ianboom

Looked in to that, may go for mobil1 5w40 or shell to tell a 5w40 if I can find it in the UK.

Not sure how the pcv valve should sit at idle, need to buy a new one to compare, but they're £30-may have to take a chance. Seems its not an uncommon problem. Don't think its blow by, I reckon its something to do with the pcv system as the oil must be being burnt. Pcv valve is on the UK drivers side just next to the plug at the front of the engine. 1 minute job to replace!

I have a '54 plate UK 350Z with 85k on the clock.I did an oil change 1500 miles ago (just after I bought the car) with genuine Nissan oil filter and motul eco energy 5w30 oil. I've had to top the oil up by 1 litre in that time. There are no oil leaks. When I booted it a few weeks ago the wife was following and said a cloud of black smoke came out, but every time I booted it after that, there was no smoke. I do 10 miles a day (so very short journeys). I get no smoke on start up or after sitting at the lights or in traffic. Checked the PCv valve and it rattles when shaken, opens when blown one way, but doesnt fully close when blown the other way. It seems to settle with the valve partially open as if the spring is weak. Soooo, where's my oil going? What can I try to resolve the problem? Any ideas? Thanks, Ian

I think he should offer an 'on the drive' service to members??

Well done for persevering! If my clutch goes I will have a go at it myself, hopefully on a set of ramps! What exactly was the alignment problem? Does the flywheel only fit one way? Ian.

Look on the bright side, although it's an unexpected expense, you'd loose more than that driving a new car out of the show room!

Sounds like a good idea to me, but I have a standard 350Z and would rent it out at the right price with the right insurance. Couldn't you fit a black box like they do to learners? Thrash the car too much and you loose you deposit? There are a couple of cars I'd like to try for the day to help decide whether I want to own one,likewise bikes, I'd like to borrow a hayabusa and a 916 for a few houts to see if they live up to the hype, but I don't want the hassle and expense of owning one!! Ian.

I looked at more than 10 zeds around the £6k mark, I viewed a 45k car with worn out leathers seats and car park dents, mint cars that had rusty bonnets or poorly resprayed panels etc. Ended up with a non GT with 84k on the clock and 90% service history, the last few at a private garage. It had been retrimmed in leather too. I paid £5400 and bought it as it had the best bodywork of all the cars I viewed!

If the service history is missing, it's probably with the spare key! Why do people sell cars with one key?

Interesting, I think the box is one of the best features of this car. It has a solid feel with no free play and a short throw. I've had no issues with mine at all, I guess you just have to be smooth and steady with it, resisting the urge to change too quickly. , Fair comment, when my box changes smoothly from 1st to 2nd, it's great and I agree the short throw and feel of the box is really nice, it's just that frequent clunk as it goes in. I've only owned my car from few months, it'll be interesting to see if it gets better in the warmer weather!

Was that the drive in/out price? The two things I don't like about my zed is the crxxpy box and the leather seats!

It's not just those who can't park, there's a lot of people who park their car but just don't give a sxxt when they open their door. We have a small staff car park and some of the staff don't care either.

That's the Pitts. I Work for part of Tesco and had my Clio RS200 hit in the door on Xmas eve, unfortunately you park at your own risk. They may have CCTV of the incident, but some stores only have one camera in the car park and it could have been facing a different way. Also, they may not record the camera image in the car parks as a large store can have 140 cameras and record only 64 of them.The CCTV images are stored for at least 30 days, but you'll struggle to get them to look at the recording-sorry! Ian.

£1k to fit a clutch which involves dropping the box plus parts and £1k to swap the box for a new one? Doesn't add up. Was the box worse after the clutch was replaced? Would be interesting to see how much a rebuild costs and what was wrong with the box :-)

Really good write up and photos, would love to be there and be an apprentice!