Contour Enthusiasts Group Archives Forums General General Some questions after working on a friend's maxima.

So i went over my buddys house to show him how to change the oil on his 93 Maxima. Let me just say, what a well designed car it was. I mean 1) it had an engine bay actually big enough to hold the engine. 2) it had a oil nut on the pan, that faced DOWN, and wasnt wedged up against an at times red hot exhaust manifold. 3) It has an oil filter that faced up, so it actually drained when you emptied the oil and you could change it with no mess from ABOVE the engine. I mean people's big complaints about foreign cars used to be that they were so cramped and hard to work on, and this thing was a dream!. Not to mention...it only took 3.1 or 4.1 (i cant remember) qts of oil!. I mean here is a very compareable car to the SVT contour, same relative size, performance, etc, only it has a 3.0 litre motor that takes LESS oil and is even easier to maintain. So my questions are, 1) why exactly is everything so cramped in our cars? and 2) how is it our cars need 6 qts of oil and STILL have oiling issues, in a motor that displaces less volume?

Yes, Maximas are well designed, but have made different design trade offs.

1. Maximas are much larger cars, more comparable to a Taurus, designed only for a V6. Where the Contour was designed to be a smaller overall package that is usually equipped with an I4, but could also cram a V6 into the engine bay. The Contour also has a much lower hood line and shorter overhangs that contribute to the cramped engine compartment. My SVT Contour underhood is slightly more cramped than my Mazda 626 V6, which are very comparable in size of engine and exterior dimensions.

2. Good point, I don't know.

3. I would think you would want the filter hanging upside down so all the oil doesn't drain back everytime the engine is shut off. Yes, it does make it harder to change the oil.

4. My VW 2.8 V6 uses 6 quarts of oil also, but the Mazda 2.5L V6 only uses 4 quarts or so. I though the Duratec oiling issues were caused by slow drain back from the cylinder heads, so the extra oil capactiy would be to compensate for some of that.

Just my thoughts.

My other friends GTI uses like 3.2 qts or something. Granted its only a 1.8, but that motor revs pretty high and gets hot as hell with the turbo in there. Is the duratec just a really inefficient platform to lubricate?

Obviously that makes sense, and that was my thinking behind why it uses so much. I mean i hear that 911's use something like 9 qts of oil (dry sump system). But the Duratec still manages to suffer from oiling problems. You mean to tell me they cant keep the thing lubricated with twice its displacement in oil? How come none of those issues came up during testing? It just angers me that i have to pay extra in oil, and still have to worry about taking a turn hard with my foot on the throttle.

I got the answer!!

Aliens..


just like the aliens that broke and live in my transmission..

hehe he said lubricate.

IMO oil filters that face up are the work of Satan. Talk about a mess. You're under the car anyway, why not take the filter off from under there and avoid all the mess?

Reminds me of my Dad's old '95 T-Bird. The oil filter was sideways, mounted directly above the frame rail.

i dont think the contour engine bay is too cramped, i have a v6. changing the oil on it is real easy. the spark plugs may be a bit hidden but thats no big deal. if you realy wanan see an engind that has little space around it look under the hood of a new evo.