After getting an oil change at my local Nissan dealer, I noticed the sticker showed the next change due in 3k miles. I thought according to Nissan oil changes are recommended every 3750 miles. I asked the service manager and I was told they recommend 3k. How often should I change my oil? Does the dealer recommend 3k just to get more $ or is it better for the car?

 

Wait I thought the manual said 5000, some of the new cars even say now 7000miles.

Dixit

 

nissan wants to sell cars and castrol wants to sell oil. i remember the manual recommending around 5k as well. the service dept. would just like you to come in more often but i bet the salesman would say well beyond 3k. if i were you, i would just split the difference and go around 4k espically if they use a good dino oil such as castrol. i use mobil 1 and nissan filters and change around every 5k.

 

Honda accords are around 7000, civics are 10000. Nissan told me 3000 and the manual also said 3000 (for my 5th gen vq35).... but i changed to synthetic, and i do it every 5000. When i had regular oil, the oil looked very dirty around 3000 miles, so id change it at 3000.

 

3000 miles, drive hard, live worry free.
If you really want to learn more about it, look at the links in Bill99gxe's signature.

 

Depends on your driving habits, and type of oil you're using...

If you drive hard and use the good quality oil, you should change it at least every 3000 miles. If you drive like granny, go 4000 miles between changes. If you use synthetic, you can go 4000 miles driving hard and 5000 miles granny driving.

I use Mobil 1 as well, and stick with the Fram HD Filter, or Mobil 1 Filter.

I try to change it every 4000 miles.

At $4.99 a quart and add $5.99-$8.99 for the filter, an oil change (minus labor) ends up costing $31-$34 !

A friend has a lift, so I just gotta pop for a #1 from the breakfast menu at McDonalds.

No labor rules all.

 

if you think about it, going with mobile filter and synthetic oil, you end up changing your cars oil 4-5k miles... and not only does it protect your car better, its less of a hassel than every 3k miles. I spend around 30 dollars changin it myself...

 

I have heard if you change the oil too often, you do not give the oil time to remove the contaminants. Anyone heard anything like this?

 

3000 is a good time to change oil....
if u got synthetic u change it every 5000

 

i do mobil 1 5w30 full synthetic and a mobil 1 filter and change every 5000.........does anyone know if those K&N oil filters are any good?

 

yes, K&N oil filters are very good, along with the Napa filters. OEM Nissan filters are good aswell.
I believe Bill also did a filter comparison.


The K&N is the same as the napa, however it has a nut on the end of it whichs makes it really handy. I use it on trucks that I go offroading in because of the viberations and all the abuse it takes, I generally overtighten them and the nut makes it a breeze to remove. That is the only time I use a K&N instead of a napa (the Napa's dont have the K&N name you pay for)

 

that sounds like bullsh1t... if anything, it'll remove contaminants better since there will always be more oil-additives left

BTW, the oil will always look "dirty" after 3K miles, except synthetic may look a little less so... that caramel "dirty" color is the result of oil additives absorbing contaminants (i.e. the oil's doing its job) and the color accumulates pretty quickly

If your oil gets excessively black in a short period of time though, you may have excessive piston ring blow-by, or your PCV valve isn't working properly--the PCV valve evacuates all the junk gases that accumulate in the crankcase (piston ring blow-by, fumes from the oil, etc.) If the PCV valve fails to evacuate those gases, they turn acidic and use up the oil's additives pretty quickly...

 

K&N filters are good, but Mr. Bill doesnt have opinion on that. I'll just stick with the OEM metal end-cap oil filter. It's all good, man.


~limsandy