Ok, well i know 5w-30 is what maxima's perfer. And frankly its what VW's perfer as well. Now at work ( VW dealer) we have Bulk oil that 5w-30 and 5w-40 syn, castrol. It depends on what the owner wants in the car. I have a quart extra almost every lube job i do. So now i have 5 quarts of 5w-40 in my bay. And my maxima is due of an oil change. I was wondering would 5w-40 affect anything in my car. Its a Castrol fully syn. I figure it would be cheaper for me to use the left over oil and just buy a mobil-1 filter.


Oh my styles of driving normally is city driving. Not really heavy stop and go but just city driving. 20 mins to and from work. at a average 30 mph. And once or twice a month a 300 mile highway trip each way.

 

I could be completely wrong here but figure your MPG may drop a little from the thicker weight.

 

maybe.. i really don't wanna loose any more mpg. Seeing as how i'm only at 20 city miles. I wonder if there is any way for me to trade these for 5w30's at a store.

 

Thats what i was wondering too, since we can use 5w-30, 10w-30 or 10w-40 (says in the manual) at work we have castrol syntec, all the weights, when it gets warmer i was thinking the 5w-40 might be good since its the low viscosity for start up and higher for better protection when its warm. i've also thought of 0w-30 (castrol and mobil 1) and 0w-40 (mobil 1) same idea as the 10w-40 but thin for cold starts and thick for good protection. logical thinking or not?

 

You know that's what I would think. But nowadays thinner fluids for better mileage are becoming popular. Like Ford using 5W-20 in so many of it's cars. And I think it's myth that a thinner oil wears out your engine faster. I've always thought that was ridiculous. Over at www.bobistheoilguy.com Lots of people test out their 0W-20 and 5W-20 oils and gets very good results back apparently.

 

I wouldnt put a 20 wt in a maxima, i would stay 30 weight but given the option between 20 and 40 i would go witht the 40 every time. you should be fine with it, in europe on the same engine they run 40 and 50 weights all the time.

 

Agree. Honda has also recommended 5w-20 for the past several years. I have used AMSOIL 5w-20 in our Honda (Odyssey) since it was new in '02...UOA's are very good and while we only have 50K on the engine, it uses absolutely no oil between 6-month changes. Perhaps its the gearing, but fuel economy on the road is about 27 mpg and the vehicle weighs about 4500 pounds!

I use AMSOIL 0w-30 in the 4th Gen Max with the same results...routinely get 27-29 mpg in daily driving

 

I use Motul 5-40 Syn in the summer and the car runs perfect....I used Mobile 5-30 Syn and it ran right through the motor like water, about a liter every 3K

 

Don't you guys have a FSM?

 

^ not i.

In my bay right now there is like 9 quarts of castrol 5w-40 completely brand new. I don't have a usage for them. All euro cars run 5w-40. I'm at a VW dealership and we put 5w-40 in a lot of cars.

So far i don't see any negative outcome of this.

 

Be careful changing to low viscosity oils like 5W-20 oils or anything not recommended in your owners manual. Some manufacturers went to 5W-20 after lowering the operating temp. of the engine by going to a lower temp. thermostat. This allowed them to get away with the lower viscosity oil along with their (and the Gov't) penchant for fuel economy. Ford did this in I think 2000. The Euro Maxi owners manual does not recommend 5W-20 for sustained high speed driving. And some have an oil cooler to boot. This should put up a red flag. Look at an SAE oil test chart and look at the High Temp. Shear.

 

Also, check this thread out. Especially A33Black's link to the European oil viscocity recommendations.

 

I don't understand how you can have almost a quart left over after every oil change you perform -- if the oil comes in bulk. You draw it out of a big drum. Should you not retrun the unused new oil to that drum?
If you have this unused new synthetic, I would think that you should give each quart to the customer who apparently paid for that oil -- this assumes that you have an appropriate container to put this oil in so that it does not spill in the customer's trunk. But given that you did not do that, I would recommend that you use it. I doubt if you will be able to see any measurable drop in gasoline mileage (althought there should be a slight drop) using this slightly heavier oil than 5W30.

 

Oh sorry i didn't explain it right. The normal oil that we have 5w30 is in a drum. The 5w-40 syn we have are in the quart bottles like how you buy it in the stores. They always give us 5 quarts, when most 1.8T and 2.0L are maybe 3.9- 4.2 quarts. If i fill it up to the max. I still have .8 quarts left. So i just use it for the next, instead of having 2 bottles of .8 quarts left in that case. So you can see how it adds up to be having to do like 3 lube jobs aleast a day.

90% of the people who come here for lube buy the lifetime syn package for like $500. So really after 10 oil changes they are getting free oil changes. I don't feel as if i'm stealing from them. But i mean if i leave them with the .8 quart of oil in the trunk, it might somehow leak or something and they blame me. Or they just might find it odd so yea.

I rather not throw it out.

 

Good explanation. I understand. Better to use the oil yourself than dispose of it. I say -- go for it! It should work fine in your Max.

 

^ thanks. Well i've collected more oil now. But still haven't put anything in yet. I need to get a hold of a mobil 1 filter first. I went to the stores this past weekend and 5w-40 was no where to be found. I guess its just a euro-spec oil. i saw some 10w-40 for trucks and what not but thats about it.

 

If your car doesn't burn oil, you can use "truck" oil (diesel/gasoline motor oil). Rotella T 5W40 at $14 a gallon at Wally World looks pretty good.

 

My car doesn't burn nor leak any oil. So all things point to go..

 

Don't be so obsessed with using the Mobil 1 filter, when a Purolator PureOne, WIX or Nissan OEM will work just fine.

 

Ok I'm not sure how I missed this thread?? I have been running the Castrol TDI oil in my Maxima for 3 or 4 years. No problems, or increase in fuel consumption. Currently I have been using the new TDI oil. If you look at the label 502 00/505 00 is approved for BMW/MB/Porsche gas eng also. The 505 01 can be used for 505 00 also, IIRC the 505 01 is the oil we use in the W12s and V8s with the 15k or 1 yr service intervals. I'm going to change the Z over to 505 01 at the next service ( unless I can get my hands on some more free BMW M3 race oil )