My First Nissan - 2008 Maxima SE
08-29-2013, 09:01 PM
#1
Newbie - Just Registered
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Fort Collins, CO
Posts: 9
My First Nissan - 2008 Maxima SE
Hey everyone! I just purchased a 2008 Maxima SE with 68,000 miles. I've always really liked the Maxima and am excited to own one now. I just wanted to stop in and introduce myself to the forum, and ask a question or two.
As this is not my first time in a car forum (previous clubgp.com member), I did research and searched several of the questions I had. With that said, I'd still like to ask a couple of the more common questions just to have some more advice.
The previous owner used valvoline oil, never synthetic, and 85-87 octane fuel. Always changed on schedule. I plan on changing directly to Mobil 1 synthetic and will run 91 octane fuel. I also don't know when the last time the tranny and coolant were flushed.
My plan so far is to change the oil, air filter, flush the tranny, and flush coolant.
Questions:
1) I want to change from regular oil to Mobil 1 synthetic. Can I simply do a normal oil change, and just throw in the synthetic oil, or is there a specific process required? I read one comment that you are suppose to do half/half, then go full synthetic. Never heard that before so want to verify.
2) Spark plugs - I normally would replace these, but I've read that the plugs in the Maxima last much longer. What do you all think? In my GP GTP I would change them 2x a year, but they were the cheaper ones. Recommendations? Do they really take 3 hours to change?
EDIT** I'm going to wait another 20K... I'll stick with Nissan's recommendation and not fix something that isn't broken - Spark Plugs reference
3) That is all at the time. I've read the other new guy/girl posts on what I should do, so I have several other ideas of what should be checked. If there are any highly recommended maintenance checks I should do soon, please share.
Thank you in advance, and I'll continue to use the search feature while you all share your knowledge!
As this is not my first time in a car forum (previous clubgp.com member), I did research and searched several of the questions I had. With that said, I'd still like to ask a couple of the more common questions just to have some more advice.
The previous owner used valvoline oil, never synthetic, and 85-87 octane fuel. Always changed on schedule. I plan on changing directly to Mobil 1 synthetic and will run 91 octane fuel. I also don't know when the last time the tranny and coolant were flushed.
My plan so far is to change the oil, air filter, flush the tranny, and flush coolant.
Questions:
1) I want to change from regular oil to Mobil 1 synthetic. Can I simply do a normal oil change, and just throw in the synthetic oil, or is there a specific process required? I read one comment that you are suppose to do half/half, then go full synthetic. Never heard that before so want to verify.
2) Spark plugs - I normally would replace these, but I've read that the plugs in the Maxima last much longer. What do you all think? In my GP GTP I would change them 2x a year, but they were the cheaper ones. Recommendations? Do they really take 3 hours to change?
EDIT** I'm going to wait another 20K... I'll stick with Nissan's recommendation and not fix something that isn't broken - Spark Plugs reference
3) That is all at the time. I've read the other new guy/girl posts on what I should do, so I have several other ideas of what should be checked. If there are any highly recommended maintenance checks I should do soon, please share.
Thank you in advance, and I'll continue to use the search feature while you all share your knowledge!
Last edited by haus_A34; 08-29-2013 at 09:51 PM.
08-30-2013, 07:48 AM
#2
Member
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Boynton Beach
Posts: 170
Hey everyone! I just purchased a 2008 Maxima SE with 68,000 miles. I've always really liked the Maxima and am excited to own one now. I just wanted to stop in and introduce myself to the forum, and ask a question or two.
As this is not my first time in a car forum (previous clubgp.com member), I did research and searched several of the questions I had. With that said, I'd still like to ask a couple of the more common questions just to have some more advice.
The previous owner used valvoline oil, never synthetic, and 85-87 octane fuel. Always changed on schedule. I plan on changing directly to Mobil 1 synthetic and will run 91 octane fuel. I also don't know when the last time the tranny and coolant were flushed.
My plan so far is to change the oil, air filter, flush the tranny, and flush coolant.
Questions:
1) I want to change from regular oil to Mobil 1 synthetic. Can I simply do a normal oil change, and just throw in the synthetic oil, or is there a specific process required? I read one comment that you are suppose to do half/half, then go full synthetic. Never heard that before so want to verify.
2) Spark plugs - I normally would replace these, but I've read that the plugs in the Maxima last much longer. What do you all think? In my GP GTP I would change them 2x a year, but they were the cheaper ones. Recommendations? Do they really take 3 hours to change?
EDIT** I'm going to wait another 20K... I'll stick with Nissan's recommendation and not fix something that isn't broken - Spark Plugs reference
3) That is all at the time. I've read the other new guy/girl posts on what I should do, so I have several other ideas of what should be checked. If there are any highly recommended maintenance checks I should do soon, please share.
Thank you in advance, and I'll continue to use the search feature while you all share your knowledge!
As this is not my first time in a car forum (previous clubgp.com member), I did research and searched several of the questions I had. With that said, I'd still like to ask a couple of the more common questions just to have some more advice.
The previous owner used valvoline oil, never synthetic, and 85-87 octane fuel. Always changed on schedule. I plan on changing directly to Mobil 1 synthetic and will run 91 octane fuel. I also don't know when the last time the tranny and coolant were flushed.
My plan so far is to change the oil, air filter, flush the tranny, and flush coolant.
Questions:
1) I want to change from regular oil to Mobil 1 synthetic. Can I simply do a normal oil change, and just throw in the synthetic oil, or is there a specific process required? I read one comment that you are suppose to do half/half, then go full synthetic. Never heard that before so want to verify.
2) Spark plugs - I normally would replace these, but I've read that the plugs in the Maxima last much longer. What do you all think? In my GP GTP I would change them 2x a year, but they were the cheaper ones. Recommendations? Do they really take 3 hours to change?
EDIT** I'm going to wait another 20K... I'll stick with Nissan's recommendation and not fix something that isn't broken - Spark Plugs reference
3) That is all at the time. I've read the other new guy/girl posts on what I should do, so I have several other ideas of what should be checked. If there are any highly recommended maintenance checks I should do soon, please share.
Thank you in advance, and I'll continue to use the search feature while you all share your knowledge!
2. I waited till I hit 100k before I changed the plugs on my 2007 and the originals still looke fine.
3. Make Sure..This one is VERY IMPORTANT when you do the Tranny flush make sure you or the shop uses ONLY CVT tranny fluid and not regular ATF fluid, you have a CVT tranny and regular ATF will damage your CVT.
08-30-2013, 10:59 AM
#3
Member
Join Date: Nov 2006
Posts: 251
That's right, just switch to full synthetic, don't listen to half and half bull crap, beware that this forum is full of "maintenance experts" and "wannabe" mechanics. Use any quality name brand oil, again, people here compare one brand to another until their faces turn blue. In reality, any quality oil will do just fine, just use correct viscosity recommended by manufacturer.
Don't touch the plugs until after 100K, just like it was mentioned already, modern premium plugs have triple lifespan of those made 10 or 15 years ago.
Same with transmission fluid, I would not bother with it until maybe 100K. Modern transmissions run cooler temps than years ago, therefore, fluid won't break down anytime soon, sleep well.
Congratulations on your purchase, this model will last and last for as long you take good care of it.
Don't touch the plugs until after 100K, just like it was mentioned already, modern premium plugs have triple lifespan of those made 10 or 15 years ago.
Same with transmission fluid, I would not bother with it until maybe 100K. Modern transmissions run cooler temps than years ago, therefore, fluid won't break down anytime soon, sleep well.
Congratulations on your purchase, this model will last and last for as long you take good care of it.
08-30-2013, 11:14 AM
#4
Newbie - Just Registered
Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Fort Collins, CO
Posts: 9
Awesome, thanks for the advice. Thanks everyone!
I'll wait on the plugs.
Changing to synthetic next oil change.
Good to know on tranny. I'll check the fluid quality this weekend and go from there.
I'll wait on the plugs.
Changing to synthetic next oil change.
Good to know on tranny. I'll check the fluid quality this weekend and go from there.
08-30-2013, 04:22 PM
#5
Member
Join Date: Jun 2009
Location: Boynton Beach
Posts: 170
I think the maintance schedule for the tranny is at 60k so I would do the tranny flush, it is pretty expensive as 1qt of CVT fluid is like $15 and you need 5. I would not wait until 100k seing that you don't know if it was ever done.
09-06-2013, 11:40 AM
#6
For your CVT fluid you can either buy it from JEGS or from a dealer on eBay. My fluid was honey colored and according to my dealer I had another 50k miles of life left in it. I bought 6 quarts off eBay and changed it out at 50k miles. I simply used their nsn and ordered it based off that. I paid over $100 for 6 quarts but my dealer would have charged me close to $300 for the job. I was surprised to find that brand new fluid is green, so anything that's dark brown or black IMO needs to be changed out ASAP.
09-12-2013, 03:21 PM
#7
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Aug 2013
Location: Fort Collins, CO
Posts: 9
For your CVT fluid you can either buy it from JEGS or from a dealer on eBay. My fluid was honey colored and according to my dealer I had another 50k miles of life left in it. I bought 6 quarts off eBay and changed it out at 50k miles. I simply used their nsn and ordered it based off that. I paid over $100 for 6 quarts but my dealer would have charged me close to $300 for the job. I was surprised to find that brand new fluid is green, so anything that's dark brown or black IMO needs to be changed out ASAP.
My tranny fluid is honey colored, but not dark by any means. I'm going to stick with the owner manual intervals of changing every 30K. That seems like the way to go. Thanks again for all the info.
09-13-2013, 08:51 PM
#8
As far as oil is concerned, just use the synthetic. I use Mobile 1 15w50 and have for 4 years now. I am closing in on 100k miles and change every 3k. Could go 6k, however I am very **** about maintenance on my vehicles.
As far as trans oil, you should follow the recommended intervals. Your CVT is warrantied to 100k miles. If it fails before 100k and you can't prove you did the maintenance as scheduled, they could deny your claim. When under warranty, I always went to the dealer to ensure they couldn't pull that crap on me.
Ohh and welcome to the org.
As far as trans oil, you should follow the recommended intervals. Your CVT is warrantied to 100k miles. If it fails before 100k and you can't prove you did the maintenance as scheduled, they could deny your claim. When under warranty, I always went to the dealer to ensure they couldn't pull that crap on me.
Ohh and welcome to the org.
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