sports car.

 

Nevertheless, he took all the stuff off except the kit and the wheels (made by Rays BTW) and his conclusion was that the Zed was a great car and didn't need the other bits which just made it more focussed and more compromised.

 

Unless you work for NISMO, the only really negative bits were a niggle at the fuel consumption and the rather more serious issue of the engine change. There can be no doubt that they got preferential treatment to those Zed owners I have come across with the same problem. The worrying bit was that the replacement engine seemed to like a drop too. TBH it would put me off buying an MY06 and quite a lot of people will not want a Zed at all after reading it. However, whilst that does nothing for my resale value that's exactly what Autocar are there for and if we want to vent our spleen it should properly be against Nissan.

[MickJ]

Interesting reading this re oil consumption as I am a firm believer that all engines use oil, some more than others, I have had in the region of 60 cars since I have been driving I can't remember one not using oil. What springs to mind when I had a Vauxhall Royale I bought a proper dealer\factory workshop manual for it and I remember that in it they went to some considerable length to explain that this engine (2.8Litre straight 6) it was perfectly normal\acceptable for it to use up to 1 litre of oil per 1000 miles then if we wind the clock on almost 30 years I had 3 new BMW's on the trot, 325se\330sport and a M3, for the first 6\7k miles all used a fair bit of oil, in fact with the M3 they gave you a litre of top up oil with it to keep in the boot. now the only difference over the years is the tendency to now check the oil level when hot rather than the 'old' days when only to check when cold, is this because the modern oils 'expand' when hot? (maybe the resident oil expert can confirm this or not). It happened a lot on the BMW forum that someone said that their oil level was low, but had checked it cold as against at running temperature, as you should with the Zed.

 

So before you all start panicking that you have high oil consumption I would expect a highish revving engine like the 350Z which, come on be honest we all give some sh*t and redline it\ hit rev limiter to use oil, you just have to make sure that you check the oil weekly, be glad, if it's right what I have been told that Mazda RX8 owners have to check the oil level everytime they fill up with petrol.......

 

This ain't to say that there wont be cars with excesive oil consumption, but were they properly run in? We have all seen these mags\TV programmes ragging a car from new....

[Digsy]

Interesting reading this re oil consumption as I am a firm believer that all engines use oil, some more than others, I have had in the region of 60 cars since I have been driving I can't remember one not using oil. What springs to mind when I had a Vauxhall Royale I bought a proper dealer\factory workshop manual for it and I remember that in it they went to some considerable length to explain that this engine (2.8Litre straight 6) it was perfectly normal\acceptable for it to use up to 1 litre of oil per 1000 miles then if we wind the clock on almost 30 years I had 3 new BMW's on the trot, 325se\330sport and a M3, for the first 6\7k miles all used a fair bit of oil, in fact with the M3 they gave you a litre of top up oil with it to keep in the boot. now the only difference over the years is the tendency to now check the oil level when hot rather than the 'old' days when only to check when cold, is this because the modern oils 'expand' when hot? (maybe the resident oil expert can confirm this or not). It happened a lot on the BMW forum that someone said that their oil level was low, but had checked it cold as against at running temperature, as you should with the Zed.

 

So before you all start panicking that you have high oil consumption I would expect a highish revving engine like the 350Z which, come on be honest we all give some sh*t and redline it\ hit rev limiter to use oil, you just have to make sure that you check the oil weekly, be glad, if it's right what I have been told that Mazda RX8 owners have to check the oil level everytime they fill up with petrol.......

 

This ain't to say that there wont be cars with excesive oil consumption, but were they properly run in? We have all seen these mags\TV programmes ragging a car from new....

 

I see the point that you're making but why didn't Nissan take this line with Autocar? By replacing the engine and apparently not feeding any info on the cause back to the magazine they have allowed Autocar to print an article which would worry any potential Zed purchaser.

[Beavis]

Interesting reading this re oil consumption as I am a firm believer that all engines use oil, some more than others, I have had in the region of 60 cars since I have been driving I can't remember one not using oil. What springs to mind when I had a Vauxhall Royale I bought a proper dealer\factory workshop manual for it and I remember that in it they went to some considerable length to explain that this engine (2.8Litre straight 6) it was perfectly normal\acceptable for it to use up to 1 litre of oil per 1000 miles then if we wind the clock on almost 30 years I had 3 new BMW's on the trot, 325se\330sport and a M3, for the first 6\7k miles all used a fair bit of oil, in fact with the M3 they gave you a litre of top up oil with it to keep in the boot. now the only difference over the years is the tendency to now check the oil level when hot rather than the 'old' days when only to check when cold, is this because the modern oils 'expand' when hot? (maybe the resident oil expert can confirm this or not). It happened a lot on the BMW forum that someone said that their oil level was low, but had checked it cold as against at running temperature, as you should with the Zed.

 

So before you all start panicking that you have high oil consumption I would expect a highish revving engine like the 350Z which, come on be honest we all give some sh*t and redline it\ hit rev limiter to use oil, you just have to make sure that you check the oil weekly, be glad, if it's right what I have been told that Mazda RX8 owners have to check the oil level everytime they fill up with petrol.......

 

This ain't to say that there wont be cars with excesive oil consumption, but were they properly run in? We have all seen these mags\TV programmes ragging a car from new....

 

I see the point that you're making but why didn't Nissan take this line with Autocar? By replacing the engine and apparently not feeding any info on the cause back to the magazine they have allowed Autocar to print an article which would worry any potential Zed purchaser.

 

Good point Digsy, why no feedback on the problems with the engine?? If it was just a one off fault you would have thought that they would have been back quickly to report on the causes. In anycase this news is not new, there are quite a few unhappy rev-up engine owners on www.my350z.com with excessive oil consumption problems.

[MickJ]

Interesting, I have just stuck 'Nissan 350z oil consumption' into Google\world wide web and it makes interesting reading, I have to agree there does seem to be a valid question as to excessive oil consumption for this engine..... still I love the car and it just means I will be more vigilant with the oil level checks!

[lomoto]

I always check my oil at least once a week on any vehicle I run , as been said before all engines will use oil to a certain degree, If you dont check your oil level between services I think you will have to take the consequences in the wallet

[MickJ]

I always check my oil at least once a week on any vehicle I run , as been said before all engines will use oil to a certain degree, If you dont check your oil level between services I think you will have to take the consequences in the wallet

 

Fully agree with you on that, one of the problems is that a great many cars now have a self oil level checking system (not the 350z) and people get lazy, myself included, and just how accurate are these systems (my BMW 325se taught me not to rely on them)

[Lincolnbaggie]

I always check my oil at least once a week on any vehicle I run , as been said before all engines will use oil to a certain degree, If you dont check your oil level between services I think you will have to take the consequences in the wallet

 

Fully agree with you on that, one of the problems is that a great many cars now have a self oil level checking system (not the 350z) and people get lazy, myself included, and just how accurate are these systems (my BMW 325se taught me not to rely on them)

 

They all may use oil to some extent, but serious usage such as is being seen in some MY06 cars is not acceptable. This suggests a more serious underlying fault in the engine manufacture. We know that Nissan US have stopped selling certain Ultima models because of excessive oil loss leading to engine failure and worse (google it), but Nissan UK tell us they haven't got a problem? Be interesting to know where the piston rings came from in the cars that have the problem and whether they are the same batch as in the ones that are okay?

[Chesterfield]

It certainly sounds like a problem to me. I think mine suffers a little from it - but certainly not to the extent that some people are seeing. During my trip round France, Ive seen the level drop from 3/4 to about 1/3 on the oil, which I think is about 500ml in a couple of thousand miles. And its had some lead foot on some occasions.

 

As for 3l in 5000 miles! Im no expert, but that sounds VERY excessive.

 

A closer eye on mine from now on too I think.

[MickJ]

I always check my oil at least once a week on any vehicle I run , as been said before all engines will use oil to a certain degree, If you dont check your oil level between services I think you will have to take the consequences in the wallet

 

Fully agree with you on that, one of the problems is that a great many cars now have a self oil level checking system (not the 350z) and people get lazy, myself included, and just how accurate are these systems (my BMW 325se taught me not to rely on them)

 

They all may use oil to some extent, but serious usage such as is being seen in some MY06 cars is not acceptable. This suggests a more serious underlying fault in the engine manufacture. We know that Nissan US have stopped selling certain Ultima models because of excessive oil loss leading to engine failure and worse (google it), but Nissan UK tell us they haven't got a problem? Be interesting to know where the piston rings came from in the cars that have the problem and whether they are the same batch as in the ones that are okay?

 

If it is a premature piston ring wear problem as you suggest, the warning signs would be blue smoke behind you, this to me would set alarm bells ringing and a swift visit to the dealership and not to continue driving it until the engine destroys itself, but yes I concur there does seem to be a problem with late model oil consumption, I shall monitor mine carefully.

[Lincolnbaggie]

I always check my oil at least once a week on any vehicle I run , as been said before all engines will use oil to a certain degree, If you dont check your oil level between services I think you will have to take the consequences in the wallet

 

Fully agree with you on that, one of the problems is that a great many cars now have a self oil level checking system (not the 350z) and people get lazy, myself included, and just how accurate are these systems (my BMW 325se taught me not to rely on them)

 

They all may use oil to some extent, but serious usage such as is being seen in some MY06 cars is not acceptable. This suggests a more serious underlying fault in the engine manufacture. We know that Nissan US have stopped selling certain Ultima models because of excessive oil loss leading to engine failure and worse (google it), but Nissan UK tell us they haven't got a problem? Be interesting to know where the piston rings came from in the cars that have the problem and whether they are the same batch as in the ones that are okay?

 

If it is a premature piston ring wear problem as you suggest, the warning signs would be blue smoke behind you, this to me would set alarm bells ringing and a swift visit to the dealership and not to continue driving it until the engine destroys itself, but yes I concur there does seem to be a problem with late model oil consumption, I shall monitor mine carefully.

 

I'm only summising on the piston rings, and I agree on the warning signs. However, if a new-ish car is using that amount of oil it has to be either (a) leaking out or ( being burnt off somehow. Either way it's unacceptable for a new car to use 5 litres of oil in the first 8000 miles. This has to be a manufacturing problem to happen more than once. Nissan have to accept responsibility