# Cuts out while driving, uses excessive oil



## TDonaldson (Apr 5, 2014)

Hi All,

I have a 2.5 petrol X-Trail a/t 2003 (158kkm). I have, what I believe to be, two separate issues;

I recently had the cylinder head gasket replaced (coolant mixing in oil). They replaced the necessaries and cleaned out the radiator, though I see that they did not replace the spark plugs (which may be a clue to my second issue). Ever since I have been consistently going through a pint of oil every 400/500 km, very is very excessive. Could this be something as simple to fix as tightening the cylinder head, or do I need to send it back and tell them to take off the cylinder head again?

The second issue is quite puzzling. from 5 months to 1 month ago the engine has had stages of cutting out whilst driving (high and low rpm). This only happened 3 times in that period, but in the last month it has happened 4 times. During one of these periods it will start up fun, run smoothly and randomly cut out. It will do this 4-5 times and then be fine again. Yesterday when it happened, unlike previous times, it started again but only crawled forward (a/t transmission was all wonky). No error codes. The dealer has no clue.
Having read through some posts, my diagnosis is either spark plugs, cam angle sensor or a sketchy electrical connection, amongst many others. Which is a lot of options really, so any more definite diagnoses are most welcome.


Thanks!


----------



## rogoman (Dec 16, 2004)

problem #1 - It could be a valve cover gasket that's leaking. Start the car up and let it idle for about 15 min; while it's idling, look for any drips on the floor or pavement. If there are no leaks, then a good way to test for oil burning is to first fully warm up the engine. Stand behind the car. Have someone rev the engine to around 4,000 RPM and hold at that RPM for about 15 seconds. If you see a lot of blue smoke come out of the tailpipe, the engine is burning excessive oil. If all that is OK, then take the car back to the shop.

problem #2 - The camshaft position sensor or the crankshaft position sensor may be marginal. It's probably best to replace both of them as many members on this forum have had similar problems and the fix was replacing the sensors. Buy OEM sensors from a Nissan dealer; do not use aftermarket sensors as they have been known to be inferior in quality. Also replace the spark plugs with OEM NGK plugs; they're more expensive but very reliable.


----------



## quadraria10 (Jul 6, 2010)

Rogoman provides excellent advice about replacing the sensors, but to answer your question take it right back to whomever changed your head gasket, I suspect its damaged in some way


----------

