swilliams

Hello all. Just picked up an '02 SE yesterday and I didn't find my question answered in the archives.

How long did you go on your initial oil? The full 3,000 - 3,750? Or did you change it earlier than that? I've seen that people have changed to synthetic at their first change but was that the full 3 - 3.75K?

Dealer actually claimed break in oil in there for the initial fill. He was adamant about it. I laughed but I figured, ummm, to be sure, I'd ask about this too.

Thanks all

mattattax

i just had mine changed at 2995.327463729348 miles

soundmike

iTrader: (24)

I'm about to change my oil this week @ 3750 miles. Will probably go synthetic at that point.

MaDxKiLLa

iTrader: (3)

i thought it wasnt good to change to synthetic too early

UMD_MaxSE

iTrader: (1)

I waited until 10k miles, but it really should not matter when you switch to synthetic.

emax02

iTrader: (1)

I think the issues with switching to synthetic is a thing of the past. I believe Bill said that synthetic oils have evolved and are much safer to use now. I am probably going to switch over to synthetic at 3000 miles.

TimW

iTrader: (6)

once again, the dealer has lost his mind.. There is NO breakin oil.. they havent done that for years. There is a valid arguement to change it at 1000, but that is mainly to change the filter which could be alittle clogged with metal from breakin. I changed mine at 1500.

The characteristics of your motor will actually improve up to 10000. There are some hard starting issues and you will actually increase HP up to 5000-6000. Honda and Toyota engines are pretty much broken-in on day one. Not the case with Nissan engines (however they easily last to 200,000 miles - its the trade off). I think you'd be happier waiting to 10K. You can be assured some of the annoying characteristics are gone and know you are making as much HP as it will ever.

I don't think you can compare our cars to ones that are OEM Mobil1. They have totally different tolerances and break-in procedures. However, there is no instance that I've heard of where someone was disappointed that they did the switch early.

see5

My Chevy C5 requires Mobil 1 from the factory. With this car it is required from the start.
On my Max I have and will use a non synthetic changed often.
Few of us lose our cars to engine failure these days. They get ugly or fail to satisfy before they wear out.

SeOh2mAx

iTrader: (2)

My dealer threw in free oil changes for the first 30,000 miles or two years. So whatever they put in it is fine by me....but they only do it every 3750 miles, that was when I got my first change at!!

jnovember

I've alway's believed in getting the initial oil out as quickly as possible (1,000 to 1,500 miles). After that, oil/filter every 3,000. With changing every 3,000, Max will probably go 200k+ no problem, even with dino oil. I've seen many posts suggesting switching to synthetic at 10k. I did it at 20k.

Bottom line..... lots of differing opinions. As long as you change oil regularly (dino or synthetic), your Max will live a long and happy life.

jkratzer

I changed to synthetic at 3K miles and I am glad I did. This was my first oil change as I did not change the oil at 1000 miles.

No problems and the engine runs smooth.

TimW

iTrader: (6)

my max has below average internal wear with mobil1 (and thats 90% short trip city driving, the worst kind). I switched at 14K to syn.

I have the oil analysis to back that up. My car is on the oil FAQ sticky in the general section... along with several others. You should base your opinion on that spreadsheet. We've all spent the money and the time to prove/disprove it is worth it with lab tests. Your car will last to 200K in some fashion or another regardless of the oil type. but at least look at the oil FAQ and weight your decision with that.

ABS

Hmmm . . . I hope I didn't make a mistake figuring that if Mobil 1 from the factory was the oil of choice from lots of manufacturers that I could also install it in my 2K2 Maxima. Yes, I just switched to Mobil 1 at only 550 miles. My break in time may be slightly longer, but I say so what, once an engine is broken in, it means its worn quite a bit already. Everything may still be within the manufacturer's tolerances, but not even close to the day the engine rolled off the assembly line! I think that Mobil 1 is probably the first best step to having a long lasting engine.

I seriously doubt that there is any special "break-in" oil in the engine from the factory. I have never heard of this before!

Also, I am using a Wix filter - its bigger than the stock Japaneese filter than came on the engine and got great reviews in the oil filter comparison . . . it seems to be holding the oil in the engine pretty well (I think better than the Purolator's used to do in my old Honda) since the engine doesn't sound "dry" when I first start it.

Tony Fernandes

I thought the whole purpose of synthetic oil (like Mobil 1) was that you could go much longer between oil changes. Am I incorrect in this assumption? Also, someone wrote that after the break-in period the filter might have some metal particles in it. Can't you change just the oil filter at 1K miles?

Tony

mike-777

I had the same questions so I asked Mobil. Ane in two seperate e-mails I got the same answer. Switching to Mobil 1 early will not hurt the engine, regargless of make.
I switched at around 2,000 miles, use NAPA Gold filters (one of the best) and will change oil every 6 months or about 5,000 miles. The cost is the same as if I use regular oil and change every 3 months, which I used to do.

TimW

iTrader: (6)

the condition of the oil is not the only reason to change it. You can see that in my oil analysis.

http://www.adpub.com/tim/oil-max1.jpg


changing the filter without oil is more trouble than its worth.

My car drove me crazy with a rough idle and starting issues until 5000-6000 miles (like alot of people here). I wouldnt have wanted to prolong that. Plus it did get stronger. I guess if you switched early, you'll just have to drive harder

Blackgums100

Ths stock Nissan oil filter is well made, there is no need to switch to an aftermarket one. Many of the Auto manufacturers provide good quality filters, IE: Saturn.

In regards to the Synthetic debate TimW pretty much summed it up, the only thing I would like to add is I have heard once you go synthetic you should not go back to regular, but that too could be a wives tale.

Tony Fernandes

If they're suggesting that you change the oil every 3-4K miles even with synthetic, then what's the point in using synthetic? My dealership offers lifetime free oil changes (all you do is pay for the filter). Why pay $5/quart for Mobil? It would be much less expensive to let them put in regular oil for free...

Tony

Stereodude

I wondered the same thing. Why run a Synthetic if you have to change the oil after 3750 miles just like normal oil?

Stereoudude

TimW

iTrader: (6)

Mobil1 is now (and has been for awhile) compatible with regualar oil. There are no longer issues with seals. The Mobil1 website answers all that in their FAQ.

Tony, well you can interpret that analysis many ways. But consider I have below average wear for a VERY short trip car. thats 3-5 mile drives to work, and still below average wear. There is something to be said for that alone. Btw, that was taken on a brand new air filter and I live in the city, no dirt roads or anything.

I do my own changes, so it's cheaper than a dealer change even when I use Mobil1. Plus, I get a small bump in mpg (very small) and in 3000 miles, it pays me back another few bucks. (doesnt quite pay for itself tho).

see5

Wall Mart sell 5 quart jugs of Mobil 1 for $17.88 which is good for a oil change. Consumer Reports did a test on NYC taxis a while back and concluded that oil changes before 7k miles were a waste of money.
I feel very conservative with 5k intervals with Mobil 1 or any other oil.
GM dictates Mobil 1 for warrantee on my C5 and the car has a computer that calculates actual oil change interval based on real time vehicle usage conditions. I have heard that they sometimes go to 10k miles. For my summer short run usage I go about6>7 k before it calls for a change.

I have to believe that that is also very conservative.

TimW

iTrader: (6)

I'm saying that mileage/conditions and oil stability are not always the reason to change oil. contamination is the real problem. I cant see how the computer would know that.

I wouldnt run full or extended intervals without at least one Blackstone test.. well, unless I leased my car or didnt plan on owning it for very long.

You can see that even at the end of my drain interval, the mobil1 one was still waaayyy within spec.

But again, I stress, if you really care about all this crap, go get the free kit, send it off ($18) and you'll know if you are doing any harm and the condition of your engine.

Tony Fernandes

I think getting one of those reports every once in awhile sounds like a good idea. You said that changing the oil filter is more hassle than it's worth. Why? I've never done this, but from my understanding, the only oil you lose when changing the filter is the small amount in the filter itself. After you change it you just top-off a half-quart or something like that. A friend of mine told me he does this all the time.

Tony

ABS

Just to add my two cents here: Once your going to all the trouble of jacking up your car, or at least crawling under it to change the filter, plus dragging out the oil drain pan, you'd might as well do a full oil change. If you are the kind of person who likes doing his own oil changes, then the cost of using Mobil 1 and a high quality filter made by Wix (like the NAPA Gold), is cost effective.

A properly engineered synthetic has many well documented advantages over the traditional "dino" oils. For one, it is very fluid at low temperatures (dino oil gets thicker) which means that it flows to the moving engine parts faster at start up. It also provides high "elasticity" and so is less likely to underlubricate engine parts (like crankshaft bearings) during high speed or high pressure scenarios. Synthetics also adhere to the metal parts better after the engine has been shut off so that at the next start up more initial lubrication is available.

For me the reason to use a synthetic like Mobil 1 is to help reduce wear and maybe gain fuel economy, but definitely not to save money in the short term by lengthening the time between oil changes. Because of it's improved resistance to "break down" it is likely that synthetic will hold up longer than a conventional oil, but I wouldn't want to test that on my engine. Instead, I choose to change the synthetics at between 3-4k and I feel confident that my engine will probably last longer than any another similarly maintained engine which used "dino" oil due to the superior properties of the synthetic.

In general I like to drive hard, frequently bringing the engine to redline - synthetics provide an extra level of protection at those moments of peak RPM.