After driving my '05 G35 Sedan 6MT for 2900 miles, it began to make a sound sort of like a diesel engine although not as loud. It sounded like a rough idle, but it occurred when shifting into or out of gear or laying into or off of the throttle. The service engine soon light also came on. I brought it into the dealer and after much investigation they "identified" the problem as a clogged valve in the variable valve timing system. Due to the engine being partially disassembled for a couple of days they also drained and refilled the oil in the event that debris mad its way into the engine. This satisfied the computer and a reset got rid of the light. They were unable to recreate the noise and assumed it was fixed.At 5200 miles the noise came back. They took the vvt system back apart and found a chain pin that was not removed from some part of the vvt assembly. They also happened to give me my first scheduled oil change. The noise was gone upon reassembly.

Last week at 8200 miles the noise came back. I scheduled to bring it in and in the interim, the oil light came on during a hard stop. I checked the oil and it was not registering on the dipstick. 4(!) quarts brought it up to between mid and full. A reasonably intelligent person would assume that this has been the problem all along, but Infiniti is doubting that. I am currently in the process of running an oil consumption test on the car for them. Given the history, the car seems to be burning ~1.5 qt/1000 miles. There is no oil in the coolant, no drips in the garage, and no smoke coming from the tail pipe. Where is the oil going? When it inevitably comes to replacing the engine after I complete their test (a minimum of two times), is a long block an adequate fix for the problem? What would you do if you were in my situation?

Thanks in advance for your opinions on this, and sorry for the long winded question. I will be posting the outcome of my problem when it gets resolved, but it will be another 1800 miles before I complete the two oil consumption tests that Infiniti is requesting.

i spoke to a 350 owner tha other day that had an oil consumption problem, and they ended up replacing his motor. just keep an eye on it, and bring it in frequently so there is a record of you tryin to fix the problem

This problem is happening all over with the VQ35. I know a lot of the Maxima owners are starting to add blow-by catch-cans to keep the oil out of the intake.