Hi,

1) Any reason pros/cons I should or should not use synthetic oil in my 2005 Maxima with 9K miles on it?

2) What is the recommended fuel octane that should be used in this vehicle ?

 

Both have been debated to death...Next time please search through the pages...we get these questions every few weeks

Break in the car with dino oil to 20K then make the switch (this is what nissan engineers say to do...trust engineers)
The car will run fine on 87.
91+ if you plan to keep the car running how it was intended to run.
most resort to using 89 because of the price of gas these days

91 is recomended if you plan on driving hard/racing the car.
again...stick with 89 and you should have few issues.

 

1) wait awhile - say at 20,000 miles I believe
2) what does your manual state and what is written inside the fuel flap thingy - you should run premium gas - I suspect 92 octane or higher if you can find it.

 

http://forums.maxima.org/forumdispla...sprune=-1&f=70

1) recc. after 20k

2) manual or even your gas tank door ----> PREMIUM aka 93 but if you want to be cheap and prefer less performance, any octane will do. just stick with one.

 

Okay I need to tell the truth here seeing this is a hot topic. I posted this in the Murano forum but nobody is home there. This forum is much more active. I know its the same engine, right? I want to buy this 2004 Murano with 9K miles on it. Woman says she had oil changed this week at Valvoline and they convinced her to go Synthetic. Seems you guys want to wait till 20K, what do you think about this situation? Should I still buy the car, its a good deal. Should I get the synthetic right out of there?

 

once again: http://forums.maxima.org/forumdispl...ysprune=-1&f=70

otherwise you get independent opinions....

syn and dino are interchangeable. it's up to you. some will say it's already broken in and just keep it with syn. others are convinced 20k is best and will change it immediately to dino.

you really need to read to see what you agree with.

majority here like myself go with Castrol GTX until 10-20k and go to Mobil 1.

 

^^^^ I'm in the 10K mile crowd.

 

What is DINO ?

 

Fred and Wilma Flinstone's dog. The precursor of hydrocarbon based motor oil.

 

I switched to a synthetic blend at about 12,000, and then full synthetic at 20,000

 

Yeah same engine in murano/max. Putting in syn at 9k is fine; I'd buy it (if you like it) and continue with synthetic here on out.

 

ive been running 93 since 9 miles. regular oil changes every 3500 miles.

 

Is it safe to go back to regular oil once synthetic has been used?

 

Yes, but why bother?

 

so you either didn't read my post or didn't understand?

you can switch if u want to. but it is best to stick with just one. personally, if it's already in there, I'd just stay with syn. But since I have a choice, I'll wait until 20k miles.

 

bb,

10,000 miles is sufficient time to "break in" a vehicle. The reason for this is that wear metals such as iron, lead, and aluminum are higher while the vehicle is breaking in and the valve are seating. The Nissan V6 has shown better in used oil analysis (UOA) (lower wear metals) by waiting on the use of synthetic oil.

The main reason to run a synthetic oil for me is the longer drain intervals. It is not a good idea to run extended drains (5k miles or greater) during the first 10k miles for the reasons listed above, hence the use of synthetic oil does not have an advantage over conventional (dino) oil early in a car's life. Since you live up in Northeast, an advantage for you is better protection at startup during the cold winter and easier starts.

 

If the only advantage of running synthetic is get longer periods between oil changes I would not pay the extra $. I already and always have run all my cars for years at 5K intervals with regular oil. Never had an internal engine component failure. I run most my cars up to 130-140K

 

Another advantage of using synthetic oil is better protection at cold startup (it gets cold in the northeast doesn't it?). Syn oils will get up to the top of the engine faster than dino.

 

I live in NY. I just passed 14K miles on my car the beginning of this winter. I wanted to wait until the 20K which is recommended but i Decided to go with the mobil 1 for the winter. From here on out its gonna be mobil 1 for her and 91-93 premium gas.

I noticed that with 87-89 octaine my engine knocked a lot at 2.15 for regular around here imagine the price of premium. BUT i must say i Switched to premium and the knocking was gone so its premium from here on out.

 

bb,

I was not clear about extended drain intervals. An extended drain interval is over 7,500 miles and usually 10,000 miles. Synthetic oil is cleaner, hence less sludge. Since you live in a cold winter climate, a good synthetic will give you better cold weather performance, easy startups and smoother warmup.

Since you keep your cars for up to 150k, synthetic oil is cheap insurance against premature aging and lost performance from using cheap dino during the hard winter.

 

I'm gonna be gettin my oil changed on Friday, I've been thinkin bout goin Synthetic, but didn't think there was THAT much of a difference but I guess it's worth it. You guys say Mobil1 is the best? How much per quart? LoL, also I know my mechanic doesn't carry that so it sounds funny that I'm goin to bring my own oil to the mechanic lol.

 

I guess I am in the minority, or maybe the only one. 95 max, 2000 I30, and 2003 Murano, all swithced to Mobil 1 at 800 miles! My sister now drives the 95 max and has 160K trouble free miles so far.