So the question on oil I am using well I just the car so I am using dyno oil, and probably goto a synthetic after a few thousand miles.

Sometimes you pay alot for little in return, however initial engine startup is a big concern, oil break down 2nd, detergents, oil flow, oil pressure and viscosity.


To me there a few top synthetic oils Amsoil, Royal Purple, Red Line, and Mobile 1.

To me Mobile is a good oil but it so on the same level of the bunch. Royal Purple seems to use PAO (Grp IV) and POE (Grp V).

FYI mobile 1 is Grp III hydrocracked crude base stock oil, not really that much of a premium oil if you ask me :-)

These Group IV and V oil can last 10-15k miles (would the filers last that long? Probably the standard ones we see now a days).

In an endurance test of only 5K miles change intervals I doubt we will see any major difference in most oils. We would need to see extended range use, high shock of oils, variable heat ranges, and cycling.

What I am really wondering is why didn't we use 0-30 in these vehicles. Most vehicles today would benefits from the initial lubrication at startup.

If we want to see if we get benefits we can start a study of different oils and cars and have the oils analysized.

My money is that nothing will beat Royal Purple XPR? Why is that I say because they are not regulated on the content and mixture of oil by a silly controlling standards group.

I did a quick Google and found someone who was nice enuff to do a study Royal Purple XPR and the regular Royal Purple Blend.

in parts per million (ppm): Both 5W30
XPR Royal Purple / Regular RP blend
Calcium = 3039 / 1535
Phosphorus = 1338 / 485
Zinc = 1421 / 585
Moly = 204 / 96
hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) 1 / 11

For reference:
Calcium : Detergent/dispersant additive
Phosphorus: Anti-wear additive
Zinc : Anti-wear additive
Molybdenum: Anti-wear additive
hexagonal boron nitride (hBN) is being used as an EP additive

You guys can learn more about oil from this website.
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/cms/

I have another little toy a Nissan 300ZX I gone thru alot of different oils and Amsoil seems solid for daily drivers,Regular RP for nightly racers and RP XPR for those living 1/4 mile a time even if it just going to buy some milk and eggs.

FYI I have seen fuel economy changes just switching to RP oils so that's an added benefit.

 

I use full synthetic usually Pennzoil

 

Heresy I say! Be gone with thee, dream-spoiler.

We have a ton-o-fun here discussing the benefits of various types and brands of oils. It is totally irrelevant that millions of folks (including me) have used base dino oil in cars for over 200,000 miles with not a whisper of engine problems.

Lab tests show synthetic oils are slightly slicker, so even if our engines were not designed with synthetic oil in mind, it has to be far better for our cars, because everyone says so. And that makes it so.

Synthetics give us easily measurable improvements in acceleration and fuel efficiency, and we know this to be true, even with our 'seat-of-the-pants' measuring systems. Synthetics also keep the paint cleaner and shinier, and enable the suspension to give us a firmer, smoother ride. Synthetics put a smile on our face. Synthetics give us a chance to show that our love for our ride exceeds our sense of economic reality, and our cars love us for that excess.

We're heavy into techno-babble here, baby, and oil is one of the few things we have a really interesting (and totally harmless) choice with, so take your common-sense approach back to the world of reality and let us have our dream world.

 

Well said light

 

I finally converted to AMSOIL 5W-30 way better than OEM Nissan Oil

 

I use Amsoil SSO, O-W30 with the Amsoil filter. Even though the oil is rated at a 30K miles interval, I change at 7500 miles. There is a guy at my parts store who sells Amsoil and he goes the full drain interval with no problems but I feel safer at 7500 miles even though it is higher priced. But only averaging 14k a year its not too bad.

 

I don't think just the oil is rated at 30k, you have to install the entire amsoil extended drain kit, at least that is what I have seen, the guy i talked to changes his 2 bypass filter once a year, he adds a quart to top it off, but he has no intentions on changing his oil until at least 100k, and this was on a V8 Limited 4Runner bought new

 

FYI, the dealership that just changed my oil last week uses generic Pennzoil for all of their Maximas. The tech hadn't even heard of the ester oil recommendation. A second dealership had, but used ordinary Valvoline because ester wasn't required.

The oil guys on Bob's forum suggest that the VQ series in general is hard on oil. The point of synthetic is to extend the change intervals, but you'd be hard-pressed to find someone with this engine willing to go past 6000 or 7500 miles regardless of the oil. Mobile 1 synthetic hasn't fared much better than conventional oil. Synpower is apparently pretty decent though.

 

The used oil analysis on my 06 always told me never to exceed 5500 miles with German Castrol 0w30

 

Mobil 1 0W40 has done really well, 5W30 is not recommended. I'm a very active member of BITOG and love that site.

As for the VQ it has a really bad reputation of shearing oil which is why 7,500 miles is about the maximum I would push your OCI with just about any Synthetic oil including Amsoil.

I haven't seen any UOA's yet that have made me feel comfortable pushing it further than that. I drive my car somewhat fast and hit 4-5000 RPM on the tach regularly. Running a non-synthetic (dino) will never be an issue unless you neglect your car, oils today are so advanced the difference between synthetic and non-synthetic is getting narrower all the time. Fact is the new PYB (Pennzoil Yellow Bottle) has had excellent results and is one of the few GF-5 rated oils already in the market place and it is cheap! I recommend it for the average driver who rarely hits redline, doesn't exceed 4-5,000 RPM on a regular basis and doesn't track their car.

With all that said I run Synthetic in all my cars, I immensely enjoy reading about the principles of friction, lubrication and wear. Yes I'm strange....

Learn more about GF-5:

http://www.gf-5.com/the_story/performance/

Learn more about the VQ35DE and UOA performance charts of several oils:

http://my350z.com/forum/engine-and-d...-and-info.html

Learn about the effects of shearing:

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/cms/in...d=53&Itemid=61

Ciao

 

using redline 5w30. suppose to be an ethyl-synthetic oil. would seem to be the best of both worlds.

 

I just got my first change @ 1050, Quaker State 5w30 green bottle "advanced durability" .... Did enough reading to not put in syn yet .... I swear I had a knock before w/ the factory esther and its now gone, or maybe I didnt drive it enough yet hahah.
Good oil I hope, that was my only bottled choice where I went, wanted Mobile but its full syn!

 

That is a perfectly fine oil, especially during the break-in period, where I personally prefer dino to synthetic or blends.

 

I just had the first "Scheduled" service performed and they used stock bulk oil. I had to ask just to answer on this but it does not matter in my case since its free and as long as I have them do it the engine will always be covered.

 

ester oil my dealer gave me 4 oil changes for 200 plus a tire rotation so why not

 

Fully Synthetic from the 3K mark on. I'm running Castrol - Edge 5w30

 

castrol edge 5w30!!!!

 

Brad Penn oil here.... FTW

 

Castrol GTX every 3 months. Running 10W30 right now, but after reading now I'm considering going 5w30 year round.

Used to use Nissan OEM filters, but recently grabbed a couple of Pure One PL14610 out of convenience. Turns out the PL14610 is a winner.
http://my350z.com/forum/engine-and-d...-and-info.html
http://motorcycleinfo.calsci.com/FilterStudy.html

 

Excellent oil choice. If I were in a very hot climate, I might consider 10W30, otherwise, I would go with Nissan's recomended 5W30, and certainly would run 5W30 in cooler weather.

 

I'm pouring in Lubro Moly Synthoil 5W-40 later today with a K&N HP-1010 oil filter.

http://www.liqui-moly.de/liquimoly/p...t0000540e.html
http://www.knfilters.com/search/prod...x?Prod=HP-1010

 

So you are going to go with oil toted all the way from the Deutschland, Herr MaxLoverAz? When one lives in Phoenix, oil performance at extreme temperatures becomes important. The 5W40 should give an edge over the 5W30 when the thermometer blows its top.

I remember getting stuck in traffic in downtown Phoenix back around 1958 when the official temperature was 116, and my car was not air conditioned. We lived in Sierra Vista at that time, and were considering living in Arizona permanently. But that day in Phoenix changed our mind. We moved to Santa Monica, where the ocean breeze keeps the temps in check.

 

I wanted to ask what you guys think about oil change intervals. I've had a full synthetic in my Max now since 7500 miles. The 3750 mile oil change light came on a week ago and I was thinking, I know Nissan recommends that interval for change but don't you think with a fully synthetic you could go at least 5000 or maybe 7500 miles between oil changes?

I was thinking about doing 7500 mile intervals since that is what my tire rotations are and thus they would be easier to remember since they'd be done at the same time. What do you guys think?

 

You're correct most Synthetic PCMO today is designed for extended OCI's, I think you're fine with 7,500 provided you use a quality PCMO that is designed for extended OCI durations. What I would do is perform a UOA at 5,000 so you know how many more miles you can safely run. Just do it once to make sure your not overdoing it and your oil has plenty of TBN left so it continues to combat wear-causing contaminants and acids, over extended drain intervals.

I use Blackstone Labs: http://www.blackstone-labs.com/
I also recommend you check out BITOG

 

I just read a comment elsewheres that stated NorthAmerican Castrol GTX was, well, not good stuff, e.g. lots of ash and low flashpoint. Valvoline MaxLife was recommended. Anyone here using MaxLife?

 

MaxLife is the synthetic blend from Valvoline correct? Not sure about that one. I've used Valvoline SynPower since 7500 and so far its been great but that is their full synthetic.

 

Yeah, apparently it's a blend.

Here's a quote from one of the the guys I was talking with (the GTX 'whistle-blower', not the Valvoline poster).

I have some real doubts about CastrolGTX now. I'm sticking with dino, perhaps will blend, but I'll definitely start looking around.

One test I'll use one whatever new one I try, is going ahead and making the same 5min drive with it and then draining it --- and seeing if it looks as awful as the new overfill post CastrolGTX.


Edit: Sorry about the hijack. Please post all related discussion in this thread!!!

 

Well I had a nissan mech tell me personally to use natural oil for the break in period then put synthetic in on your 2nd change

 

There are lots of ways we can go with oil changes, but your tech's advice is a very good 'middle ground' approach.

 

I've owned 20 years of Maxima's; 92, 2001 I-30, and now a 2011 Maxima SV with cold and monitor package. I've always used full synthetic, never had any problem, except had to change a fuel injector on the 92.

After reading all the blogs I will go from the factory esther to a sythetic blend to a full syntehtic.

Any comment.

PS: The 92 had the highest torque and quickest of the line with only 190 HP

 

Mobil 1 5W30 every 5k

 

Bump

 

97 Max, 2046xx miles
5w30 Castrol GTX
K&N HP-1010 Oil Filter.

 

what oil do you guys suggest for the first oil change? mine is coming up soon. Does it matter?

 

castrol

 

castrol synthetic

 

Just had my first oil change at 3k miles and went with Mobil One which I will change in another 5k miles. I have run Mobil One for the last 15 years in all of my vehicle and I have never had an issue.

 

Just did the first oil change since purchasing my 09. Just hit 40k (kilometers) and went with Mobil1 synthetic. This is my first time using a synthetic oil. The service rep recommended it eventhough it costs about $25 less than an Ester oil change

 

Ester oil is a synthetic oil just FYI... depends on if it is blended or not. Most synthetics include esters.

But i take it when you say ester oil as meaning Nissan's Ester Oil.

 

good to know, thanks. so are all synthetics mineral based?

One of my clients has a GT-R and he uses the Mobil1 synthetic (he even goes to the same dealership as me) lol

and yes I was referring to Nissan's Ester