When is/has everyone got their cars first serviced? Did the dealership offer you a free first service when you got your Max?

 

I have Free Oil changes for the life of my car.

 

Service interval for oil changes is every 5000 miles. I'm getting my first this week. I have free oil changes and service for first 3 years because I signed up for the preorder. Not sure what other dealers are offering. I would imagine some may offer first couple oil changes for free but would guess that would have to have been negotiated at time of purchase.

 

Or every six months for those of us who are retired and now live (after our move of last month) within a mile of the six restaurants at which we eat six days each week, within a mile of Lowes, Home Depot, our post office, our voting facility, our library, our grocery, etc, etc.

We drive out of our way when we go to eat so the car has a chance to warmup, plus we enjoy seeing folks staring at it. As we were approaching our car at the back (remote) end of the parking lot at our grocery yesterday, this Lexus wheeled up, a woman rolled down the driver's window, pointed to our car, and exclaimed 'that is my dream car. I have driven one at my dealers several times,and I am now trying to reach a deal with him.'

That surprised me, as I had always thought of Lexus drivers as being at the opposite end of the spectrum from Maxima drivers. Just goes to show I shouldn't prejudge.

 

Every 5000 miles? Is that with conventional? Synthetic should be good for around 10k. I've used Mobile 1 synthetic in all my cars since my first car in 2002 with 10k intervals and I've never had any issues.

 

There could be issues for engine warranty work if engine oil change interval was extended well beyond what is recommended by Nissan.

 

On my Gen 7 Max, they used an Ester based oil. I wonder if they still recommend that now?

 

I took mine in yesterday for my first "dealer" service. I had changed my own at 1,400 miles. I was disappointed to learn that the dealer does not use 0W-20 as listed in the owner's manual, but the 5W-30 that is listed as acceptable.

His excuse for not using 0W-20? That's synthetic - too expensive (I assume especially for our "free" changes).

I took my own bottled 0W-20. The only benefit I'm getting from the free changes is a free filter, and not having to crawl underneath. But I have to make an 80 mile round trip drive for the privilege. I might just ask them to give me the free filters and do it myself.

 

No - just 0W-20 SN.

 

I would think it would only effect the warranty if they could prove that the engine problem was caused by old oil? I've never actually brought in a car for engine warranty work.

 

I believe the proof would be in your court to prove that you serviced the car in accordance with change intervals in the maintenance manual. That is why I let the dealership do all the maintenance while the car is under warranty. They will have all the records. You can do your own maintenance and be covered by the warranty but your records better be in order. Changing your own oil at 5000 miles intervals only costs about $35 dollars more than doing it at 10,000 mile intervals. Agree the chance of having to do engine warranty work is really slim, but then why take a chance.

 

Here's an interesting article I found on 0W-20 synthetic, verses conventional 5W-30.

http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/n...cars/index.htm

 

I'm glad you mentioned this. That's very disappointing. The car calls for 0w-20, that's what they should put in. My first oil change is on Thursday. I'm going to specifically ask which oil they will be putting in. If they tell me 5w20/30, I'll ask if I can pay the diff. It maybe the price of the standard oil changes I was paying before...doesn't hurt to ask.

 

UPDATE: Just left the dealership. I told them that I wanted 0W-20, and was willing to pay the difference. They said that was no problem, and made a note on my service record so that going forward I won't have to ask every time. They charged me $28 as the difference, said it originally cost over $40 for the synthetic. I was paying about $20 for conventional oil changes on my 7th gen, so I think this is a good deal.

 

If you are still living in upstate NY, then I feel you made a wise decision. The difference between 0W-20 and 5W-20 or 5W-30 will be more important in a cold climate than in a warm climate, especially when starting and warming up the car in bitter cold weather.

 

This doesn't really make sense to me if you have the Nissan maintenance plan. I also got the free maintenance for the early sign up. It seems that a Nissan plan should use the preferred oil.

Did you try calling Nissan about this? If the dealer wants to charge me extra to use 0w20 and Nissan won't do anything about it, then I may ask for the oil filter and do the oil changes myself. I prefer to do things myself anyway...

Call me untrusting, but even if they let me pay extra for 0w20, I would worry if the tech really put that in...

 

No need to call Nissan about receiving 0W-20 oil IF you have a Nissan Maintenance Plan. Here is information from the Nissan USA site:

Ester oil is not required on any models. Conventional petroleum-based engine oils may be used and meets all specifications and requirements necessary to maintain the Nissan New Vehicle Limited Warranty (Reference: NPSB/12-033 dated June 25, 2012). Accordingly, all plans pay for oil changes using regular (conventional petroleum-based) engine oil.

https://owners.nissanusa.com/content...enancePlus.pdf

 

Thanks for the info! This makes me feel a bit better, but is 0w20 still better for the car? I'm willing to pay and do it myself if the synthetic 0w20 is better for the engine's wear.

 

I'd say slightly, if at all. 0w-20's main "benefit" is increased fuel economy, which is achieved through less friction due to a lower viscosity. The less friction in your engine the better, but it'll never make a big enough difference that you'd ever notice it over the typical lifespan of today's cars.

 

Very true. You will lose about 1-2% mpg by switching to conventional oil. 0w-20 is better for cold weather starts too.

 

My 2010 Maxima did call for Ester oil, though I never used it since it was a lease car. That said, my 2016 is also a lease car so I am good with the conventional oil. If I were keeping the car longer than 3 years, I'd pony up for the price difference on the synthetic oil for all the reasons listed above, especially in colder climates.

 

Dealer agreed to change oil and totate tires at every oil change (5,000 miles) free up to and including 20,000 miles,at 25,000 its on me!

 

Hmmmm, interesting information here...so I live in the southwest (pretty warm year round) and have some mobil one 5/30 left over from an older car...I am thinking this will work just fine in my new maxima...
comments/thoughts?
oh and why the heck do they continue with that tiny Altima 4 cyl. filter??
thanx,
willie

 

The M1 will be fine for your car.

I'm pretty sure the filter has been spec'd for at least the 20+ years I've been driving Maximas.