Oil Change Info

[thebully]

I was wondering what is the best type of synthetic oil to use in my Rogue? Also how many km's between changes with synthetic?I'm coming up on my first change and have never used syn in any other vehicle and would value your opinions. Thanks in advance.

[philipa_240sx]

Many swear by Mobil1, it's a decent oil. I personally use Castrol 0W30 (Made in Germany) but it can be hard to find. I've heard of good results with Pennzoil Platinum as well.

There is no perfect oil. It depends on your driving habits, weather conditions, etc. Extended oil change intervals are also dependent on this. I personally go 10,000km or 6,000mi. THe only sure fire way to determine if the oil is working for you and how far you can drive before changing, is to get an oil analysis done. blackstonelabs.com offers a good service for consumers. You can then compare your results at bobistheoilguy.com It's a very informative website, check it out.

[kerrton]

Or couldn't you just ask your Nissan Service Dept. for information on this, have them recommend the oil and service interval and then you also have the peace of mind that the warranty is safe. It should be pretty straight forward for a Nissan tech to provide this information, shouldn't it?

[philipa_240sx]

Regular oil changes are done every 3750 miles or 6000km for most Nissan products. You can find this information in the service and maintenence guide. A PDF version is available here:

http://www.nissanusa.com/pdf/o...e.pdf

Nissan dealers in Canada promote Mobil1... not sure what is done in the US. However, there are many good oils out there... both synthetic and dino. I don't feel you should be limited to just one brand.

[kerrton]

Hey Philip,

A little off topic but my maintenance guide indicates that oil changes should be done at 5000km or 3 month intervals, a little different than you indicated. I wonder why?

Also, I've always wondered if you drive low kms, say 3000 or less and the 3-month time interval comes up, the oil looks like new and still has good viscosity, isn't this a little premature for a change?

I know some car companies are working on more precise oil monitoring systems to increase the distance between oil changes, as it appears many oil changes are done much early than is necessary, based on the chemical properties of the oil, including viscosity, suspended and dissolved solids.

[Pescakl1]

You have several cases for the maintenance:6000kms or 3 months for severe use or12000kms or 6 months for normal use.

I do not have it in hand, but in the maintenance manual, it is explained what Nissan considers "severe" and "normal".

Personally, I consider that in summer, except if you do only city driving, you can go with the normal interval (especially if your dipstick shows the oil still looks good).For our winter, it depends of your driving, your dipstick... and the "fear factor".

I decided to do only two oil changes a year (I am lazy), one in may (in fact it will be next weekend) and one in november. Depending of the mileage I suppose I will do, I put the type of oil accordingly (low mileage= dino, average=synth blend, a lot= full synth).

About the OLM (or MM for the Hondas), they suck as they don't take in account the type of oil you put in the car and it is based on algorythms, not actual measurement. It is a good indicator, but that is all (happy not to have one on the Rogue).

[thebully]

Thanks for the info guys. I was talking to my parts guy (not Nissan) and he said they stopped using dino or syn. and have converted to using a mineral oil. They get free oil analysis with it and that determines when a change is necessary (usually 15-20K kms). I need to get more info from him (he was too busy at the time) but if any of you have any experience or furthure information I would appreciate it.