Who knows the score on burning oil?

[SixGuns]

Ok, I've seen several things about the valve covers having terribly designed baffles and causing sludge that screws the PCV valve and then we burn oil..all I know is every time I take my '04 over 4k RPM and look in the mirror, oops, there's blue smoke. My wife started my truck today and it belched blue for about 3-4 seconds. If it's in fact an issue with the valve covers, what's the fix here? Replace the PCV every 20k miles or so, or does anything else with the 3.5 have the same bolt pattern for the covers as our motors? I figure the 350Z wouldn't have the same covers, as the heads are different, but what about the Murrano? Is it the same get-up as ours? Same crap baffles? Has anyone addressed this? I searched, couldn't come up with anything useful. I would just plan on swapping in a bigger motor, but moving back to Cali soon....don't want to play the smog game. Need to make this one last for a while. Any input would be appreciated. Thanks, guys.

[DanAK]

Never had that problem mate, I red-line frequently but I never burn oil unless I use the oil for longer than I should. I think this is more of a specific issue than a generalized VQ35 problem. I could just be lucky though and everyone else is burning oil.

[MY1PATH]

take a cover off and find out. I know the VG baffles run the lenght of the cover and you can improve on them by sealing the half closest to the hose so that the vapors are only drawn from the opposite side of the cover. You could also rig an oil catch can between your cover and your intake.

maybe look into other problems too; Like too much oil... and overfilled engine will airate the oil more (sometimes thinning and breaking it down) this leads to more oil in the pcv as well as more oil past the rings. High rpms increase this airation if your oil is too full.

 

 

[JamesRich]

I was going to suggest a catch can but My1path beat me to it! If you are sure its from the PCV a catch can should solve the problem. Just don't use too long of a hose like I've seen so many people do. Does a VQ have one or two PCV valves? If it has two like a VK56 you will need two cans to work properly.

James

[SixGuns]

Too much oil is definately not an issue....being savvy on the marine side of the house, I've come to never fill past the half-way mark on a dipstick...you don't know the nightmares of "making oil" till it happens in an outboard motor and have no idea where it's coming from. Catch-can's not a bad idea, but I've love to remedy the actual issue behind it, rather than just slap a bandaid on it. I'll have to pull the cover, I guess, and see what kind of shape it's in. Sealing the baffles isn't a bad idea. Just didn't know if anyone had encountered the drain-clogging issue that I've seen in a few write-ups. PCV seems to be the general concensus, but I could be wrong. Thanks, guys.

[laxman0324]

Im fairly certain the only options are: PCV catch can and replace the valve covers...I read an article from a guy who tried to clean them by flushing them many times and it just didn't work well enough to justify not replacing them...

[ProStreetDriver]

What kind of oil are you using??? I know Quaker State and Pennzoil have a wax paraffin base which sludges up your motor.

 

Try switching to another type of oil.

[SixGuns]

What kind of oil are you using??? I know Quaker State and Pennzoil have a wax paraffin base which sludges up your motor.

 

Try switching to another type of oil.

The fact that there is paraffin in said oils has no relation to sludge buildup. Low oil levels, too long between oil changes and excessive heat will contribute but just because the word "paraffin" is used in conjunction with motor oil, don't mistake that for straight up wax. Not the same thing. No sense to run scared from the oils. Check out pretty much any oil company's MSDS. Probably all read mostly the same.