I believe my car is on its last legs.....

"jvirgs drives a Subaru" (jvirgs)
12/04/2014 at 22:44 • Filed to: None

I drive a 2004 Nissan Sentra SE-R. Went to Walmart earlier and when I went to leave and started my car, it ran extremely rough to which I thought it was going to die a slow, painful death right there in the parking lot. I also know that it is consuming oil at an alarming rate. There are no leaks and its not puffing out any blue smoke but still needed to add 2 qts of oil just at 3000 miles after the last oil change (this was a few days before thanksgiving). Any thoughts as to what is causing it to burn so much oil? Also, I'm assuming that the running rough and the oil consumption could possibly be related.

Vauxhall VXR8 for your time.

DISCUSSION (18)

sony1492 > jvirgs drives a Subaru
12/04/2014 at 22:49

Do your spark plugs have oil in their compartment?

Round headlight enthusiast > jvirgs drives a Subaru
12/04/2014 at 22:57

The obvious answer might be piston rings or gaskets. May want to start there

jvirgs drives a Subaru > sony1492
12/04/2014 at 22:58

Not sure. I don't even know where they are.

wafflesnfalafel > jvirgs drives a Subaru
12/04/2014 at 23:01

leaking head gasket and a fouled plug maybe

Zibodiz > jvirgs drives a Subaru
12/04/2014 at 23:02

For my experience, cars will burn a LOT more oil than that before it impacts performance. I've had two cars that burned oil like crazy; a '73 Jeep V8 that burned about a quart every 300 miles and had no blue smoke or anything, and had TONS of power, and a '93 Civic 1.5L I4 that burned a quart every hundred miles (not an exaggeration), and it ran great and didn't smoke either. The Jeep was a big enough engine that the oil was probably evenly distributed between the cylinders and burned cleanly enough, but the Honda's oil smoke was negated by the catalytic converter. A good working cat will completely get rid of all oil smoke.

The running rough is probably from fouled spark plugs or an unrelated problem. If you're burning oil, it's going to soot up the plugs eventually, and when spark plugs go, it happens all at once. I've seen plenty of cars that burn a quart every 1,000 miles and still run great for many years, so I wouldn't be too concerned about it unless it gets a lot worse. Check your compression; if it's good, just keep driving it.

Zibodiz > Zibodiz
12/04/2014 at 23:04

Edit: Unless you want a new car. If you want a new car and are trying to justify it, then by all means, your car's about to die and will probably explode in a giant fireball if you keep it, so you should definitely trade it for that new FoST/WRX/MX6 you want.

[haha you probably hate all 3 of those cars. Oh well.]

Boxer_4 > jvirgs drives a Subaru
12/04/2014 at 23:04

Excessive oil consumption has been a pretty prominent issue for the Nissan QR25DE engine. In fact, there was a recall issued for this problem. Long story short, the exhaust design allows the pre-catalytic converter to become damaged. Parts of the pre-catalytic converter can then enter the engine and damage it, too, resulting in increased oil consumption. It's possible that this is the problem, and your engine is on its way out.

I believe you can check to see the recalls on your SE-R by VIN, open or otherwise, here .

jvirgs drives a Subaru > Zibodiz
12/04/2014 at 23:10

I do want a new car but can't really afford anything right now thanks to student loan debt....

Zibodiz > jvirgs drives a Subaru
12/04/2014 at 23:14

I can relate. I'm really trying to justify getting a big Ford right now (probably an Expedition or F150 Super Crew — I really like the Super Crew, for some reason), but not only can I not afford it, but my brown manual wagon is the perfect car for me, I love it, and it's super reliable, so it's pretty hard to justify the switch. Also, y'know, money.

promoted by the color red > jvirgs drives a Subaru
12/04/2014 at 23:15

You might need a valve adjustment or a tune up.

sortofindian > jvirgs drives a Subaru
12/04/2014 at 23:32

Pull the distributor cap and look for oil on the sensor wheel inside. Also use an Ohm meter to check resistance of your fuel injectors

Zoom > jvirgs drives a Subaru
12/05/2014 at 00:10

Ok, oppo brother.

How many miles, and do you know the service history...are you the 1st 2nd or 3rd owner....

orcim > jvirgs drives a Subaru
12/05/2014 at 01:41

The oil loss and performance may also be unrelated, directly anyway. Had a front crankshaft seal that I replaced, which leaked like a sieve after 15K miles - dunno why, was great at first. The oil only came out while driving, it dripped down to a frame member that was getting wind from car motion and blowing the droplet off. Took me forever to find that sucker. In the meantime, I had a vacuum leak going on that started slow, and got worse. Thought they were related with all the seemingly related data but they weren't - totally separate.

Good luck! I'd personally track the history of your engine from other posters and the internet to determine which action to take.

pip bip - choose Corrour > jvirgs drives a Subaru
12/05/2014 at 03:01

Kinja'd!!!

Vauxhall VXR8!! :)

Oontzoontzoontz > jvirgs drives a Subaru
12/05/2014 at 07:14

I know the Sentra 2.5L was notorious for sucking the pre-cat into the engine and having a dance party in the combustion chamber. My 04 Sentra 1.8L has had issues with Cam / Crank position sensors, and ultimately the timing chain stretched / slipped enough to where the car wouldn't start at all.

Good luck.

Steve in Manhattan > jvirgs drives a Subaru
12/05/2014 at 10:38

Check the rear bumper near the exhaust to see if there's a film - the smoke might very well be white and difficult to see, even under hard acceleration. And when you say there are no leaks - you've parked it over, say, some newspaper to make sure? This could be so many things - like someone else said: rear main seal, rings, there's a blowoff valve I believe (someone correct me) - hell, it could be a pan gasket. How many miles on it? Also, this is a 10 year old Japanese car. If properly maintained there should be few/no issues.

As the Car Guys say - it might be time to go to the auto parts store and search for cans that say "MIRACLE" on them.

jvirgs drives a Subaru > Boxer_4
12/05/2014 at 17:31

Yup. brought the car in for service this morning and they pretty my confirmed this fact. Said there was internal damage to the cylinder walls. So I guess its time to shop for a new car.

Oontzoontzoontz > jvirgs drives a Subaru
12/06/2014 at 10:53

Ugh, that sucks man. But now you can get something else!