Does the VQ30DEK recommend synthetic oil?
 

I bought my A33 I30 used and I didn't get an owners manual with it. Do I need to be using synthetic oil in this car? I'm using semi-synthetic now with no problems but if I should be using full synthetic it would be nice to know.

You can. Not exactly sure why you need to when you probably do the 3,000 change anyway

well, a great place to look is in the manual. Since I just recently finished reading the oil section I can tell you that they recommend using equivilent oil to that the manufacturer put in. So the answer you are looking for is no but that doesnt mean you can't do it. I just put fully snythetic in my new 02 I35 and it is running great and there is a deffinate power gain with the snythetic oil :D. BTW I need to get 15 posts to even introduce myself in the forum WTF!!!

My VQ told me that it requires nothing less than Mobil1 full syn... And she gets b!tchy when she does not get what she asks for.

BTW, I gain at least 23 whp every time I change my oil :hide:

Are Valvoline Synthetic any good? Any specific instructions I need to follow to switch from regular motor oil to synthetic? Or is it just drain the regular motor oil and fill it up with synthetic? I hate to sound like a n00b, but I want to make sure I am doing it right.

Just drain and refill w/ the synthetic.

All I've ever used is Mobil1, so Im biased.

How many miles do you have no your car? I have heard if you put a lot of miles on dino, you might want to use a product to flush your motor before switching to Synthetic. I know royal purple (very reputable) makes a product for this purpose (and Im sure many others). Unfortunately I do not have any personal experience with any of them.

Either way you are probably fine

My car has 67,500 on it and is currently running semi-synthetic (Castrol Syntec blend maybe?). What's the oil change interval with synthetic? If it's more than 6000 miles than it makes economic sense to pay the extra price for it since I will have to change the oil less often.

And mike9900 I would have looked in the manual except I didn't get one with the car when I bought it.

There is a sticky in the fluids section regarding the best oil and oil filter to use for our cars. But I will summarize for you:

Mobil 1 is the cheapest high quality synthetic, 5 quart jug is $20 at Walmart. Amsoil and Redline are the best, but $$$. Depending on your driving, you can go 6,000 miles per change no problem. If mostly highway, you can go into the 1x,xxx also no problem with a filter change halfway. Best way to determine your OCI is to send a sample to Blackstone Labs.

Cool thanks guys.

My driving varies. During the summer it's about 50/50 city/highway and during the school year the majority of the miles are highway but the car sits a lot and gets driven around town maybe once a week.

I would keep using the same oil which is in your engine now... I think it's pointless to switch to any full synthetic oil if your car is high on milage
Just my $0.02

Define "high on mileage". I wouldn't consider 60-70K that high.

I go with 3-5k intervals with filter every time... but I'm anal.

I use Amsoil. They claim the stuff is good for up to 20,000 but you'd have to be a real moron to run that long with out changing the oil. I will say this though, even after 3000, the old oil still looks good. You could probably push it to 5000 if you wanted to... I mean that is after all the point of using a synthetic.

I'm not a mechanic, but i was told many times that switching from semi-synthetic or mineral oil to fully synthetic is useless in case when a car has more than +-60k on the odometer... I know that VQ engines last long and some people on here has more than 150k and their cars still run strong, but keep in mind - your engine is not as "tight" as when came from the factory... :)

This my own opinion!

Hmmm I am at 60K-ish, would it do more harm than good to switch to full synthetic?

i started using Mobile 1 Synthetic since 20000km, did AutoRX on 50000km, used XD-3 0W-30 till now, i have 70000km on my meter, no problem...
going to switch to Castrol Syntec 5W-30 few weeks later... (i know they r not recommended on the sticky... but i belive all synthetic will do the same for 6000km-7000km OCI)

Stay with the XD3 0w30 synthetic. It is the best bang for the buck oil available in Canada and is superior to Mobil 1 at less thatn 2/3s the cost.

I have no idea why you would want to switch to Castrol Syntec when XD3 0w30 is a better engine oil.

XD-3 0w-30 has too much phosporus
http://theoildrop.server101.com/foru...e=1#Post876510

http://theoildrop.server101.com/foru...gd6#Post864361
that was wrong link, this should be the right one

That comment related to an Acura 3.2 TL, not a 5th Gen Maxima.

Was it Terry Dyson who made the comment to the BITOG member?

This is the first I've heard of it.

Given the short OCIs you follow, you are wasting your money on synthetic oil.

Given the short-hop regimen your Maxima is subjected to, you might as well just run Castrol GTX 5w30 dino oil.

My Maxima is used predominately for highway driving.

I changed the Esso XD3 0w30 in January, about 11 days shy of a year. There was only 6556 kms on the OCI, but the oil was only slightly darker than amber and nowhere near black.

For my money, I will stick with the XD3. Although it is not rated as an energy conserving oil, my fuel economy is the same as when using Castrol GTX 5w30.

Maybe its all in my head... But the owner before me used only Mobil 1 Syn. I switched to Dyno when I bought it for ONE oil change. The next oil change, I started using Valvoline Full Syn and I feel the difference. I'm on a 5k OCI. The engine feels better and for my mostly suburban driving, I feel that it protects more.

Just my 2cents.

Here's my driving regimen:

During the summer months the car sees about 50/50 city/highway driving. During the rest of the year when I'm at school the car sees four 700 mile trips (driving to and from school) and other than that is only driven once or twice a week in town. I'm currently running semi-synthetic and after reading everything here I'm not sure it's worth spending the extra money on full synthetic.

I know nothing about semi-synthetic oil, but having said that, can assure you I would never use it.

Join www.bobistheoilguy.com and post your scenario there. You will get some truly valuable input there from knowledgeable members who are truly anal about oil.

Any reason why?

I have no idea how expensive semi-synthetic oil is, but I question why anyone would use it? Either stick with dino or go full synthetic.

If any one is concerned about leaks with synthetic oil, which is the only reason I balked at using it initially, I suggest one AutoRX application. If more than 100k on the clock, run two applications.

I switched to 0w30 sythetic oil at over 60k, following an AutoRX application, and have no leaks.

If cost is an issue, just stick with Castrol GTX5w30 dino oil.

Semi-synthetic oil extends the oil change interval to about 5000 from 3000 from what the oil change sticker on my car says.

synthetic blend oils are generally a bad value - most contain very little synthetic oil, have a weak additive package, and yet cost 2x as much as dino. it has been reported that castrol makes its highest profit margins on Syntec Blend.

one notable exception might be TropArctic Syn Blend, which has a fairly robust additive package, must contain at least some syn base stocks, and at $1.68/qt it actually costs less than most "top tier" dinos. it is a very good oil at a great price. I would use it over any dino.

one other notable syn blend is Valvoline Maxlife, which contains 20% PAO and has a very strong add pack with a big shot of moly. but it is expensive at $3.79/qt, so might as well go full syn. but the Maxlife full syn is a group III oil (no PAO) and has the exact same add pack... so there's some debate as to whether it is actually better than the syn blend. I have used both, and they both worked very well in my VQ (nice smooth quiet starts, superb oil analyses, etc).

For some reason my VQ does not like the popular GC 0W30. it gave me a nasty cold start noise (timing chain tensioner, I think). it protected fine (my oil reports with it were great) but I couldn't take the cold start noises.

I'm running Pennzoil Platinum 5W30 now and it seems to be doing well. I've run Supertech Full Syn 10W30 and it worked great, and gave me a great oil report. Havoline dino gave me some timing chain noise. I have a stash of Valvoline Synpower that I got for $0.99/qt. I use mobil 1 in my S500 (for the mercedes spec).

as you can see, I buy oil when it is heavily discounted, and so I try many different types. with the exception of the GC and M1, I don't think I ever paid more than $2/qt for synthetic oil. I get oil analyses on almost every fill, and they all seem to protect equally well. so I choose based on price and cold start noise.

Used M1 for about 60K miles and GC for 25K or so odd miles after (well, I'm ARx'ing w/ Valvo Prem dino right now). After a couple of years getting the shreek, I made changes not to get startup noise. I figured the startup noise has more to do with the filter ADBV/bypass valves, angle the car is parked, and even if the oil cold or not. I get the worst noise, regardless of oil brand, the morning after I pull my car from the driveway into the garage with a cold engine. I've used GTX, M1, GC and the odd oils during ARx with the OEM (9E000), M1 (110?) and Wix/Napa Gold (51356) filters and I get the noise if the car is parked at an angle (like my driveway) or if the oil doesn't warm up and I shut it off. I have the theory that the high, cold oil pressure gets the bypass open and after I quickly shut off the car, most of the oil in the filter drains out. So, now I drive it a couple of times around the block before I pull it into the garage. No startup noise.

I've never heard of GC...but if it causes cold start noises I'll avoid it. I assume Mobil 1 doesn't cause the same issue?