Missing oil

BK wrote the following:

Find it fast. Do you see white smoke behind your vehicle when driving? If so, it's burning it, and fouling your catalytic converter at the same time. Check under your car for oil puddles whenever you go to drive it. Check your dipstick regularly, and especially after anyone services it.

willshak wrote the following:

One more thing. Check your radiator to see if there is oil in there. If so, you have a blown head gasket.

From what you say, I understand that the oil level isn't becoming critical until the car is due for an oil change anyway.

That would be a lot of miles to have travelled without checking the oil level and topping up (if required).

Manufacturers often quote normal oil consumption figures up to a maximum of something like a litre per 1,000 km (in the order of a quart per 600 miles in imperial measurement).

While some cars don't need topping up between regular oil changes, it's not unusual for any car to need topping up several times in that period.

Given your mileage, I'd suggest checking the oil level every week. What does your owners' manual say on the subject?

John

John is right:

Many manufacturers consider some oil usage normal. I think that is a lousy excuse to avoid having to repair a bunch defective engines; e.g. VW continues to have issues with oil consumption in their engines (as per the CarTalk guys).

As far as BK's problem, oil either gets consumed by the engine or goes somewhere else (leaked, water system, exhaust pipe, etc.)

Just make sure that you are getting a level reading right after the oil change or topping.

Good luck!

AS

John Henders>

Some oil usage is normal....it has to be given the nature of piston engines. Some small amount of oil is routinely left on the cylinder walls to be flashed off during the combustion phase. Other minute amounts of oil are carried on the valve stems into the intake air stream and some portion of this is carried on into the engine with the intake air. All engines consume some oil. Those that appear to consume none are making up the lost oil with unburned hydrocarbons and combstuin products that escape past the rings on the compression and power strokes. If stuff wasn't getting into the oil, it wouldn't change color over time. Send a sample off for analysis sometime.

On my farm we had a very old tractor with weak rings that "made" oil. As long as you didn't work it very hard, the oil level would actually go up. If you worked it really hard, the level would drop rapidly since you were now getting the oil hot enough to flash off any unburned hydrocarbons and water.

Ed

AS wrote in news:VuOdnT8aZrZpOQ_QnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@earthlink.com:

MAYBE the OP should try GOOGLING "Altima V6 oil consumption" before asking questions here.

DAGS.