Hello all, I got a question. Forgive me if it was covered somewhere in the stickies and I missed it.

This is regarding my brother's new (2005) Sentra. It has about 1400 miles on it. From what I can tell, it seems to be better to wait rather than using a syn right away. When should he start using a synthetic oil? Mobil 1 oil/filter's the way to go?

Thanks.

 

He probably should wait until the car has 20,000 miles on it or so. He may want to stick with the Nissan filter.

 

There are many schools of thought on this issue. Some folks recommend breaking-in an engine before installing synthetics, and yet many premium cars come straight from the factory with synthetics installed. Most mfgrs of synthetics state in their literature that you can install their oil in new engines...and I don't believe Mobil is any different.

For the past couple decades I have converted my new cars to synthetics at the 1,000 mile point...never a problem. With our 02 Honda, i let it run on the factory fill until it had about 6k on it before switching to synthetics as the owner's manual was pretty clear in stating NOT to change the oil until the first scheduled oil change, (regardless of the type oil used).

With this said, and based on my experience, I am of the opinion that your brother could safely convert to synthetics at the first scheduled oil change.

 

It would not hurt to go the synthetic early, but the first 10,000 miles is not the best time to do extended drains (7,500+miles/6+ months) because of higher wear metals. It is more of a cost issue than anything else. I believe 2 or 3 short intervals with dino juice would work well following by an extended drain (after 10K) with Amsoil or Mobil 1.

 

I had a sentra as well, so I don't want to be negative, but on a car that cheap with such poor resale I'd question the merit of using syn (although I use it mainly for convenience sake on my cars - longer drain intervals, so don't use syn unless you'll be going for the longer intervals).

That said, I'd change out the dino oil now and then go with a synthetic, but as mentioned don't use the longer drain interval immediately (extra crap will be in the oil because the engine is so new). Use the syn as normal oil, with normal intervals one or two times at the beginning, then keep using syn happily ever after.