I mistakenly used 10W-30 Mobile 1 in my 2009 Max instead of 5W-20 M1 that I usually use. Is this going to be not so great on my engine for the next 4K miles? If so I'm going to change it right away. If not, I will just get it right next time. BTW, I live in South Carolina and the weather is just starting to cool off but still 75 at night and 45 low at night generally.

Thanks in advance!
Robert

 

IMO ur fine. You might see a decline in MPG

 

As long as it's not getting too cold, you should be fine. Your motor will be working a little harder until the next oil change though.

 

In South Carolina, you will be absolutely fine. The 5W20 would make the car a tad easier to start on very cold mornings, but once warmed up, the 10W30 should have no affect on anything. I used 20W50 oil in my Datsuns (predesessor to Nissan) for years. I used 10W40 in my Maximas up until my 6th gen.

If I lived in Canada, I might consider changing the oil to 5W20 pretty soon. By contrast, if I lived in southern Florida or southern Arizona, I would not be using 5W20 to start with. In those hot climates, I would stick with 10W30.

 

I agree with Light-the primary reason car makers moved to lighter weight oil was for gas savings by reducing friction in the engine. In order to do so, they had to really work to tighten up engine clearance so that the lighter weight oil would not blow by the piston rings and burn. 10w30 actually provides the same engine protection at warmer temps but may reduce your gas mileage as your engine will work a bit while the oil is cold.
the difference is fairly small so no worries.

 

Thanks for all the informative replies...I was hoping this was the case. I've got one more to throw at you. I used the genuine Nissan Ester oil for a while when the car was new (I know...probably just a big waste of $$) but have been using M1 for a while now. Here's my question. I've got 5 quarts of the Ester stuff still in my garage that I forgot about and never used. Is it OK to use that now after I've been using M1, and then go back to M1 after that? I have read some stuff indicating that you should stick with full synthetic once you start. I was just hoping not to lose the investment in the Ester oil, but have no problem selling it or throwing it away if it's not a good idea.

Thanks again!
Robert

 

Sell that Ester oil.

 

This might sound like a newbly question , but i just switched over to mobil 1 and am wondering what you guys think is good time to change oil, every 4k?

 

Rawbutt, just use the oil up next time you change the oil. it's not going to hurt anything. Running 10w30 in your engine is fine too. Frankly 5w20 scares me, but that's just me.

Seesole, it all depends on your driving. I do mixed city/highway in Houston, which means 20 min @ 80mph and 20 min of stop and go every morning.. I've put about 200k miles on my cars changing mobil 1 at 10,000 mile intervals and I've never had an oil related engine problem. (I blew one engine at the race track, but it threw a rod with 220k miles on it- not the oil's fault.)

anyway, 7500 to 10,000 miles is fine for mobil 1. just put a good quality filter on it and check your oil level every few weeks. Because I drive pretty hard, my car burns more oil than the average Joe, so I usually have to add a quart around 5,000 miles.

Drive happy.

 

10000 is good for full synthetic Mobil1, they now have the full syn extended for 15000 miles between changes. Obviously, enormous amounts of stop and go will reduce those numbers, but if you are doing much less then 8-9000 miles between changes with Mobil1, you are wasting money.

After I get done with the every 3750 dinosaur oil free changes at Nissan, I am going mobil1. In the 18 years of driving my own cars, I have always used Mobil1 and NEVER had an issue with the motor and always ran at leas 8000 miles.

 

With M1 you can do 5k to safely stay within warranty limits, anything beyond 5k I would suggest a used oil analysis from Blackstone, then you will really know what mileage you can put on the oil

 

heh.. Honda refused to chance the oil in the wife's Element (with dino even) more often than 7500..

 

Yes Robert no issues with switching back and forth with Synthetic and Non-Synthetic oils. No reason not to use your Ester Oil stock when the time comes and then switch back to M1 or whatever you choose.