VQ engine oil burn question

[whitty7628]

This is my first post but I have been keeping up with the forums since the beginning of summer.

I have a 2005 Nissan Quest with 58000 miles on it. It has been on a diet of conventional oil with oci of 3750 since the engine was under warranty. Now that the warranty has expired I decided to change over to synthetic and extend the oci. While the engine was on conventional it never burned a drop.

I did the first synthetic oil change about two months ago with Valvoline synthetic. Since then we put about 5500 miles on the van with about 2500 of them towing a light pop up camper. When I did the oil change it was a full quart low. Is this normal when changing to synthetics or towing a small tailer?

Thanks in advance for the help!

 

[tinmanSC]

Originally Posted By: whitty7628
This is my first post but I have been keeping up with the forums since the beginning of summer.

I have a 2005 Nissan Quest with 58000 miles on it. It has been on a diet of conventional oil with oci of 3750 since the engine was under warranty. Now that the warranty has expired I decided to change over to synthetic and extend the oci. While the engine was on conventional it never burned a drop.

I did the first synthetic oil change about two months ago with Valvoline synthetic. Since then we put about 5500 miles on the van with about 2500 of them towing a light pop up camper. When I did the oil change it was a full quart low. Is this normal when changing to synthetics or towing a small tailer?

Thanks in advance for the help!


First,

Glad you are here!

Second, I hate to ask the obvious, but did you check around the drain plug and the filter gasket to make sure the oil wasn't coming from there? When did you do this second oil change, and are you using SynPower for this change too? SynPower is a good oil and is not known for excess burn off. Do you normally spend most of your miles towing?

 

[JOD]

Some have noted a change in consumption just when switching brands. I always questioned this, figuring a car either consumes oil or it doesn't.

I was on a steady diet of MCW20 (a syn blend) for the first 60K miles of the car's life, and never consumed more than an ounce or two over 6K, I did a really short OCI with Pennzoil Platinum, then the second run I used it for around 6K. It consumed nearly a full quart. I was about to post on here than my car is eating PP, but I decided to give it another run and see what happened. The next run was about 8K, no noticeable consumption. I'm about 5K on the current fill and no movement on the dipstick at all.

Long story short, I'd use the Synpower for 2 more OCI's and track its consumption. If it's still consuming oil after that, I'd try a different brand.

Also, with that sump size and that engine, I wouldn't let it get 1qt low--I'd top it off once it's 1/3rd of a qt low, and I'd check it every 1K miles or so.

 

[tinmanSC]

Originally Posted By: JOD
Some have noted a change in consumption just when switching brands. I always questioned this, figuring a car either consumes oil or it doesn't.

I was on a steady diet of MCW20 (a syn blend) for the first 60K miles of the car's life, and never consumed more than an ounce or two over 6K, I did a really short OCI with Pennzoil Platinum, then the second run I used it for around 6K. It consumed nearly a full quart. I was about to post on here than my car is eating PP, but I decided to give it another run and see what happened. The next run was about 8K, no noticeable consumption. I'm about 5K on the current fill and no movement on the dipstick at all.

Long story short, I'd use the Synpower for 2 more OCI's and track its consumption. If it's still consuming oil after that, I'd try a different brand.

Also, with that sump size and that engine, I wouldn't let it get 1qt low--I'd top it off once it's 1/3rd of a qt low, and I'd check it every 1K miles or so.


+1
This is where I was going too with my questions about when you last changed it and if you used SynPower then too.

 

[dparm]

I would try another change with the synthetic. If there's still a problem, try a different synthetic. Each oil has different additives and your engine may not like the Valvoline as much.

 

[whitty7628]

Thanks for the advice guys.

I looked for the obvious leaks around the engine, drain plug, and filter. No leaks were found. I just changed the oil in it about two weeks ago and filled it again with the Valvoline synthetic. We will have to see how it does this time with the same oil.

One thing that I did notice when I changed it was the oil was a darker color than it normally is. When I did the previous changes with the conventional oil, it was still pretty clean looking when it came out but that was changed at 3750 miles. I just figured the darker color with this change was due to the longer oci and the extra load from towing a trailer.

I was planning on sticking with synthetic in this vehicle and just using what ever brand has the best sale at the time. Is there any problem doing this or should I just stick with one brand?

Thanks again for all of the help!!!

 

[dparm]

Nah, that's fine. Any of the big name synthetics are sufficient for your typical street vehicle.

If you were off-roading, towing, racing, etc, then we can talk...

 

[The Critic]

I am using SynPower 5w30 in our 2010 Altima V6. I drained the factory fill at 2500 miles and installed SynPower. After 2200 miles, I had to a little more than 1/4 qt of oil. So, it is possible that some consumption is normal with SynPower?

 

[mechtech2]

Well, you went a lot longer with the full synth. ANd were toeing with it!!
So this is the obvious answer. Somehow you glossed over this huge piece of evidence.
Oils get thin/shear and start to burn off after X/whatever miles.

For instance, I had an old BMW that did not use oil until 2,000 miles. Then it started to burn it. Anybody's oil.

And also consider that oils may not be the same thickness, even though they say so on the bottle. Their is a RANGE, not an exact viscosity. Thinner will usually blow out more.