I'm thinking of taking my car to one of those Rapid Oil Change places. I've noticed that they do not open new oil bottles to put in the cars. They get it from a huge oil dispenser overhead that looks like a gas pump. Does that mean that its probably recycled oil? Also, what effect if any would recycled oil have on the Maxima?

 

here is a complete list of oil and oil filters ranked by bill >> http://forums.maxima.org/showthread.php?t=227996

DIY is better, if you need instruction go over here >> http://www.motorvate.ca/mvp.php/511

 

on the link he suggests using 5w30 for normal oil and 0w30/5w30 for synthetic. i just use 10w30 ........maybe i should change but i think once you go synthtic you cant go back............

 

basically 10W30 is better for hotter climate use, 0W30 is for colder climate use. and obviously 5W30 is in between. go back to your nissan owner's manual and look up "oil" in the index, in that particular section is has the interval of 5W30 vs. 10W30's temperature range. hopefully that'll give you the an idea waz goin on...

i see you live in TX, so i suppose it's usually pretty hot. since it's winter, i say change it to 5W30 just for the sake of it.

 

No, they just buy their oil in bulk (drums). If they bought it by the bottle, they'd get raped on prices and so would you when you took your car there.

 

Thanks, that's what I wanted to hear.

 

quality-thanks Happy

 

I'm from the Alamo city as well. Nissan recommends 5w-30 for your engine, but since it rarely dips below freezing here, 10-30 is an acceptable alternative. The only thing you might gain with the 5w-30 is that it might pump/flow slightly quicker on cold starts. The disadvantage with any petroleum oil, however, is that the wider the viscosity range, the more VI improvers have to be formulated into the oil...this makes oils with extremely wide viscosity ranges more suseptible to breakdown.

I use AMSOIL synthetic 0w-30 year 'round and it works very well. One of the many advantages of a synthetic is that they resist breakdown...this product offers the best in low temp flow characteristics, yet it retains the protection of a 30-weight on the hottest days.

You can switch back and forth between synthetic and petroleum oil without causing any harm, but (as an advocate of synthetics) I don't know why anyone would switch back to petroleum after having used a premium synthetic oil.