My QR25 is dying at 15k miles :(

[Joshua Gary]

My SE-R Spec V has been running excellent since I got it November 9th of
2001 and I've put 15k miles on it since.  I drove 650 miles up to Memphis
for Christmas this past weekend; I also put about 200 more miles on it when
I was in Dallas.  I checked the oil in Dallas and it was down a fourth of a
quart from the full mark(I checked it before leaving too).  The car was
sitting sideways a bit on the street; so I attributed it to that.  I get to
Memphis and get 31mpg whole way.  I just checked the oil tonight after
letting it sit on a level surface for about three hours.  It is down 3/4's
of a quart from the full mark!  My SE-R has used 3/4's of a quart of oil in
850 miles.  Travis the turbo guy from B15sentra.net recently posted some
really interesting and disturbing info about the QR25; here is the link
"http://www.b15sentra.net/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=42904".

He basically said that the QR25 was originally built with cheaper American
made parts.  When Nissan realized the parts and design were defective; they
started using Japan based parts about the middle of this year.

My Spec V was built in October 2001.  I've been lucky so far as I have
15k miles and have used maybe a half quart of oil the whole time.

This has really scared me now.  I'm 650 miles from home.  I was planning on
leaving the day after Christmas.  I can't stand the thought of having
another unreliable car after being cursed enough to own a Dodge for 10
months when I was back in the Air Force.

It's funny though; I drove the speed limit the whole way here.  I do drive
it hard in the city though just as I have always driven Nissans.

I'll take the thing back to the dealer when I get home.  I'll have to nurse
the thing all the way home; fortunately I put four quarts of Mobil 1 in the
trunk before leaving.  The oil burning is probably progressive.  I'll stop
at all the rest areas and check the oil everytime after letting it sit a
while.  If they replace my engine or long block or whatever, I'm pretty
positive I'll sell the car.  The car is keeping me from building a house
anyway.  I just ordered a set of stainless brake lines too; they are or were
going to be my first performance mod on the car.

Joshua
98 Frontier 2wd extended cab
02 Sentra SE-R Spec V