Agreed. I cannot stand ANY leaks on any of my cars. I don't care if they have 20K (god forbid any leaks with that few of miles ) or 200K (like my 97 Max) If it's leaking, I find it and fix it. To me, visible fluid under a hood/engine is a sign of neglect.

I use Mobil 1 5-30. I have driven my 2002 nissan maxima 6 speed hard, and never have had a problem yet.

i think the pepboys puralator filter and synthetic is the way to go.. works good my me and my boys TL

I called Mobil and spoke with a filter technician. Apparently no newer cars use the M1-105 filter. They are discontinuing it unfortunately. Vehicles that use this filter for lookup are:

Chrysler Conquest (1987 is what I ordered based on)
Dodge Aries
Dodge Colt
K-Cars etc.

AutoBarn has them in stock but I bought several so hopefully they have more.

I like just regular Mobile 1 oil and Mobile oil filters. And a quart of Lucas synethic oil treatment(this additive is a beast).

Stop Spending money at pep boys or autozone.
Support your local stores.

why? when you are getting bad services from your local stores which i frequently experience from mom and pop stores. return policy is usually not as good as chain stores. i love chain stores.

No

I'm all for small business, but when they can sell a gallon of premium oil for $20 like Wal Mart or five quarts of 0W40 Mobile 1 with a filter for $30 like Advanced Auto Parts I'll start supporting them.

I could use some suggestions. I have a 2010 Max SV and had a free oil change done at my Nissan dealer where they put in regular oil and my car is knocking and pinging like crazy/loud even when the engine is on! I know its not the gas because I fill up with Shell Premium all the time.

I'm coming up on the 7500 mile oil and filter change and I want to put a high grade synthetic in to see if I can get rid of this excessive amount of knocking and pinging! Personally, I have never had a car make this knocking/pinging noise before while the engine is running and idling. I have only heard it before on my cars once they are turned off and cooling off in the garage.

I wanted to know what synthetic oil Nissan uses or what other high grade synthetic oil people recommend.

I've been think of using Valvoline Super Syn or Mobil 1 Super Syn, or Castro.

As opposed to knocking and pinging when it's off?

Could be a bad tank of gas you got, if it's only been happening recently.
Dino oil is fine to use....see if it stops after you fill up with fresh gas..if not, take the car in and have them look at it since you have a warranty.

That is unusual that an oil change would do that. I use Shell V-Power as well ....great gasoline....

Thinking out loud.....Could it be a faulty knock sensor...or maybe when they were changing the oil.....they inadvertantly did something to the KS......I am not sure where the KS is on the 7th gens or their proximity to the oil filter....so therefore just a suggestion...then again...I don't know why it would knock on 93 octane anyway...

As far as synthetic oil....I use Royal Purple in combination with Castrol Syntec (2.5 quarts CS and 2 quarts RP) 5W30...with and extended life Royal Purple oil filter.....the car runs exceptionally smooth with this combo....furthermore...I just got an OA report from Blackstone from my last oil change (5K on the oil).....they said the oil and the engine looked great and I could go longer if I wanted....but I will stick with 5K.

I doubt that is related to the oil change.

Is anyone using the Ester oil suggested by Nissan for their 2009/2010 Maxima?

Thanks

Not me.

Are you using a Synthetic?

I am thinking of dumping first oil at 3750 and put in convential 5w30 for next two changes and then move to synthetic

I changed out the factory fill at 1,300 miles. I then did a fill of dino till 3,800. Currently have a syn blend, then will go to full synthetic after that.

my maxima has 280k miles on orignal 1995 motor. i run royal purple 10w30 in my mustang that has a stroker motor. i have been using castrol gtx high milege oil 10w30 in my maxima the last 2 years.


i may switch to royal purple or amsoil next oil change what do you guys think for a engine with so many miles???

Are you talking about switching to synthetic oil? If so, I would be inclined to forget it at that mileage.

Where do you live? I would be inclined to use a 5w30 dino oil. Didn't you state in a mileage thread on the 4th Gen Formum that you change your oil every 2,800 miles. If so, isn't that a tad ****.

A switch to Royal Purple or Amsoil and maintaining that oil change interval would truly be a waste of money.

I would be inclined to stay with the Castrol and change the oil every 3,750 miles.

Bobo is right, except I would be inclined to push the OCI up to 5K miles. If that bothers you, have your used oil checked by a lab to determine if there are any problems going to 5K miles. I suspect that the analysis you get back will say that you could go even longer on that oil.

i probably could. on my mustang i do 10k change intervals royal purple. but i know the regular conventional oil breaks down alot faster then sythetics. and yea im sure mine will be good till 5k miles cause at 2800 its still clean brown.

i live in Houston Tx very hot. why would it be a waste to switch to full synthetic? my car sounds like the valves rattle really badly on cold starts every morning. not sure if oil will help but sure it will.

The big benefit of synthetic is to prevent engine wear. Yours has already seen a lot of wear.

I had a Toyota in the late 1980s that had a worn engine and that I tried using with synthetic oil. It burned this oil much faster than the conventional I used before and after this trial usage.

You can try synthetic to see what happens with your engine. I suspect it will burn this oil much faster than it does conventional. And the chances this oil will extend the life of this engine are not very great given its already high mileage.

My advice is to be smart and save your money.

thats the thing i think my motor is well worthy of using synthetic oil because it does NOT leak or burn DROP of oil in between oil changes! not sure if the motor has been rebuilt last few years but the oil will NOT go black stays good n clear even after past due and it does not loose any oil at all.

so motor may not be original and if it is like i think then its a damn good motor. to the best of my knowlege its original.

Then you should try synthetic. You definitely want to extend your change interval to something between 5K and 10K miles (I do 10K miles for my 04 with 96K miles on her and have a sample of each oil change checked by a lab, which tells me that there is still remaining life in the old motor oil.)

Be ready to see some oil burning with synthetic because the oil is much more slippery than conventional. It will slip past rings, etc and get burned where conventional would not do that. If the engine is as tight as you think, this should not be a problem and the buring should be minimal and possibly none at all.

Good luck !

Great reminder. I was just thinking the same things myself. For instance, he doesn't recommend any Valvoline oil yet Full Synthetic Val SynPower is highly regarded and sits just behind Amsoil for one of the best full synthetic oils, probably tied with Mobil-1 Super Syn and Pennzoil Platinum!

http://www.synthetic-motor-oil-chang...g-competitors/

Can someone remind me the deal with OCIs for synthetic versus filter change intervals? I'm currently running a Mobil M1-110 with Mobil 0W/30 synthetic (winter oil, but it only has 2500 miles on it right now since I don't drive much). Should I change the filter at 5,000 miles but keep the oil till 10,000? Any real risk of running 0W with the occasional 90 degree day?

Personally for me, but that is just because I'm **** about car maintenance and care, I'm going to do oil and filter changes every 5k miles, even though I'm using Valvoline SynPower. Most people using full synthetics, especially the German luxury people, have been going 7500-10,000 miles between oil and filter changes. I guess you should do what ever floats your boat! There were even a couple of crazy German owners doing 15k between oil and filter changes with full synthetic. I think that is pushing it a bit!

When in doubt, get a lab test of the used oil. I do that with every change (a better **** response than just changing the oil early without knowing what you are throwing away with the used oil).

I change mine at 10K miles even though the last 3 lab tests all showed remaining life in the motor oil at that OCI. (I have been using Moblil 1 and a Mobil 1 oil filter.) Those who go past 10 K usually change the oil filter in the middle of their longer OCI (so if you changed oil at 12 K miles, you would replace the filter at 6 K miles -- in the middle). Given that this is messy and also requires some new oil to fill the new filter, I just change at 10 K miles and change the filter then as well. Don't go this long if you use a cheap oil filter like Fram. See the stickie on filters for the names of better filters.

If your vehicle is still under factory warranty, you should change at 7.5 K miles so that you don't exceed Nissan's maximum OCI. I did that on my 04 until she was no longer under warranty, then I went to 10 K miles with a lab test on each change.

whats a good full synthetic to put in mine? should i order amsoil 10w30 or get some from autozone?

It depends what your objective is...if you want a good performing oil that's available in your local area then the brands available at AutoZone and other discount stores would meet your need. However, if you are looking for a more premium oil capable of longer service life, then AMSOIL would be the better choice.

Check out my post in the Group Deals/Sponsors section: http://forums.maxima.org/group-deals...ubricants.html . If you are interested in AMSOIL, send me a PM with your zip code and/or state of residence and I will send you a quote. I don't believe the cost for AMSOIL will be that much more than it is for the other brands.

Good luck.

If you're a regular driver, regular oil will do.

If you push your engine hard, you can still use regular oil. But for better protection (i.e. you plan on keeping your engine forever), consider synthetic. Mobil 1, Penzoil Platnium, Amsoil. everyone loves it.

Super **** about protection? Nothing beats Motul 300V synthetic. Sure amsoil is great, but its lack of esther molecules sets it apart.

esther oils are a definite must for the new Nissan VVEL engines.

my car is driven heavily. at least 65 miles per day and a lot of those miles Im in a rush and hauling ***. so i just want my motor to be protected when im in super hot temps and shifting at 5000 rpm.

Unless you are aware of a lab that was able to determine the makeup of the oil, I'm not sure how you can say with certainty that AMSOIL does not contain ester fluids...the formulations are proprietary and the company doesn't disclose that information. My guess is that AMSOIL does in fact blend a certain amount of ester fluids with other high quality base stocks and additives to achieve desired levels of performance and the extended service life the company built its business on.

As you probably know, all oils are made up of base stocks and additives and these components have their strengths and weaknesses. While a pure ester oil has excellent high temperature performance they are generally less friendly to seals and have poorer anti-rust capabilities than other basestocks do...and that's where the additive package comes in. So its possible for a manufacturer to market a certain base stock and still produce a mediocre oil. The best all-around performing oils blend different combinations of base stocks and additives to achieve desired results and that's why AMSOIL chooses to market the performance of their lubricants versus the base stock(s) used.

I recently posted an oil analysis I had taken with 10,000 miles on AMSOIL 0w-30 for comparison to Nissan Ester oil another member used for about half the mileage. Generally speaking my oil showed the same or fewer wear metals than what was contained in the Nissan Ester oil or Universal averages, even though my oil was run for twice as long! In addition, the high temp viscosity of my oil was still smack-dab in the middle of the viscosity range for a 30-weight whereas the Nissan ester oil had thinned out to a 20 weight after about 5,000 miles. I have read that Nissan Ester oil is not a pure synthetic based lubricant like Motul is, but still...Nissan charges a lot of money for this stuff.
http://forums.maxima.org/fluids-lubr...ester-oil.html

Motul is a very good oil, but you generally hear of it being associated with racing applications and its also very expensive. 300V is marketed as a Racing oil and I'm not sure how it would hold up to the demands of the typical commuter in temperature extremes and stop and go traffic looking to get 7500 miles or more out of the oil change.

Thinkin about goin Castrol GTX 5W/30 for my SER

Of course i can't say that Amsoil doesn't have esther oils unless i test it. But if Amsoil does have esther particles, they should advertise it. People who buy their products generally aren't stupid, so they would know. And the UOA analysis comparing Nissan Esther to Amsoil isn't really fair, since Amsoil is still synthetic. Esther molecules have special characteristics that affect the way it flows and lubricates an engine. I know with the VQ37VHR ticking/knocking noise, the solution is to use Esther oils. So if Amsoil wants to attract that crowd, they should clearly state that their oil has esther components in it. Trade secrets or not, i dont think saying you have esther molecules in your oil will do any harm. I mean Amsoil has no problem advertising everything else about their products.

And yeah Motul 300V is mainly for racing, but the 8100 is just as good for the regular driving guy. This isn't my personal opinion, its just what i've read from other forums. Most super-**** guys go with Motul. Then theres the Amsoil crowd, then Mobil, etc.

Okay btw, this sticky seriously needs to be updated.

I fully stand by the Bosch 3323. It is made in the USA, and it is mfg. by Purolator, so its a quality filter.

Take Valvoline oil off the list too. Every mechanic i talk to stands by it for some odd reason.

The Walmart Supertech filters are also good. They are made in the USA, and they are mfg. by champion labs, the same exact people who make the Mobil 1 filters.

what is the full synthetic Kragen oreilly brand, and what is the full synthetic napa brand?

Regular napa oil is valvoline.


So is napa full synthetic also valvoline? at 3$ a quart seems like a good deal

right now kragen has a sale for 5 quarts of full synthetic AND a mobil one filter for 17.99

You cant beat that with a stick I dunno what to say, that comes out to $2 a quart and im about to just stock up on it cause its ridiculously cheap.

according to this thread you think a mobile one filter is worth 10$, and you say valvoline full sythethetic is not gonna make it past 3k..... still all things considered how could i justify paying more than three times the cost for amsoil? Doesnt your data say valvoline full synthetic is barely different than mobile one? So Im getting it for 1/3 the price of mobile one and Ill change it twice as often. Whos getting better engine protection? Im beating the pants off a mobile one user im just putting in more labor.

Am I wrong?



WOW actually internet research leads me to believe Kragen oreilly brand full synthetic IS mobile one. and it comes with a mobile one filter as well.

this months current sale is just INSANE. Im buying two to stock up.

thats 5 quarts and a mobile one filter for 17.99? wtf. thats 2$ a quart. Ive never seen a full synthetic that cheap before in my life, its distributed by omni brands which is part of exxon/mobile

So I am due for an oil change in about a 100 miles. I only really do the oil changes myself during the warmer month's otherwise I take it to someone to get done.

The first time I did it myself, I used Castrol GTX 5w 30 with a Mobil 1 M1-110. I live on the east coast NJ to be exact, I am considering using a slightly thicker oil. with a K&N Oil filter. Could I go with 10w 30?

Don't use a K&N oil filter. They are good for racing, and nothing else. Stick with OEM, Mobil 1, Amsoil, Supertech, or Purolator.

You can use 10W30 no problem.