Since we bought the car new from Infiniti, up until it had 77,000 miles on it the oil and filter have always been changed by the dealership per their timetable based on their notifications to us. Because of other outside constraints we could not take our car to the dealership for several months, so I changed the oil and filter per the owners manual at home. I went to my local O'Reilly Auto store and bought Mobil1 synthetic 5-20 oil and Wix filter and changed them myself at home. This was done twice over 30,000 miles (which I admit was longer than it should have been).
When we did take the car to the dealership next the mileage was 107,000. Per the dealership recommendation they changed the oil and filter, belts, cabin filters, air filter, etc. They also said there was a cracked PCV hose and repaired that. Altogether we spent $2,200 +/- on 08/22/2022. Nothing was said about the engine now smoking on startup nor was there any report on the service ticket at that time. Anytime we let the car sit for several hours and then start it, bluish-white oil smelling smoke bellows out of the exhaust for maybe 5-15 seconds, then it dissipates and goes completely away. This never, ever occurred prior to the 08/22/2022 trip to the dealership.
We contacted the Baton Rouge Infiniti dealership service department and they said to "bring it in", and they would look at it. The report we now got back totally floored me. They said it was caused by "engine sludge" that when mixed with the new oil, it was "breaking the sludge loose" and the engine was burning it, making the smoke. This supposedly occurred because of the 30,000 mile period where "they" did not change the oil and filter. They could not explain though how sludge from the crankcase (a closed compartment) was getting into the combustion chamber to be burned with the air/fuel mix under normal driving. And their service ticket (in writing) further went on to say that using engine flush or changing the valve covers would not be successful, and the ONLY solution was to put a new or reconditioned long block motor in the car for $8,250.00 +/-. What does changing the valve covers have to do with this?
I want to stress that this smoking NEVER occurred prior to this last trip to the dealership. And again when we first picked the car from them, nothing was noted by the Service manager nor written on the Service Ticket about the engine smoke originally. That only occurred after we noticed the smoking and brought it back to them. I have started my own research into this, and oh boy was I shocked at the number of complaints I have seen online of this exact scenario with the "universal" dealership response of engine "sludge"... and it requires new or reconditioned motor to fix.This is far too rampant to be normal. Modern engines with modern high detergent oils and filter technology today just don't create that much "sludge" in 30,000 miles under normal driving. If this isn't a class-action lawsuit waiting to happen over this defect, I don't know what is?
Since we bought the car new from Infiniti, up until it had 77,000 miles on it the oil and filter have always been changed by the dealership per their timetable based on their notifications to us. Because of other outside constraints we could not take our car to the dealership for several months, so I changed the oil and filter per the owners manual at home. I went to my local O'Reilly Auto store and bought Mobil1 synthetic 5-20 oil and Wix filter and changed them myself at home. This was done twice over 30,000 miles (which I admit was longer than it should have been).
When we did take the car to the dealership next the mileage was 107,000. Per the dealership recommendation they changed the oil and filter, belts, cabin filters, air filter, etc. They also said there was a cracked PCV hose and repaired that. Altogether we spent $2,200 +/- on 08/22/2022. Nothing was said about the engine now smoking on startup nor was there any report on the service ticket at that time. Anytime we let the car sit for several hours and then start it, bluish-white oil smelling smoke bellows out of the exhaust for maybe 5-15 seconds, then it dissipates and goes completely away. This never, ever occurred prior to the 08/22/2022 trip to the dealership.
We contacted the Baton Rouge Infiniti dealership service department and they said to "bring it in", and they would look at it. The report we now got back totally floored me. They said it was caused by "engine sludge" that when mixed with the new oil, it was "breaking the sludge loose" and the engine was burning it, making the smoke. This supposedly occurred because of the 30,000 mile period where "they" did not change the oil and filter. They could not explain though how sludge from the crankcase (a closed compartment) was getting into the combustion chamber to be burned with the air/fuel mix under normal driving. And their service ticket (in writing) further went on to say that using engine flush or changing the valve covers would not be successful, and the ONLY solution was to put a new or reconditioned long block motor in the car for $8,250.00 +/-. What does changing the valve covers have to do with this?
I want to stress that this smoking NEVER occurred prior to this last trip to the dealership. And again when we first picked the car from them, nothing was noted by the Service manager nor written on the Service Ticket about the engine smoke originally. That only occurred after we noticed the smoking and brought it back to them. I have started my own research into this, and oh boy was I shocked at the number of complaints I have seen online of this exact scenario with the "universal" dealership response of engine "sludge"... and it requires new or reconditioned motor to fix.This is far too rampant to be normal. Modern engines with modern high detergent oils and filter technology today just don't create that much "sludge" in 30,000 miles under normal driving. If this isn't a class-action lawsuit waiting to happen over this defect, I don't know what is?
- smhale, Greenwell Springs, US