03 Max Burning Oil

[03MaximaSteve]

OK, there is no drippage in the garage or driveway. No smoke when I start, no gunk in the tailpipe. The three spark plugs that are easy to check are clean. I had a compression test done on just these three cylinders, they were fine. But every 1,000 miles or so I have to add a quart of oil. The car has 106,000 miles, and this started 2 or 3 thousand miles ago.

I've had this car well-maintained, just changed to synthetic oil but no change. Previously I've changed the oil/filter every 3,000 miles.

Someone told me that this is common for the 3.5L engine - if so that's disappointing. I want to drive this car for a long time. It still drives great w Michelin Pilot Sport A/S tires. I have an estimate for a mechanic to drop a used engine with less mileage in for ~$2,000. Or I could just keep adding a quart every 1000 miles. Apart from forgetting to add the oil and causing damage, what is the downside to this option?

[1BlackAlti]

I've found some oils burn off and some don't

I've had good results (no oil consumption) with Quaker State synthetic 5w-30

[keithd]

often nissan says that the rings stick, running a better oil could eventually help it, but also sometimes we add a 1L of ATF in for an oil change, often it does help the oil burning issue. just make sure u dont keep switching from synthetic to non-synthetic, keep it at one or the other or it will make the problem worse, good luck