06 Infiniti M45 - ST FS 5W30 - 4000 mi

[himemsys]

We bought this vehicle recently with 142k miles on it. According to CarFax, Walmart changed the oil at 139k using ST FS 5W30. When we dumped the oil at 143k, I took this sample. BTW, Mobil 1 0W40 went in its place. I did noticed what appeared to be some oil consumption, as the level on the dipstick went from ~1/3 below the high mark to ~1/3 above the low mark. Hence the comments from BS. Having only owned the vehicle for 1000 mi, I'm going to keep a closer eye on it this OCI. BTW, there appear to be no external leaks below the car as I looked pretty hard when we changed the oil.

I'm wondering if the elevated metals are from driving the car hard while short-tripping. We live in a small town so short trips are the norm and with that engine, it's hard not to accelerate it spiritedly!

Based on the 2.4 TBN, I'd guess the oil would've been spent by 5-6k miles.

 

[himemsys]

So FYI, I followed up with Blackstone on the average OCI on the universal averages. It's a bit lower than the 5000+ I typically see -- 4200 miles. So my 3961 OCI was fairly close. That makes aluminum, copper and lead all almost 3x higher than average. They also said the short tripping and rapid acceleration could be the reason for those elevated metals.

 

[FZ1]

Maybe it will clean up with a few shorter runs. Maybe some High Mileage oil will help.

 

[SatinSilver]

Only romp on it when fully warmed up. Go easy on it otherwise you'll probably get the same uoa results or a bad engine.

 

[Donatello]

I was running the top of the line supertech 5w-30 synthetic when my M45 VK45de let go. Kinda see why. I have switched to Castrol Edge euro 5w-40. We'll see how that goes.

 

[himemsys]

I was running the top of the line supertech 5w-30 synthetic when my M45 VK45de let go. Kinda see why. I have switched to Castrol Edge euro 5w-40. We'll see how that goes.

What do you mean by "let go"?

 

[Artem]

I was running the top of the line supertech 5w-30 synthetic when my M45 VK45de let go. Kinda see why. I have switched to Castrol Edge euro 5w-40. We'll see how that goes.

Ain’t no way your engine failed because of any brand of API approved oil, unless you had a mechanical issue that would have “let go” with any unicorn magic juice in there. I’m sorry. I don’t buy it.

 

[Artem]

So FYI, I followed up with Blackstone on the average OCI on the universal averages. It's a bit lower than the 5000+ I typically see -- 4200 miles. So my 3961 OCI was fairly close. That makes aluminum, copper and lead all almost 3x higher than average. They also said the short tripping and rapid acceleration could be the reason for those elevated metals.

So only 1,000 of the 4K miles is your usage and before that, you don’t know who was doing burnouts in a parking lot and bouncing off the rev limiter? Kinda hard to make ANY reasonable conclusion from the report.

Proceed to pound of it as you’ve been doing (enjoy the car) and check back in 4K to see how she looks with YOUR driving style / conditions.

 

[Donatello]

Ain’t no way your engine failed because of any brand of API approved oil, unless you had a mechanical issue that would have “let go” with any unicorn magic juice in there. I’m sorry. I don’t buy it.

Well you don't have to buy it, I'm simply saying what happened. The VK45DE is known for throwing poor bearing wear numbers at times. The smart thing to do is what OP is doing and monitor which oils work best for that particular engine.

 

[Donatello]

What do you mean by "let go"?

Engine developed a rod knock.

With regards to oil consumption, I don't think it's any ring seal issue, just a PCV related issue. Most folks never take a look in the intake manifold, and I don't blame them. I had to quite recently though, and there was significant amounts of oil in there. I'm not sure but I believe there was a revised valve cover that came out, or that part number changed. So after 08 or so it was probably some sort of revision made.