How To Stop Oil Consumption on Your '03/'04 M45/Y34

Forum for Infiniti M35 and M45, and Nissan Fuga owners.
Double E
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I'll echo your questions...

I've likewise wondered about those engines that were replaced due to consumption....what was the fail point and did the compression test confirm it, were piston walls scored, main bearingsw toasted, piston slap?

On a related topic, when I installed my oil catch can I did not add in the hard foam medium to the catch can ...and instead let gravity put the oil at the bottom of the container. Now that's in there, I've captured a LOT more oil in less time.

As it's running at idle, without the meduim installed, I could see the oil "crawl" up the inside of the can ...and under acceleration, it was probably getting into the intake.


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IWINULUZ
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here is my next thought we are talking about oil consumption and i understand in the unmodified situation oil from my understanding is residing in the intake manifold, and probably in the 2 cylinders on both banks towards the firewall. although if you are catching alot of that oil in the tanks are you STILL depriving the crankcase from oil. i mean i understand that your removing the liquid form of your positive crankcase ventilation [oil] although i think the issue is that too actual oil is getting up to the system rather than the vapors which is the reasoning for the set-up to re-introduce the unburned fumes from your crankcase. but if your adding in a catch can and its weeding out all the oil that is recirculating how often are you having to add oil now?

Also we all know these like a lot of nissans burn oil and smoke a bit maybe the set-up is burning the oil rather than harboring it as much as we think. This is just another random thought ofcourse.

Im not advising ANYONE to try this but it would be interesting to test and see if the engine would just run and harbor less oil being that the oil is regurgitating oil into manifold and cylinders running it while less oil than specified by manufacture specifications. THOUGHTS FOR DISCUSSION PUPOSES ONLY

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kingpin
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All great points ..i have had my battles with KEN but i think he has a few points .. I ran seafoam tru my system helped with the oil Consumption and the MPG for about 6k ..then it was back to square one ^ i am going to look at adding that system soon hopefull get some feed back to every one ..

SKperformance
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I have a thought and have not seem much being pointed its way. So here goes .

In regards to oil being sucked back into the intake , it is a nice idea to have it caught before it can enter the intake plenum . My only concern is that is a band aid and not actually a fix. Has anyone (since I don't see it mentioned atleast in this thread) changed the PCV valves to make sure it is not causing a positive pressure situation inside the engine thus pushing the oil past the rings and seals into the chambers ?

On a side note does the engine have 1 or 2 valves to be checked /cleaned or replaced ?

I would think a good seafoaming the oil before a change might help as well as some good oil . I am not big on most off the shelf oils and only use Motul 8100 xcess in my cars .

Thanks for your thoughts.

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ken in az
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SKperformance wrote:I have a thought and have not seem much being pointed its way. So here goes .

In regards to oil being sucked back into the intake , it is a nice idea to have it caught before it can enter the intake plenum . My only concern is that is a band aid and not actually a fix. Has anyone (since I don't see it mentioned atleast in this thread) changed the PCV valves to make sure it is not causing a positive pressure situation inside the engine thus pushing the oil past the rings and seals into the chambers ?

On a side note does the engine have 1 or 2 valves to be checked /cleaned or replaced ?

I would think a good seafoaming the oil before a change might help as well as some good oil . I am not big on most off the shelf oils and only use Motul 8100 xcess in my cars .

Thanks for your thoughts.
There are 2 pcv valves to change/clean. I have read of one person cleaning the valves and it having little effect on the oil consuption, but that is always a good thing to do during any service. Clean or replace, however positive pressure in the crankcase would be difficult to acheive because of the large line in front of the throttle plate is a direct path without a pcv valve on the valve cover connecting the other end of the pcv system.

Technically the positive pressure in the system would be routed through the large channel and the 2 pcv valves to displace the pressure. But like I said - always a good practice to maintinence those items. See the FSM picture below for a description...


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SteveTheTech
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I know I never thought about cleaning or replacing the pcvs as a simple solution to this. lol no not really I wish it was something that simple.

I think under high load the increased pressure in the engine with the amount of vacuum level achieved during a quick throttle application should be able to suck up a fair amount of oil. I don't think I have the tools required to measure the amount of vacuum being drawn into the engine but going off the force it can apply to an open palm anything should be possible.

Now I wonder what the JDM VKs pcv system consisted of but not being able to have an atmosphere vent anymore there are many more ways to burn oil then there used to be.

As for compression numbers although I have performed several of these tests on all Nissan motors at one time of another in the VK I have personally never performed a test that exceeded 15% variance, any more than that is note worthy, but typically they are very close. Not since my Nissan days have I seen an engine fail in a way you would expect. For some reason people with Quests hated changed the oil and those failed in ways the ASE test questions would have you think they should.


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IWINULUZ
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And back to the main point of adding SECONDARY pcv valves into the system might be the fixes in addition to the filters.

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ken in az
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IWINULUZ wrote:And back to the main point of adding SECONDARY pcv valves into the system might be the fixes in addition to the filters.
I dont think that was the main point, but a lot of questions were answered...but for your first question about dual PCV valves - that's easy enough. Go down to autozone or checkers whatever and get 2 PCV valves and some tubing and install it. Should be pretty cheap and easy if you know what a socket wrench is.

Do it and report back and let us know...my catch can is doing great...it's a 32oz container so it'd take forever to fill so I don't think I need it - lol

I also think that the longer you run a catch can, the less you'll need it and the rings will clean up and reduce some blowby.

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SteveTheTech
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I personally don't see how another pvc valve would impact oil consumption if they all work the same way? The catch can will allow a separate entrance and exit for the vacuum which will reduce the volume just slightly and collect any thing that makes it past the check ball and spring structure of the valve itself.

I bet your fuel economy will slightly improve as well as volumetric efficiency as any carbon and sludge would be removed. However you did just remove and clean the plenum the right way very recently so I don't know if you will see much.

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IWINULUZ
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touche gentleman.

i just want to get game plan down before start throwing cash into it. but i guess your right atleast to start out catching the extra oil would be a good start to saving the rings [even though no compression tests have been documented on here to prove the rings are actually going bad due to over oiling]

but catch can it is for now.

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SteveTheTech
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That's a good approach to take. Personally if $10 and an hour could reduce potential wear on your newish car I'd do it. Hell I'll take the position of recommending this to everyone with not only a vk but a VQ.... let's see how quick my inbox fills up over this one.

Janene
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Hi

Will any of these suggestions work for the QX56? I'm burning about 2 quarts of oil in about 1800 miles and the dealership is saying I need to replace the engine. I dont agree because I see no evidence of oil leaking nor did the diagnostic come back with a bad engine. I think i have a lazy technician and greedy dealership.

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SteveTheTech
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Welcome, This sounds like a good one lets take this over to the qx forum.

Reds12t
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SSo I need some advice about my catch can set up. I just ordered a Moroso air/oil separator and some -12AN hoses and fittings that will run from the main valve cover vent/pcv valve through the separator and into the intake I am having made.

What I need to know is how necessary the secondary vents on the on the valve covers are. It would make the plumbing the separator so much easier and so much cheaper to just plug those vents and rely on the larger main vent. Please advise!

Modified by Reds12t at 1:49 PM 3/5/2010
Modified by Reds12t at 2:56 PM 3/5/2010

parisaudio
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Hey all.

So I did the oil catch install this past week.

I have posted a few pictures here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/2...07190/

(i know, i didnt seal the fittings with vinyl tape, ill get to it, but they are all tight)

I seem to recall a post about the oil consumption problem

I located it between the drivers side fender and the air cleaner box.

I am making an effort to put at least 30 miles a day on it, and I am taking a picture every morning of the amount of oil in there.

My plan is to measure it once a week to get a more exact reading of exactly how much oil is getting by.I had the oil changed with high mileage oil the same day as I did the install, that way i could also see exactly how dirty the oil is as well.

So far, no smoking or smell on startup since the install.

I have even done a few triple digit pulls on the back roads each night, she pulls strong even with 95,000 mi. past 120, and no engine problems.

I will post my first weeks findings on tuesday.

Paris


parisaudio
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sorry about that hanging sentence, .."i seem to recall...." that was left over from another draft, and not deleted!

Paris

Double E
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Pretty nice work there. Keep the pics coming. Be careful not to cross thread the bowl at cleanout time....

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sebvox
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Don't get too excited about totally stopping the oil consumption. If you remove your throttle body from the plenum, you will still see an oil coating. If you refer to the FSM diagram earlier in the thread, you can see that under high load the PCV fresh air line reverses and pumps oil back into the system. It's the tube that connects to the intake throat before the throttle body. It would be interesting to see if you could add a second oil/air seperator at that location, but it flows both ways.


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