Breakin time and Synthetic oil.

[PGrated]

Hi everyone!!I just purchased an '04 G35X sedan (in diamond graphite) with the all wheel drive. So far I have about 950 miles on it. The car is just fantastic and love to drive it.

The Dealer claims that there is really no "breakin time" necessary for the car. The manual says otherwise. They the breakin time is for the first 1000 miles. I have been driving at varying speeds as it is for the milege anyway and not revving it too high (its hard not to ). Anyway, should I consider changing the oil and filter after the 1000 miles?? The dealer claims that it is not necessary to do this.

Also, the manual claims that they do NOT recommend the use of synthetic oil in the engine. I just want to know what everyone's thoughts are on this. Personally, I don't see how it could hurt. For those of you who have made the switch, at what milege did you do it??

pg

[PalmerWMD]

I think an oil change at 1000 miles, is still a really good idea tho perhaps not as neccessary as with engines of yore.

While on break-in (maybe up to 8k ) I would run a good semi syn likeValvoline Durablend.

Afterwards a full PAO syn like MOBIL1 or similiar.

Why they wrote their recommendation the way they did, has been the subject of speculation here, maybe they want to make sure owners keep oil change intervals short ( since many users of syn oils do not)

The VQ35de/VQ30de takes just fine to synthetic oils as evidenced by many UOA's.

Fred...

[nuQ]

WELCOME TO NICO!!!! HOPE YOU STICK AROUND........

[elwesso]

Ditto what Jeff said..

Im going to run valvoline durablend.... I would use dyno, and you shouldnt do the oil change before the recommended oil change interval...... Once you hit about 5000-10000, you can switch to a syn blend or full syn... I like valvoline durablend the best because it realyl keeps the engine clean.... If I had a perfect engine like you (cleanliness), I would use valvoline synpower 5w40 year round.... Its about $5-10 cheaper than M1, and I think its just as good..

However Im a big fan of valvoline products... All my fluids are valvoline....

[elwesso]

Also, durablend seems like the best stuff to me as it is the best of syn and conventional, and at $16/case its REALLY hard to beat!!!

[PGrated]

Thanks for the info. It still is baffling to me why the manual does not recommend synthetic oil except like you had mentioned to keep up with the interval of oil change frequency.

Should I use Durablend for a period of time and then switch to full synthetic?? At what interval??

pg

[PalmerWMD]

Should I use Durablend for a period of time and then switch to full synthetic?? At what interval??

That would be my recommendation.

1)Fresh oil at 1000 miles( possibly the Durablend, but castrol GTX Pennzoil also have a good rep among non syn oils an interesting standout is Chevron Supreme), for an early first oil change.

2)Then non syn oils up to maybe 8000-10000 miles.

3)Then at factory recommended intervals IAW the "severe service schedule" ( the easy schedule, only if nearly your enire driving load is hiway, also see some oil threads in NICO General Chat on this) use a high quality synthetic oil.

I like the Mobil1 0w-40 (this weigth requires some searching) which is one of the few off-the-shelf oils that meets nearly all the tough specs out there: ACEA A3, BMW LL, MB 229.3/229.5

Another real interesting oil is also the new version of Castrol Syntec 0w-30 (almost speced a 0w-40 weight) meets those same specs.Real good results on UOA's very stable as well , I recommend both these oils as winter oils for turbos ,thats how highly I think of them.This applies ONLY to the 0w-30 Syntec with the red label over the 0w-30 writing, says ACEA A3 on back and Made in Germany.It <must> say those things on back, for you to buy it, the rest of the Syntec line is unremarkable at this time (early 2004).

More info on both oils and a few other good syns in appropiate grades are here on this site subject to skilfull application of teh search button..

Fred...

[elwesso]

Fred, in your opinion which is better, cost included.. The syntec or M1... Im sure the syntec is quite a bit cheaper.....

BTW, my local autozone had M1 0w40.

[PalmerWMD]

They both cost about the same, within a few pennies.

As for which is better, I think the jury is still out, they both have shown great analysis results, in all sorts of engines including Nissan/Infiniti engines.

In naturally aspirated engines I recommend them as year around oils, in Turbo engines they are great winter oils.

Fred...

[elwesso]

Is there anything that the synpower doesnt compare in or isnt the same or better.... I know thats somewhat cheaper....

[PalmerWMD]

The valvoline SynPower 5w-40 is a very good oil. And from some anecdotal evidence I feel it has better solvency Than Mobil1, which results in doing a better job in cleaning up engines that are already dirty.As a group III lube stock its perfromance in extreme cold (-20 and below) wont match that of the german version 0w-30 Syntec and the thinner Mobil1's.

Also its stability is likely less, so its not as strong in extended drains as some syn users like to run these days some folks have had poor results with it in 8000 mile runs, but I seen UOA's for it on small turbos in summer at 5 or 6000 miles with surprisingly good results.Somehting that does well in a turbo is kinda like passing the oil litmus test.

Its slightly cheaper and due to its better solvency for "gunk" a fully competitive product for many medium and high mile engines.

Fred..

[Hurrikane]

give it 10,000 miles.this will allow the rings time to seat.if you go to synthetic to soon it will take the rings longer to seat.the molecules are smaller in synthetic than in stander oiles.and use a oil adative to help at start up. i use royal purple my self. sofar i have 4000 miles on it and its still purple well a dark purple. when it stop ranning ill change it. have fun

[Cold_Zero]

I switched over from Valvoline Durablend in my WRX to Mobil One 15w-50 after 6k. I still run Durablend in the Altima. I have heard 10k from a friend/ASE mechanic as well for the same reasons.

[PGrated]

Yeah, my wife's outback has about 3900 miles on it. I'll probably wait until it has about 10,000 on it before making the switch myself.

I just did the first 1000 mile oil change on my G35X. It's got a bit of a ways to go yet also.

pg

[szh]

Check the information I posted here too. Along with Fred's experiences and comments ...

http://www.nissaninfiniticlub....49691

Z