I cannot remember off-hand what is the best oil weight to use for cold temps. I plan on doing my 1st oil change on my Max this weekend (just bought it in Jan w/ 18500mi)and the weather here in Chicago is FRIGID!!!! Going to buy Mobil 1 and a Mobil 1 filter. Should I use 10W30??

 

Hey, I live in Chicago also and i use 10w30 in all my cars all year round. I just bought my max so i won't have to change it till april and mobil 1 10w30 is going in.

Some people put 5w30 in their car in the winter but i don't.

 

What would be the benefit of going to a 5W30 vs 10W30?? And thanx for your input.

 

5w30 is a bit thinner then 10w30. So the thicker the viscosity of the oil the greater protection it will offer. On the other hand the thicker it is, it will not be as easy on ur motor then the lighet weight oil to throw around causing a slight loss in power but nothing really harmful on the motor. Or anything u can feel on the butt dyno. In ice cold weather id personally use 10w30 even though i run 5w30 right now, but I live in AZ.

 

Great reply...you answered my questions. Thanx all for your input!!!

 

What does the owner's manual suggest? I think most manufacturers recommend 5w30 all year round. I use it all year. Do you own or lease the Max? If you own it, and plan to keep it, consider synthetic oil. Cold starts are the cause of most wear in a motor. Synthetic flows way faster than conventional oil, thus protecting the motor sooner in cold weather. Also consider using or installing a block heater and using it in the winter. I use the block heater on my car as soon as the temp dips to around 0 celsius. The coolant/block (and hence the oil) is heated and flows much faster. An added bonus is you get heat from the heater sooner. Use a timer to save energy.

 

block heater??? Ahh, your profile says Ontario... that explains it! My parents live in Waayyyyy northern Maine and only use one on the diesel.

 

In cold weather 5W30 won't be as thick or slow-moving as 10W30 in cold weather, so your engine will get its lube faster at cold start-up. Also, I think the manual DOES recommend 5W30, which will give you the same protection at hot temps as 10W30, but save a little wear on your engine when cold.

It's not really a power consumption thing.

 

I heard that manufacters will say run 5w30 because you'll get maximum power and get your best gas mileage. (Which is in the dealers best interest) BUT NOT ALWAYS the best protection from the thinner oil.

I'm thinking about going 5w30 only for dec. Jan. and Feb. 10w30 the other 9 months since chicago has been veeery cold this year.

 

Synthetic oil: Almost no difference being a 5W-30 and a 10W-30 at operating temperature. 5W-30 will provide faster startup protection and fuel mileage while the engine is warming up. Either one is okay for year round use.

Dino oil: Huge difference between 5W-30 and 10W-30 when really hot (think summer traffic 10W-30=better) and there's a big difference when starting the engine cold. I would not use a conventional 10W-30 in Chicago in the winter.

 

Yes that is also very true, the oil does circulate faster through the motor when u use 5w30. Also its alot easier on the oil pump so it wont have to work harder to pump thicker oil around. It doesnt make a noticable differance between the two oils in power at all. Trey u are also correct the 5w30 will provide slightly better gas mileage becasue its easier for the motor to spin then with the 10w30 which does prove my point on it does take slightly more energy to spin the 10w30 but nothing noticable.

 

Use 5w-30 in the winter
Use 10w-30 in the summer

Synthetic oil all the way ofcourse!

Its best of the both worlds!

Ofcourse if you are one of the Turbo Maxima's use 15w-50

 

well, I do live in CHicago and I will be using Mobil 1 full-synthetic oil for the oil change. I know the owner's manual says to use 5W30, but it has been DAMN cold this winter. I see where you guys are coming from in regards to the easier wear on start-ups, and since winter should break soon in Chicago (yeah right!!! I've experienced snow in May here) maybe I'll go with the 5w30....now I'm confused on which to use...


rcy, where did you get your block heater for your Max??? I would definitely like to get one.

 

I live in Chicago.
I use 5W-30 9 month out of year.
I use 10W-30 only in the heat of the summer.
I also use full sythetic oils.
To me the car just runs smoother but that is another story.

I owners manual states that you should use 5W-30 for temperatures below 0°F. That describes Chicago weather.

 

Actually, the block heater I was talking about is on my Grand Caravan. I don't have one on my Maxima. I used to have a Pathfinder and I paid like $35 for the part and $170 for the labour to have one installed. I wouldn't expect the labour on a Maxima to be anywhere near that as there is no 4x4 drivetrain in the way. In fact, if you get the part at the dealer, it's probably easy to self install.

By the way, just to further confuse you, there is also a 0w30 oil available for winter use/cold climates.

 

I was using Mobil 1 5w30, but I never got any type of gas mileage except for the initial break in. I switched to 0w30 to test the overall mileage between a couple of oil changes. I'm also doing the Blackstone Oil Analysis for both, so hopefully that will tell me the progress of my tests.