oil level issues

[charrisonmech]

Ok, i have posted here for this same vehicle (2003 Max) before once or twice with a pinging/ticking sound coming from what i really think is just valve knock. NOW I am having a problem with oil consumption. The car is my moms and I do the regular work on it and it uses alot of oil, and it isnt leaking it. So they just went on a road trip and put on about 1000 miles on it. Before they left I did a fluids check and all was good except the oil was down to the bottom of the hash marks. So I filled it back up with a qt. They went on their trip and I checked it again when they got back. The oil level was back down to a qt. low again!!! I was just checking out other posts and I have seen some where other people have been running 87 or 89 octane and they notice a knocking. Now I have also read that when that happens the knock sensor will retard the timing. And would that cause the engine to consume lots of oil like that? The reason I ask is that she runs the low quality arco 87 octane , now I have been trying to get it through her head to put in at least, if she is going to use arco, to go with premium and even better chevron premium. A couple things that might help are that the car doesnt smoke so I know that it doesnt burn off extensive amounts. I also want to know if running the oil low would cause it to possibly crack the head gasket to bridge the oil delivery port to the combustion chamber to lose it through the exhaust without showing obvious signs of overheating. I asked if she noticed any odd fluctuations of oil pressure, but there is no oil pressure indicator which Im tempted to possibly install one. Like I said before it doesnt leak at all. And Im going to run a compression test on it tomorrow. Im not necessarily stumped but Im trying to narrow down the possibilties as you can tell. I would really appreciate any input. Thank you for taking the time to read this looooong post.

[maxhopper]

Keep a log showing mileage and the amount of oil added each time. Some manufacturers (not 100% sure about Nissan) consider 1qt per 1000 miles to be acceptable.

[xerexabante]

The Maxima has a weird way of checking the oil level. When you are going to check the oil, warm the engine until the fan turns on or the temos is in normal running temp. Then you shut the motor off. Wait 5 mins. Then check the oil.

Also when doing an oil change. Warm the engine up again. wait 5 min. then drain the oil. But don't take the dip stick out. Fill up 4 3/4 qts. To check the level. run motor to Temp. Then wait 5 min. then check level.

I thought i had a problem like yours. But then when i followed the steps, i have no problems anymore. Then I switched to Castrol Synthetic

[charrisonmech]

ok i will do that but 1 qt per thousand miles would be acceptable for what???

[charrisonmech]

ya thats exactly what i do to check the oil. and i also did go with the castrol synthetic and it still is doing the same thing. but one thing i seen when i did the compression test is the back 3 sparkplugs have extensive carbon buildup on them. i have ngk laser fire plugs (or similar name) and they arent cheap.