I apologize if this is not worthy of a new thread, but I was hoping to get some guidance quickly, and I have used the search function thoroughly and don't think I've found this exact situation. If it's there, I apologize.

I've spent probably close to 100 hours on here over the past couple of months searching and learning. I fall into the "didn't know much, but wanted to learn" category and I've done a lot of work on my own to fix several issues. But I didn't read the lubreicants forum as I was focused on everything else.

Basically, I have an 02' GLE I bought with 122k miles on it. It now has 136k. The guy I bought it from did everything the book says to and had the dealership do the oil changes. Since I bought it, I've had it changed at the Mobil station at my work (yes, we have our own auto service station) and they've put in regular old Mobil dino oil.

The car does burn oil and has a small leak (next on my list of things to diagnose and fix, but it hasn't been fixed yet). Between the two, it goes down a little over a quart per 3,000 miles.

I changed the valve covers yesterday which will hopefully deal with the burning issues. Afterwards I went ahead and changed the oil and put in Valvoline Maxlife 5W-30 and Mobil 1 filter. Yes, I know Valvoline is not recommeded here, but I hadn't read that yet.

So after reading this forum I realize with a higher mileage car with a leak and a burning issue it's not a good idea to switch to synthetic. Since I changed it, I've only driven about 30 miles. Am I OK here, or should I go ahead and drain it and put something else in? If so, should I go back to what has been going in previously? Should I do an AutoRx treatment, and if so, what should I put in afterwards?

Any help on what I should do next would be appreciated. The fact that I already made the change to this oil is what I couldn't find anywhere else. But I've also hardly driven it since the change, so 'm hoping that if this wasn't the right move, I can undo it. Thanks in advance.

 

I know that valvoline dino is not recommended on here. However, before I knew that, I ran my '99 on it from ~ 50k until I sold it with 193k miles and I never had a problem. I know that the engine on it was still running strong at 225k because I sold it to a friend of a friend, and who know how many miles are on it now.

Running it for 1 oil change will not damage anything at all. You may want to cut it a little short and change it at 2500 miles instead of the 3000 if it makes you feel better, but it definitely will be fine.

From what I have read on here, castrol GTX is the way to go for dino oil for future reference.

 

You'll be fine.

No issues at all.

 

you're fine. relax. they say synthetic aggravates oil leaks, but i seriously doubt it will become a huge issue because those are usually caused by irregular oil changes, which is where the sludge comes from. unless this guy changed his oil once every 20,000 miles in city driving, i doubt synthetic will be the cause of any leak. switch back to dyno if it gives you peace of mind.

 

Yeah I agree with the previous posts you should be fine. I just switched over to synthetic at 128K miles after the previous owners had used from what it seems, regular non-synthetic oil for all of my car's life.

And so far its been a week of highway driving and no leaks. But from what I read it seems like synthetic oil might cause a small leak from the sludge coming off, but once the oil "rehydrate" the sludge covered seals again, it should swell up and cover up the hole ending the oil leak. But I may be wrong.

And I noticed your extremely cautious approach to asking this question, haha. I for one, appreciate your courtesy, although I don't insult people for making senseless threads or ask silly questions. I still appreciate the courtesy haha

 

Probably not necessary, but after further reading on the site I decided to just drain the oil and put in Catrol GTX dino and an AutoRx treatment. I'll do another one with the same oil in about 2500 miles, then I'm going to switch over to Amsoil pure synthetic. I want to do things right.

The good news is I changed my valve covers on Monday and there was hardly any oil on the ground the next couple of days. I changed my drain plug gasket yesterday when I swapped out the oil (looks like it hadn't been changed in a while) and for thie first time since I got the car there was ZERO oil on the floor. I'm hoping that's the end of the leak. If it's also the end of the burning oil issue, I'll be jumping for joy.

This forum has just been an unbelievable find. I now have a new hobby and I'm saving myself a lot of cash and significantly prolonging the life of my car.

 

Give it time buddy.....it will cost you cash soon enough when you start purchasing mods

 

Haha I don't think it was necessary for you to switch over to dino oil again, but it was the safest approach. Just in case, that 1% chance of catastrophic failure happened.

Oh and from what I read it seems like the brands people prefer is Mobile1 synthetic, Amsoil synthetic, and Shell Rotella T.

So tell me how switching to Amsoil was when you get the chance to finally switch over!

Like when I first used Castrol Edge in my engine that used dino oil all its life, I noticed quite a improvement in power, like when going up hill it pulls a lot harder than it used to, instead of just slowing down like normal. But the Subaru guys praise Shell Rotella T a lot, and so I think after this oil's life is up I am going for Shell

 

this.

get the high milage flavor,10-40 my car thinks its delicious. you will notice,trust me.

 

You imply that there is a single "right" way to go with oil changes. If only this were the case -- it's not. I would not waste money draining perfectly good oil out. Change it when it comes time to change. Most of the talk on this site is about running oil for longer distances than 3 K miles. At that short distance, almost any oil will be OK for your Max. I run Mobil 1 for 10 K miles between changes and get the oil tested by a lab - only to find that even at this interval the used oil still has remaining life. If you only go for 3 K, I would not worry so much - and certainly don't pay for synthetic oil of any brand if you are going to change it so soon.

I suspect that not only did you have oil leaks but your engine is also burning oil. You will know soon enough. The last car that I had that was a fairly heavy oil burner (86 Toyota Celica at about 1 qt every 2 K miles) I did not use synthetic oil - found it burned off somewhat faster than dino oil. Good luck.

 

Thanks for the insight. I'm new enough to all of this, I clearly have a lot to learn. I'm going to run 2500 - 3000k with the dino just to do the AutoRx treatment. I'm then going to do that again for the same mileage. At that point, I'm going to switch to the Amsoil synthetic which I will run at much higher intervals, probably ~10k between changes. I'm doing the short ones to make the switch over to synthetic, but I want to make sure I'm cautious in making the switch.

Without doubt I was burning oil as well. The leak was small and very similar to my previous Maxima that leaked about 1/2 quart every 3k. When I initially changed my oil earlier in the week, there was just over 2 quarts left. It's the first time I changed it myself and I was surprised at how low it was. I'm also not happy at all that the place who has been changing my oil never mentioned this to me. This time might have been a little worse than usual as I went on a 1500 mile road trip in between and supposedly this model burns it at a higher rate on the freeway and higher speeds.

I'm still in awe at how much there is to learn, but I'm really enjoying it. I never knew oil actually had an impact on the power of the car for instance. What first got me to this site was engine performance issues. Not knowing any better, the first thing I tried was changing the plugs. I put on cheap aftermarket. Didn't help. I came on here and started to read and realized that was a mistake. I went back in and put in NGK Iridiums, one step colder. I also seafoamed out the gas tank and intake manifold. It was a huge improvement immediately. I attributed the much better performance to the plugs and treatment. But I also did this about the same time I had to oil changed last time. Now I realize I was probably lower than I thought and just having the right amount of oil had a big impact as well.

The last couple of weeks I've noticed a drop in power and performance fo the car. I was thinking of swapping out the MAF sensor to see if that helped. AFter I changed this oil and put in the Castrol GTX and the right quantity my performance is back. I'm sure this had a lot to do with it.

But keep the suggestions coming. I will never be your typical person any longer who does nothing more than drop the car off every 3k miles for an oil change. My cars will very much appreciate that I'm sure.

 

Fluids do so much, when the right kind and amount are used. Synthetic won't hurt your car in it's situation, but I don't think I'd recommend continued use. I'll never forget the first time I shifted gears after a royal purple flush in my Impreza. Knife through butter.

 

Hmm... if you have 2 quarts left wouldn't the low oil light come on?

But anyways I agree with you, at first I used to take my car to the oil guys who I actually believed that did the job right, meaning they used good oil, good filters, and did all these "extras" for my car like lubing up the joints. And every time I drove off, it felt the same there is no "boost" or kick in power like you'd expect from getting new oil. And after reading a article about how the oil guys charge you for a lot more than what they are supposedly doing, I decided to get down and dirty and save my badly needed money. And so I switched to sythetic right away, which could have been bad, but for my first own oil changed I used Castrol Edge and a SuperTech filter. And when I drove the next day I noticed something I had never noticed before, after an oil change, there was a slight kick and boost in performance when using a new oil. And so from now on I am spending that extra money on good oil and doing it all myself

But it was kind of scary doing it for myself for the first time, I was afraid of putting in too much oil or to little and killing my car. Or having an oil leak from switching over without any preparations. But so far so good

 

I know its not the right place but I have used the search function thoroughly and don't think I've found this exact situation.
Engine Mechanical problem
1999 Infiniti i30 6 cyl Front Wheel Drive Automatic 108000 miles
oil is leaking/seeping from the left side near the transmission, two bolts holding on a black metal cover....oil seeps out from behind the plate, or above.....please tell me what is behind the cover before i take it off so i can buy seals or gaskets needed and what the area is referred to...thank you