Hi.

I wanted to know what other oil type Maxima owners are using. I just recently purchased my 2000 SE and am due for an oil change. Any info, as well as reasoning, would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

Personally, if you change the oil yourself id go for synthetic, if you dont, but you got the $$ id go for synthetic anyway. I havent heard a good reason NOT to go for it, and they say that it protects your engine better by sticking to the metal and lets you lag a little bit on oilchanges 5k vrs 3k. So more protection, more flexibility for like 50% higher costs is worth it to me. that and since i made the swap at 75k miles, my engine feels a little creamier, tho that might be entirely in my head.

 

For your climate I would recommend M1 10W30. It is widely available over the counter and priced right. Amsoil ASL 5w30 would do well also, but is available only by mail order and costs more. Check out the lubricants section for more detail on who is using what.

Pedro

 

The answer is pretty obvious. If you love your car give it synthetic, if you hate it give it dino.

 

That's a bit harsh don't you think? What's wrong with running Castrol GTX and changing your oil and filter every 3000 miles? The oil analysis spreadsheet says this is perfectly fine for your car.

 

yeah. thing is, synthetic is several times more expensive. youre supposed to change your oil every 5k km anyways, so the longer life of synthetic doesnt change anything. i dunno doesnt seem worth it imo.

 

Last time I took my car for oil change at Nissan, I asked a tech guy if I should switch to Synthetic because I crossed the 10,000 miles range that is recommended. He told me that Synthetic oil is man made, where as the regular oil is more natural. He then went on saying how the natural (regular) oil has elements and properties that synthetic cannot offer. He also told me that synthetic oil are used in high end cars like vipers, corvettes etc. and they use that oil right from the beginning when the car is assembled.

He did not deny to do a synthetic oil change, he just highly recommended that I stick with a regular oil change.

 

Sounds like he contradicted himself...

All oils are formulated with basestocks and additives. Petroleum basestocks are derived from crude oil and are refined into an entire rage of petroleum products, gas, kersoene, lubricating oil, etc. Crude oil contains contaminants (that are mostly removed during the refining process), but since crude oil is a natural substance, it was never "intended" for lubrication. Crude oil is a natural occuring substance that was adapted for use as a lubricating oil, among other things.

Synthetic oils are formulated in a lab and are comprised of "building blocks" that are selected specifically for the purpose of lubrication. Because they are built, and not refined, the engineers can tailor the lubricant for the intended purpose.

Petroleum oil works but top quality synthetics work better, especially in extreme conditions.

It is correct that many high-end performance cars come factory filled with synthetics. Also, every jet engine in our commercial and miliary inventory and our spacecraft use synthetic lubricants.

Just as with petroleum oils, not all synthetics are created equal and some will maintain their lubricating properties for much longer than others. Synthetics can be formulated with different classifications of basestocks (Group 3, 4 or 5) and they certainly contain different (quality) additive packages. I don't think you will ever find a technician who will arbitrarily say to deviate from the OEM's recommended oil drain intervals.