DIY: Nissan Rogue Engine Oil Change + VIDEO

[ahhbeebee]

Are you planning to keep the 7500 mile interval even through the cold Quebec winters? Also, you mention that you did an oil analysis after the first change, any plans to continue doing them?

I ask because I'm planning longer change intervals, and use a type 3 synthetic, but was still planning on somewhat more frequent change intervals for the winter months (perhaps 7500-8000 km in the winter, vs. 10-12k in the summer months). If you do get an oil analysis done in the winter, I'd be interesting to know how different the engine wear will be given the same driving conditions but drastically colder temperatures.

[Pescakl1]

Yes, for now, I will continue the 7500 miles interval. My contract have been reconducted for 6 more months, until end of February, so I will still have my long commute (55kms one way: 75% highway, 15% city and 10% traffic jam, about 600kms a week).

And yes, I will do others oil analysis, one at the end of this interval (summer), and one at the end of the winter one to see the differences, if any, on the engine. That will be a good experiment as the commute is steady and don't use the car that much on weekends.

Right now, my oil is Valvoline Synpower, and I will put Pennzoil Platinum in mid november (PP is on the thin side of the 5W30 oil and has good CCS and MRV values for cold start characteristics). There are both group 3 oils too.

After it is still a question mark as I don't know yet if I will use my car that much, but for sure I want to keep the longer interval possible, that 3750 miles interval is a joke when every other manufacturers have at least 5000 miles interval and even higher.

I think that even if I use my car only for short trips and city driving (with some long drives to help fight the fuel dilution), I will go at the 8000kms (5000 miles) mark and will back it up with an oil analysis.

That is my take on this. I know some think that I am pushing too far, but others are more adventurous than me, so I may be a little more crazy than average, let say.

[mx6bfast]

Thanks for the info.

My driving habits will be more like a schedule 1.75. I will do most of my driving on the interstate at 25 miles to/from work each way. The only part of schedule 1 I will be doing is during the summer months here in Memphis the temp is in the high 90's for about 2 months, and the only stop and go I do is in rush hour traffic, which is no more than 4 - 5 miles each way. I will probably do schedule 1 for the first oil change and then schedule 2 for the remaining times.

Now that my I got rid of my sports car and can actually get underneath this car I might start doing oil changes on my own thanks to the great documentation above.

[Pescakl1]

Your commute: 25 miles is 40kms, I do 55kms.Your traffic jam part: 4-5 miles is 6-8 kms, yeah, that is about that.2 months of high 90's in summer, strangely enough, we have the same kind of summer here.

So I will say we have about the same driving.

I am at 13.000kms on the car, 7600kms on the oil (4750 miles) and will go up to the allowed 7500 miles mark ( around mid november) after having done the first oil change at about 3400 miles (before my holidays) like you plan to do.BTW, results were good with 20ppm of iron and 32ppm of copper.I will do an oil analysis of the oil at this time and put the results here so you will see it is still a good idea to do the schedule 2 maintenance.

I am you guinea pig

[mstrmstr]

Have been researching filters and find Mobil 1 filter to be the #2 rated but cheaper of the two also.. well ahead of most other well known filters.I use #110 filter instead of the 108 shortie. This may not make any difference at all, but I get a better feeling with the larger filter since the other small one looks like it fits a Go-Cart. #110 does not rub the cover either.

FULL Synthetic oil.. have been a fan for years.. currently using Quaker state advanced due to price and availability.. it's 60% the cost of Mobil 1 presently.Amsoil is also a top rated oil but scarce and expensive around these parts.

Special washer for oil pan plug gasket? any metric COPPER washer that fits will work if dealer crush washer is not available...DO NOT try to use steel or o-rings or the like.. you will develop a drip.

The little engine is designed to run hot for best mileage so I oil change at 3,000 just as a round number(doing mostly short hops) I will also change at 3-4 months just so I don't develop a problem with acid buildup/condensation contamination or any of the plagues of the short trip cars. A few bucks for oil and filter is much cheaper than losing time sitting at the dealer getting something fixed....

[Supercourse]

Yes, excellent write up. To keep things as safe and easy as possible, as one other poster mentioned, it can be done without raising the front of the Rogue. For a Sentra, I just raise it 1.5" by driving the front wheels onto a couple of 2X8 shorts - plenty of room to fit a pan underneath and get the 14mm. socket on the drain plug. There is a trick to undoing the loosened bolt with your fingers while holding it as tight as you can against the engine oil pan - then pulling it clear at just the right point to avoid hot oil running up your forearm.One other thing worth adding - good idea to half- fill the new filter with clean oil. Some may dribble out as you get the thread started, but it works to reduce the time it takes for the oil light to go out when you start up down to less than a second. On the crush washers, autopartsway.com still have them at a good price.

[philipa_240sx]

People, remember that used motor oil is bad for you. It can be absorbed through the skin if not immediately cleaned up. I use cheap disposable latex or nitrile gloves when doing oil changes. The gloves also offer extra grip which helps when tightening the filter.

Re drain plug washer: Use a 1/2" or 12mm copper washer I now buy inexpensive flat copper washers from the local auto parts store.

[philipa_240sx]

Update on oil filters:

There are several oil filters available for the QR25DE motor in the Rogue. I have used many of them and they are interchangeable:

Nissan 15208-65F00 - OEM Rogue filter. This shorter filter appears to be used on some models for space reasons.

Nissan 15208-65F01 - Updated version of the 15208-65F00

Nissan 15208-65F0C - Updated version of the 15208-65F01 and is now the standard filter on most Nissan's.

Nissan 15208-9E000 - This is slightly longer than the 65F00 and is found on some other Nissan models including the Titan, Maxima, Pathfinder, 02-06 Altima, etc. This filter fits the Rogue with no problems. I have been using them for the past year. The larger filter presents more surface area of filter media which may be desirable, esp for longer oil change intervals.

-----

The NAPA Gold series is made by WIX and is available at all NAPA Auto parts stores. http://www.napafilters.com/. WIX also sells the same filter under their brand name http://www.wixfilters.com. They are a good quality filter and I would recommend them.

NAPA Gold 1365 / WIX 51365 - Same as the 15208-65Fxx series above.

NAPA Gold 1356 / WIX 51356 - Same as the 15208-9E000, this is a longer filter than the 65Fxx series. This is my favorite filter and the one I use in my Rogue.

-----

Probably the ultimate oil filter has to be the Amsoil Absolute Efficiency Series http://www.amsoil.com/a/nanofi...ilter. They are not cheap, but when combined with a high grade synthetic oil will give long oil change intervals.

Amsoil EAO12 - Same as 15208-65Fxx.Amsoil EAO13 - Same as 15208-9E000, longer version of 65Fxx.

[roguester]

Yes, for now, I will continue the 7500 miles interval. My contract have been reconducted for 6 more months, until end of February, so I will still have my long commute (55kms one way: 75% highway, 15% city and 10% traffic jam, about 600kms a week).

And yes, I will do others oil analysis, one at the end of this interval (summer), and one at the end of the winter one to see the differences, if any, on the engine. That will be a good experiment as the commute is steady and don't use the car that much on weekends.

Right now, my oil is Valvoline Synpower, and I will put Pennzoil Platinum in mid november (PP is on the thin side of the 5W30 oil and has good CCS and MRV values for cold start characteristics). There are both group 3 oils too.

After it is still a question mark as I don't know yet if I will use my car that much, but for sure I want to keep the longer interval possible, that 3750 miles interval is a joke when every other manufacturers have at least 5000 miles interval and even higher.

I think that even if I use my car only for short trips and city driving (with some long drives to help fight the fuel dilution), I will go at the 8000kms (5000 miles) mark and will back it up with an oil analysis.

That is my take on this. I know some think that I am pushing too far, but others are more adventurous than me, so I may be a little more crazy than average, let say.

I don't think you are pushing it too far,I owned a 2001 BMW 540i before trading it in for my Rogue in May 08and the oil/filter intervals were every 25k kms or once a year per factory schedule, mind you the BMW crankcase takes 7 liters and Castrol syntec 5W30 is recommended. I changed it myself every 12k kms and I never had any problems with engine wear or oil consumption. I was not comfortable with 25k kms changes.

[philipa_240sx]

I owned a 2001 BMW 540i before trading it in for my Rogue in May 08and the oil/filter intervals were every 25k kms or once a year per factory schedule, mind you the BMW crankcase takes 7 liters and Castrol syntec 5W30 is recommended. I changed it myself every 12k kms and I never had any problems with engine wear or oil consumption. I was not comfortable with 25k kms changes.

BMW has an 'LL-04' specification for engine oil. This 'long life' oil allows them to run the 25,000km (15,000mi) oil change intervals (OCI). There are only a small handful of engine oils that meet the BMW spec. Also, the 25k rating only applies if you are not doing 'severe service'. Severe service is short trip city driving... and is typical of many drivers.

For the Rogue, I would not recommend such long OCI's. Especially if you do alot of short trip city driving. I would stick with Nissan's recommended OCI's of 6000km/3750mi or 3 months.

Personally, I do alot of highway driving. I use Castrol Syntec 0W-30 (Made in Germany) which meets M-B 229.5 and the older BMW LL-01 spec for extended OCI's. These specs allow for 25-30,000km OCI's but I never go that far. I run 10,000km (6000mi) OCI's and it seems to work quite well.

[rouge-rogue]

excellent do it yourself article. I was about to do my oil change and this article really helped me get a better idea on what I need to do. For the oil filter, can someone put a picture on how to replace the oil filter without removing the splash guard. from the pictures it looks like the splash guard must be removed otherwise the oil wont drain or dribble into the splash guard ?

[philipa_240sx]

From the pictures it looks like the splash guard must be removed otherwise the oil wont drain or dribble into the splash guard ?

There is only one splash guard and that's inside the wheel well. I have never gotten oil splashed on it nor has it impeded drainage.

I simply 'bend' the one corner out of the way and remove the filter as shown in the photos below. The shield is quite flexible and will spring back. IMHO, this is a better method as the clips retaining the splash shield are not meant to be constantly removed... you risk breaking them.

[rouge-rogue]

Hi Ooops. What I meant to ask is, is there a way to replace the oil filter without popping the two plastic rivets, someone mentioned that those rivets are prone to break easily ? from the picture I dont see how that can be done without the oil dripping on the splash guard. Or maybe I misunderstood what Etch mentioned ?

I do have to mention that it is not necessary to remove the cover over the filter. It has enough play to get a wrench in there to loosen the filter. It will not get in the way of the draining oil either.

of course he might have meant that he still removed those two plastic rivets but kept the splash guard. However the picture supplied by OP clearly showed that the splash guard is still attached so I thought etch might mean there is a way to get to the oil filter without removing the two plastic rivets.

[philipa_240sx]

However the picture supplied by OP clearly showed that the splash guard is still attached so I thought etch might mean there is a way to get to the oil filter without removing the two plastic rivets.

You can just carefully bend it enough to get the filter wrench in without removing the rivets. I've done this dozens of times already and have yet to break anything.

[DanTheMan]

It is rather easy to pull the cover back to get to the filter. I would think there would be a fastener at the lower end of the cover, to keep the filter area clean.

Anyway, this is an easier oil change than my '04 Sienna.

Cheers!

Merry Christmas

[Robert.Colianni]

Beautiful

[gc444]

Thank you so much for this information! I have always just taken my cars to the oil change places, but with them going up on price it is nice to know I can do this now. I did my first change this afternoon everything went perfectly (except the $3.29 copper washer ). I will definitely be looking elsewhere besides NAPA for that on the next change.

[philipa_240sx]

I did my first change this afternoon everything went perfectly (except the $3.29 copper washer). I will definitely be looking elsewhere besides NAPA for that on the next change.

Don't know where they got that price from. You can get either 12mm or 1/2" copper drain plug washers from anywhere.

The OEM washers are a crush type and can be purchased from the dealer. Part# 11026-01M02. They are less than $1/ea.

[gc444]

Not sure either, but the dealership was closed Sunday and I did not catch it because the total price was right, they had $8 listed for the filter, but it only rang up $6 so in my mind the price was right, just $2 shifted from one item to the other. I found 10 for $8.50 shipped on ebay because, I can't really say I like my local Nissan dealership that much to give them even $1 worth of business.

[Qashqai]

At 700 miles, I drained the original oil to get the initial load of wear metals out, and changed to AMSOIL 5w-30 full synthetic. And no, it will not keep your engine from braking in or make your seals leak. I have used it and sold it for years.

I heard it from someone else...My Rogue is now at 913kms, do you advice me to change the oil? or do you think wait for the advised 3000Km?

[philipa_240sx]

I heard it from someone else...My Rogue is now at 913kms, do you advice me to change the oil? or do you think wait for the advised 3000Km?

The recommended change interval is 6000km (3750mi), not 3000km. Even for a first oil change.

If you are really adamant about doing an oil change, then go ahead. However, I trust Nissan's engineers and changed mine at ~6K. They know their stuff and I see no reason to doubt that.

Someone (can't remember who... Pescakl1 would know) did some oil tests on the Rogue factory fill awhile back and found it to be Silkolene 0W20, a high quality synthetic oil. Nissan didn't skimp on putting decent oil in the engine from the factory!

[Pescakl1]

Hi, the member who did the search was mstrmstr.

Here is the link: has-anyone-changed-to-synthetic-oil-yet ... l#p4060579

Next post after his is my Used Oil Analysis of the factory fill of my own car. As you can see, I waited until reaching 5411kms before doing the change (get bored), and oil had plenty of life left in it (TBN= 4.36).

As Philip and others, including me, said already: no need to change the oil that soon, but if you feel you "needs" it, do it, that is your money after-all.

[philipa_240sx]

Thx Pescakl1 !

[kerrton]

This is such a valuable post that illustrates how easy the oil change is on the Rogue, I thought it was time to bump it to the top of the thread list!

[Rogue Three]

Thanks for making this thread! I just did the first oil change on my girl with Mobil 1 Full Synthetic. No leaks and she's purring like a kitten.

I bought all of the original poster's stuff from Walmart and Autozone, and went for it. Good stuff!

[zengshengliu]

Changed my oil today.
I was having a hard time to remove the old washer. I think when the shop did the last oil change, the didn't change it. The washer was almost "melt" into the bolt. I got a big cut on my finger try to remove it. I end up heating it and cut it off the bolt, which took me like half an hour.
But after that, everything is done within 10 minutes. Super easy

[ImStricken06]

Changed my oil today.
I was having a hard time to remove the old washer. I think when the shop did the last oil change, the didn't change it. The washer was almost "melt" into the bolt. I got a big cut on my finger try to remove it. I end up heating it and cut it off the bolt, which took me like half an hour.
But after that, everything is done within 10 minutes. Super easy

i assure you, you do NOT have to remove that crush washer from any drain bolt. i have never changed a single one, on any car, and the result never failed me. (i know the FSM calls for every crush washer to me swapped for a new one- and i fully respect the idea behind it, but i dont find it necessary.)

Today is 3/9/2013 and will changing my oil on the Rogue tomorrow. i will make a how-to video and post it up. stay tuned!

[zengshengliu]

I know, but I just bought a box of it (10) so I just go ahead and change it anyway
So my differental and transfer and engine oil is changed. Car just washed and clayed and waxed. Rotor and brake pad changed 3 months ago. Umm, I think next is coolant flush
Thanks for all the DIY, save me a lot of money and learn a lot of stuff

[ImStricken06]

I know, but I just bought a box of it (10) so I just go ahead and change it anyway

i applaud you for trying lol. i gave up trying those damn things years ago! lol

So my differental and transfer and engine oil is changed. Car just washed and clayed and waxed. Rotor and brake pad changed 3 months ago. Umm, I think next is coolant flush

thats awesome. i just hit 50,000 on my rogue and once it gets steadily warm, i will do my transfer-case & differential again(did mine at 30k last year), engine coolant, brake pads, brake fluid, and cabin filter(did it at 30k last year). i like to do things at even number mileages so its easier to remember.

Thanks for all the DIY, save me a lot of money and learn a lot of stuff

my pleasure man. knowing i am saving people money, is why i do it! the more money that every day folks keep in their pockets, the better our economy!(which is better for everyone). i find it really rewarding to help people; people that could be struggling, people that could be alone without guidance, people that could be on the brink on loosing their home. knowing i can save someone $100 on some easy DIY = makes me feel really-really good.

[zengshengliu]

thats awesome. i just hit 50,000 on my rogue and once it gets steadily warm, i will do my transfer-case & differential again(did mine at 30k last year), engine coolant, brake pads, brake fluid, and cabin filter(did it at 30k last year). i like to do things at even number mileages so its easier to remember.

You just reminded me to do the brake fluid. I never done it before so I will have to read more on it (I remember there is a post earlier about it so I can always put it up on my ipad while doing it
I also need to clean my engine filter (k&n). Maybe I should start doing it on even mileage too (58K right now) (I got BAD memory lol)
And I was late doing the transfer case and differential (first time at around 56k) so the fluid came out "BLACK" for the front lol