Many Nissan owners have reported excessive oil consumption for 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 models like Maxima, Altima, Pathfinders, etc., without being able to determine the root cause. I believe that, with the help of the right mechanic, I have discovered the cause and why it has been so elusive. The…

I don’t see how a faulty catalytic converter desgin can cause an engine to use oil. The converter is well downsteam of the inner workings of the engine. Also the Sentra uses a different engine than the Altima/Maxima/Pathfinder. As the Altima/Maxima/and Pathfinder V6 models all use the VQ V6.

Thanks for replying. There are 3 CATs in the Maxima and two are right against the engine making it very likely that the back pressure would suck the sand into the engine. The mechanic that noticed this was trained by Nissan regarding this same issue.

It’s probably the other way around. The excessive oil consumption is causing the Catalytic converters to fail. The catalytic converters are not designed to burn that much oil.

This is a board full of skeptics and since this all sounds unusual you will hear all sorts of alternatives. If you really think this is all a documentable thing and want it “out there” then I’d find a bored investigative journalist. The feds also have plenty of places where people can file complai…

Thanks. Any suggestions where? I have worked with large corporations and know how the diversionary process can happen to try and lesson damages. The game becomes one of trying to wait out that 7 year window. I, and others, may have already lost, but there are many more who still might have a chance …

The cats you are referring to are called warm up cats, sometimes called pre-cats. Almost all cars have them these days, but for some reason, a lot of Nissan owners and mechanics believe this story. One other factor in this story that you didn’t mention is that it mostly affects the high performanc…

Racing engines with wide overlap cams and open, tuned, exhaust systems can indeed create a negative pressure pulse at the exhaust port…But mundane Nissan passenger vehicles have no means to “suck sand back into the engine”…The flow out the exhaust in today’s smog engines is one way…Also, if Cats wer…

Thanks again. I do appreciate the extensive knowledge and experience responders have been showing here. I do not know the statistics on when the average consumer trades in their vehicle (at what mileage), but this point may be pertinent to the discussion as well. If most people, as I would suspect,…

Thanks again. I do appreciate the extensive knowledge and experience responders have been showing here. I do not know the statistics on when the average consumer trades in their vehicle (at what mileage), but this point may be pertinent to the discussion as well. If most people, as I suspect, have …

Nissan Excessive Oil Consumption - Maxima, Sentra, Altima

Maintenance/Repairs

AcadiaRush March 28, 2011, 2:44pm 5

More like a perfect storm. Once the sand gets inside and causes wear, it causes more oil to burn. Then, the more oil that is burned, gets scrubbed by the CATs, causing faster deterioration. Once this cycle is happening, engine failure can come fast. Testimonials about this are all over the web. I have seen some discussions owners placed on other sites taken down.

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Nissan Excessive Oil Consumption - Maxima, Sentra, Altima

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