I plan on driving my car until like 160000 miles. What am I going to notice if I use synthetic? What are the prices of an oil change? how long does it last between changes? What is Dyno oil and is that whats in there?

 

Uh oh, this is going to be an involved discussion. Short of telling you to search for threads about oil, I'll offer the following: Synthetic oil does not break down as quickly as regular ( also known as Dino oil) therefore, it offers superior protection and allows you to go longer between oil changes. However, using synthetic oil during the break in period is not recommended because the higher viscosity of the synthetic oil will not allow the engine to wear in properly. If you are interested in using synthetic oil, wait until after a couple of oil changes to switch. The price of an oil change can vary widely from $30 for a standard no-frills oil change with Dino oil up to $120 for an oil change with Nissan's super special ester oil at some dealerships. I have heard of people going 5 or 6 thousand miles between oil changes while running full synthetic oil. It all depends on your driving habits. Dino oil is just regular petroleum based oil from under the ground whereas synthetic is cooked up in a lab.

You'll find plenty of opinions on this topic in this forum.

 

Can you help with any other ????'s

 

That's still debatable about not using synthetic during the break in period. Many manufacturers ship their cars with syn now. The tolerances are much tighter than what they were in the past so the break in period isn't quite the same as having the rougher metal parts having to seat they way they used to be required.

I'm of the middle aged generation and still follow the 100/300/1000 mile break in oil changes, then every 3-5k using dino depending on my driving then switching around 10k to syn.

The absolute MOST important thing is that YOU DO CHANGE your oil at regular intervals. You'd be surprised at the number of drivers that, um, don't.....

 

I agree with all the above!!! Couldn't have said it better myself! I personally prefer the synthesis stuff, but yes I would definitely wait until after a few changes. I have been buying the Nissan Oil actually (crazy, I know) off the web, which amounts to about $55 for 5-Quarts. When I make the switch, bring on the Mobil-1 at $25 bucks for 5-Quarts!

 

I agree with Compusmurf. Technology allows for for little to no break in period. You can find that statement on Mobil ones website under "myths" or Amsoils site under "FAQs".

My first oil change I put in Amsoil 0w30 with a OE filter 15208-9E000. I will change the oil on a 10k interval and change the filter at 5k until Amsoil comes out with a long life filter for our cars.

A synthetic oil change will cost more up front, but save you money in the long run.

 

Your statement is certainly not wrong, but there is a wide divergence of opinions in this area.

I will start by saying I would not take the info on a brand-oil site as gospel. Do we really think they will present any data that might work against using their product? I tend to smile when I read the data on that type site. I certainly can't blame them for trying to convince the public their product is safe and preferable in all aplications. Safe? Yes. Preferable? Maybe. A political site can give us 1,000 excellent and truthful reasons to vote for their candidate, but that does not prove that he is the best candidate for the job. I will say synthetic will not HARM our cars, and after proper engine break-in, could be the best choice for many drivers.

The fact remains that the engine in our 7th gen was designed and built for dino oil (yes, the expensive ester oil is a dino oil), and our Maxima arrives from the factory with dino oil. Cars that come from the factory with synthetic oil are designed and built for synthetic oil. Dino and synthetic do not have exactly the same physical or operational characteristics. Synthetic gives a very slightly greater separation (hence very slightly less contact) between parts, so engine clearance designs do matter, BUT - not nearly as much as they did a few decades ago.

As to synthetic saving money in the long run, that could be debated both ways. I have run Maxima engines in tough commuter traffic well over 200K miles on dino with no problems whatsoever. The extra cost of the synthetic is offset by the longer change interval normally used with synthetic. There are those who might say the costs are somewhat similar.

I think the place where synthetic is clearly the better choice is if the car is driven very aggressively on a regular basis, or driven regularly in a very harsh climate, or in heavy stop-and-go traffic, or if it will be kept well past 100K miles.

There are no 'wrong' answers in the posts (so far) in this thread. But be aware there are many, many variations in what folks think is the 'best' type of oil to use at whatever point in the life of the car.

 

I just go to the dealership every 3750 miles and get it changed. I think they use a dino/synthetic blend...at least that's what they told me. I've only had to pay for one so far (my service advisor hooks me up, ESPECIALLY after the whole sway bar fiasco) so I really can't complain.

 

Hey Light. My savings statement was meant to state what I will save on the synthetic oil every 10k verses dino every 3k, but not necessarily wear and tear on the engine. It cost me $70.00 for The Amsoil change and about $35.00 for a dino change.
Just a quick scribble. Lots of controversy, lol.
I'v got to run but I will be back after lunch.

 

I don't think I've ever run into a study that definitively showed a difference between dino and synthetic in a properly maintained passenger car engine that isn't being subjected to ridiculous extremes. Lots of speculating and theorizing, but no real data. Like Compusmurf said, by far the most important thing is to make sure you change the oil at the recommended intervals.

 

i go just about every 3-5k got the 1st free from the dealership 2nd time i didn't have the 200+ the dealership was going to charge so i had my boy buy all the parts from nissan oil/filters he did it for $70, my 3rd one round 8500k i took it back to nissan cuz of my tire pressure light being on from a flat i had thinking they would change the tire at no cost,,, stupid of me,, lol that ime they charge round like 300+ oil change and some BS inspection,, i'm approaching 10700k and they're already calling me back when i'm not due till 11500k so still debating my boy or nissan.... any suggestions???

 

Depends how rich you are and how much your time is worth to you. It takes about 15 minutes to change oil...

 

If you are getting 2 million miles between changes...who cares? Seriously though, if you change your own, you have the extra step of taking the oil down to the recycling place in your wifes car. I like the idea of getting your boy involved however...teach him well and right. You''d be surprised the number of guys I know today who have no idea how to perform the most simple tasks.

 

he has a shop does all types of work so he has the exp... thanks for the help i'm taking it to my man.. this time round just worried about the warranty and checking other stuff not just the oil.

 

Just change the oil already, the OP has asked the same question at least two times already.

 

my opinion, synthetic stuff if your going to push your car hard, if you baby it, just save and use regular, that's what I do.

 

Call me crazy, but since switching to Mobil1 synthetic after 16,000 KMs on Dino I noticed about an 8% improvement in gas mileage. This is according to the car's l/100km (or mpg) reader. I reset the average after the change and noticed the difference. Before the change I was getting 12.5L /100km, and now I'm averaging 11.4L /100km (same driving styles and nothing else has changed).

 

Probably has more to do with car now being broken in. I have never had much change in MPG after switching to synthetic.

 

Crazy? No.

Perhaps regressing to the mean.

Your before mileage was 18.8 mpg. After the change to synthetic, the mileage bumped up to 20.6 mpg. The lower number is not typical of the Max. The higher number is at the lower end of what a 7th Gen Max owner can expect.

I think your meter, which is a accumulative mileage gauge, had some readings that pulled down the average. Once reset, you quickly jumped to the higher number.

Everyone can be happy with dino or synthetic. All of my cars have seen dino and none have had engine problems. I have kept cars for 12 years, 18 years, 20 years and all have been sold at the end in a private sale.

My endorsement of dino oil does not extend to the Nissan ester product which is cloaked in mystery. Nissan knows that mystery sells and at $10/quart, it will do nothing to ameliorate the confusion.

 

Just had my first oil change done at the dealership! Cost me $35!

I have a few questions for all of you, as I am new here and new to Nissan.

Do most of you have your oil changed at the dealer or do it yourself?
If you do it yourself, how do you get to the drain plug (i.e. is it accessible w/o raising the car, do you use a jack or ramps, etc...)?

Also, do many people use ester oil? If so, what are the benefits over dino or synthetic?

Lastly, I drive alot. Probably about 2,000 miles or more a month. Because my daily commute is almost exclusively highway, how many miles between intervals should I expect? Thanks for your advice!!

 

Excellent insight which bears repeating (or referencing in a quote, which I am doing). Dino oil works very well in any normal driving situation, and I would have no hesitation using it in a car for over 200,000 miles (and have done so with excellent results). After a car is properly broken in, either dino or synthetic blend or full synthetic will give full and complete protection in all but extreme driving conditions (where synthetic is probably best). Strictly the driver's preference.

 

When I was young, I changed my oil myself. Somewhere back when I was in my fifties (too far back to remember exactly), I was working over 70 hours a week, and barely had time to keep my clothes washed and bills paid, so began letting my dealer do the oil changes. They did a good job, and I enjoyed wandering their lot looking at all the new cars while the oil was being changed. I have not changed my oil myself since then.

The 7th gen is the lowest Maxima ever built (road clearance only 4.5 inches), so I would think the car would have to be elevated in some manner in order to properly work underneath. I will let others here expound on that.

The ester oil arguments have been around for 18 months, and there are widely varying views of the benefits. Both the facilities owned by my dealer use Shell dino oil except for cars under a type of warranty that specifies the Nissan ester. Not being a chemical engineer specializing in molybdenum (the chemical in parts of the engine used in the 7th gen that a few have said needs the ester oil), I refrain from pushing any particular view on this.

There is no question highway miles are easier on engines than localized driving. My wife goes 5K between changes on dino with good results. I keep changing mine at the 3750 interval in Nissan's maintenance plan, but know the dino oil would be perfectly safe for over 5K in highway driving, a synthetic blend would have no trouble going 7500 highway between changes, and a full synthetic would still be in fine shape after 10K highway miles. Oil changing these days is almost like flipping a coin. All today's oils are very good, and the only thing important is to just be sure to change oil (and filter) reasonably regularly.

 

Thanks light! Any others care to share some incite?

 

I changed my 7th gen for the first time last week in the driveway (in 34 deg. temps), and it is definately the tightest underneath of my four Maximas. FWIW, I use ramps.

I change my own because 'professionals' messed it up twice in a row in the mid 70's, and I've been doing it ever since.

 

Can anyone recommend a good dino and synthetic?

Is the ester that Nissan recommends only available throught the dealership?

With regard to using ramps, does the fact that the car sits so low interfere with driving up ramps normally?

Sorry if these questions seem like they warrant common sense answers, but, like i said, I am new here! Be kind! Thanks again!

 

Can anyone recommend a good dino and synthetic?

There are many. Castrol GTX, Valvoline and Pennzoil dinos are all spoken highly of on BITOG. Pennzoil Platinum, Castrol GC, Quaker State and Amsoil are just some of what I've used in my vehicles. I buy whatever is on sale and known to be effective.

Is the ester that Nissan recommends only available throught the dealership?

Yes.

With regard to using ramps, does the fact that the car sits so low interfere with driving up ramps normally?

It can be tricky. My driveway slopes down away from the garage a little, so I back into the garage, put the ramps at the edge of the garage floor and drive out onto the ramps.

 

For those of you who use Mobil1 EP, do you also use the Mobil1 EP oil filters as well? Have you noticed that the oil filter can handle the extended length of time between changes? How much of a savings can you see in your pocket by using a full synthetic that warrants a longer interval between changes? Thanks!

 

I just bought my first maxima and am approaching 650 miles.

My question ( might sound stupid ) but is it every too early to change the oil?

I was planning on changing at 650 miles, 1200 miles and 2000 miles with regular 5w-20 castrol gtx then switching to a 3000 miles interval. Once I was around 15k switching to a blend and around 35k going to a full synthetic.

Only reason I was planning on changing the oil so often was to rid the engine of any metals during break-in to hopefully ensure a clean smooth break-in.

Is there any reason why I shouldn't do this?

 

While I understand your concern, and 20 years ago would have done similarly, this is clearly overkill at this point. Virtually all manufacturers now say early changes are unnecessary. There is much less residue in new engines than those of 20-30 years ago, and improved filters will certainly catch whatever there is.

That being said, after much reading here and on BITOG, the following has been my schedule for my last 4-5 vehicles:

Factory Fill out at 1,500 miles

Quality Dino for another 2,500 miles

Syn blend for another 3,000 - 3,500 miles

Then whatever syn is on sale forever.

Please note: 5W-30 is recommended viscosity, although 0W-30 is fine as well.

 

I would suggest that, unless you are driving very aggressively in an extreme climate, your plan is overkill, and a waste of good oil. It wouldn't hurt your car, but goes far beyond the maximum protection needed for a long engine life.

I personally feel the routine suggested by gizzsdad is ample pampering of our baby, and is loving care well beyond warranty requirements. He and I see this the same way. He is correct that these new engines do not have the metal partical problems associated with Detroit engines from the very early auto days until around the 1980s.

 

To pros n cons?
You get to lick the synthetic off your gf after you make her work under your hood.

no cons.

 

maxout....the girlfriend references....somewhat creepy dude.

 

There are many types of Maxima owners. The exhaust people want that certain sound. I've read about owners who apply films and such just to get that certain look. And still others are performance oriented. Everyone has their own passion and nobody is wrong.

The oil change guys (me being one of them) want to protect their car. Years ago, I was a young parent and focused on protecting my new son. Now, with the fullness of time, I recognize that I did a little too much protection. No harm done, just wasted effort. I see the same passion in this thread...the need to provide the best protection to the Max as it relates to oil changes.

New cars are tough. Only if you abuse them will they fail prematurely. So settle on an oil, and change the oil religiously. Simple as that.

 

Regarding oil I think that as long as you change it regularly after a reasonable amount of miles I think it does not matter what oil you use.

Like before I started learning about cars and oils and all that. I just used whatever oil was cheapest and changed it every 3k miles, but now that I know more I started using synthetic and more expensive oils and started changing them at slightly longer intervals and I didn't notice any significant changes in MPG or performance.

So basically as long as you change it regularly and at a relatively low amount of miles it doesn't matter what oil you use but if you were going the extreme route like 10k miles before oil changes then it is worth getting the expensive synthetic kinds of oil. But everyone's car is different and so what works for my car might not work for you

 

Regarding the crush washers, for those of you who do your own oil changes, where do you purchase these?

 

I get mine from the dealer as well as the filter.

 

Thank you for your responses to my questions. I can agree first oil change @ 650 mile is a little extreme. Like most of us reading and replying to this thread we care and want to protect our depreciating investments. I am still in my breakin period and have been trying to do everything right to ensure long reliability. I have been easy on punching it from a stand still and have tried my best not to run it over 4 grand in RPMs. ( going from a 4 cyl accord trust me it's really hard hold back when you now sit behind a new maxima).

I Changed my girlfriends oil in her focus and while I had the Jack and stands out I said what the hell, I might as well do mine since I've already purchased the castrol gtx 5 qrt jug for only $14.50 and I wanted to put a better oil filter in other than stock anyway. Overkill yes but any harm done, no.

First off does anybody think the location of the oil filter is freaking retarded? In the perfect spot to spill oil all over the front chasis frame.

Well unless there is something different about the color of this "ester" oil put in from the factory or it is just normal due to "break in" wear, I didn't expect the oil to be so dark already. Only 640 miles on this oil and it is already a dark drown color. It wasn't a black but it was definently chocolate brown and not the darker golden color I was expecting. It looked ok on the dipstick but brown when it poured out of the pan ( and off of my metal frame in 4 places when I unscrewed the filter ).

Is that normal for a new car?

 

My oil is still fairly gold for several thousand miles. Of course that is when looking through a thin layer on the dipstick. Looking at the used oil as it sits in a pan will definitely give a much darker look, as all the impurities that were too small to be stoped by the oil filter will be suspended in the oil, and you are looking into a much thicker layer of oil, with very little light reaching the bottom of the container.

As long as the oil looks almost transparent gold on the dipstick, I would not be concerned.

Oil check 'watchits':

If you ever see tiny bubbles in your oil (on the dipstick), the oil level may be too high, and engine parts are 'churning' the oil. The engine oil injectors cannot handle churned oil, and this will eventually cause engine failure.

If you ever see a whiteish discoloration in your oil (on the dipstick), a gasket has failed, and coolant is seeping into the oil. Coolant is not a lubricant, and this will eventually cause engine failure.

 

Thanks for the tips.

Yea the dipstick was a golden color, I guess it just shocked me how different the oil pan color was.

 

Sorry to revive a dead thread, but should I just buy this - http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mobil...#ht_3043wt_949 and do the oil change myself? Still need a filter don't I?