I have a few questions. I will gibe you a background, so someone can give me the best advice. I currently am a daily driver. I drive around 300-400 miles a week in heavy traffic. As you can see I live in sunny/ hot California. During the summer the temps range for 90's- to mid 100's. Sometimes a dry heat and sometimes a sticky heat. My 2000 maxima currently has about 130k-135k miles on it. My dad has been buying the oil and I have been too cheap to buy my own. So I have been running Castrol GTX 20w-50 in my car for about a year now, but I don't want to use it anymore. What oil should I start using? Can I just start using a different grade right off the bat? Should I just go synthetic? I really do not know what to do. If you have any other advice post it. Thanks in advance.

 

holy crap why in gods name are you using 20w-50!?! Our cars all for 5w-30!!!!!

 

Right, at most in hot climates you can go with 10w 30. Mobil 1 is a highly regared synthetic. I don't put as many miles as you so I stick with 5w 30 Castrol GTX. Take that thick stuff out stat, whatever you do.

 

Can I just start dumping moble 1 synthetic? or do I have to ease off of this thick stuff?

 

dude its an engine not a person going into rehab, lol....get that ish outta there

 

How long have you owned the car? Have you been running the 20W50 as long as you've owned it? Granted you've only got 200 posts, but you have been a member of the .org for over two years and one would hope that you would at least have a better appreciation for what kind of oil, whether it be dino or synthetic, to use by now.

This begs the question: What mechanical condition is the vehicle in? When was it last properly serviced?

 

I picked my max up a little over a year ago with 113K miles. I immediately switched to mobil 1 and recently started using the extended life mobil 1. No problems at all. Get that other stuff out and the mobil 1 in. Your engine will thank you.

 

The last time I used 20w-50 was back in the '80s when I owned a '75 Nova with a straight six and an oil leak. That 20w-50 is like honey so it didn't leak out between changes. What a car...I beat it and it just kept running....30,000 miles in one year and I changed the oil every 3,000 miles.

The motors in our Max's don't need anything that thick. I live in Atlanta and have always run 10w-30 with no problems. I have also always run a full synthetic oil and a top quality filter.

Change out the 20w-50 and go to either a 5w or 10w-30 fully synthetic.