SkoorbMax

So, in the interests of saving money I've almost arbitrarily decided that I'm going to switch my 97 back to either a conventional every 5k with an OEM filter, or stay with mobil 1 and OEM filter, but change every 8k. I realize that the latter is still more expensive, but in terms of overall protection, which would you personally say is better?

johnny2kgle

I would say go 5k with dino or 10k with synthetic but consider using lubecontrol and fuel power. I am using this in my 94 altima and will be using this plan in the Maxima after its Auto rx rinse cycle.

http://www.lubecontrol.com

The lc will prevent oxidation in the motor oil and the fuel power (1 oz per 5 gallons every tankful) will allow you to run 89 octane versus the premium 92/93.

The dino (Castrol GTX, Havoline, Pennzoil) at 5k with OEM filter and lc/fp would probaly be the most economical.

Love_00_Max

I have been running my 2K max with OEM filter and Pennzoil 5W30 with a drain interval of 5K miles/6 months for sometime now and works just fine

TwinCam

If you are interested in saving money the synthetic blends are a happy medium .

The Mobil Drive Clean Plus , Quaker State High Performance Engine are true synthetic blends that would go 5k easy in all but the most severe driving .

Other blends such as Castrol , Valvoline , Pennzoil do not use PAO " the syn part of the equation " but still offer a bit more miles before thinning down . These oils generally cost just a bit more per oil change and are worth it IMO if you have a keeper and do not want to pay for a synthetic .