Oil change on every 3 months?

[Qashqai]

I have to change the oil+oil filter of my Rogue at 6000km (which is fine) or 3 months, whichever comes first (for the warranty I need to obey these conditions).

I understand the logic of changing the most important fluid of an engine after a certain km's, but why do I have to change the oil every 3 months? I am driving my car for 1,5 months and I have only 1100kms, when the car will become "3 months old" probably it will have 2500kms on it. My home is close to work and that is my usual milage..so do I have to change my oil at every 2500kms? that is ridiculous. That is not good for my budget and also environment...

When I was a child, my dad used to change the oil of our family car on every certain km's, not time. Just an exaggerated example: If my car sits on the garage for 3 months and has only 10 km's, do I have to change the oil/filter???

I think that "6000km/3months" is a cheap marketing technique, just to let dealers earn more money. Nothing else.

What do you think?

[GrilledCheese33]

I think that I agree with you. Hence why my car gets its oil changed every 3K miles, not by time.

[kerrton]

Here is the link to the existing thread on Rogue oil changes with some very good info:

has-anyone-changed-to-synthetic-oil-yet-t304676.html

The oil will degrade over time even with low mileage, but this is always a grey area with lots of opinions and subjectivity. Most will agree with the concept, that even if you leave a vehicle parked and rarely drive it the oil will degrade and need to be changed, the point of contention is exactly how fast the oil degrades and how far you can push the time between changes.

Remember that short trips can actually be harder on your car than longer trips because the engine and oil don't have a chance to run at optimim temperature and burn off contaminants. In extreme cases this can lead to engine sludge and other issues associated wtih running dirty oil, but at exactly what point this becomes a worry is something I can't say. I choose to be a little bit cautious with my expensive vehicle and think of a $40 oil change as a good insurance policy and peace of mind.

Regarding your father's experience with long-interval oil changes, engine design and manufacturing has come a long way in the past few decades and modern engines have tighter tolerances than your father's old car (I'm assuming we're talking a few decades ago?). In general this is a good thing but these engines have less tolerance for dirty oil, in particular particulates so it's a good idea to keep on top of oil changes.

My Nissan dealer has flip flopped on this issue a couple times since I've been going there for service. For a while they recommended only changing after 5000 km, then they changed to 6000 km regardless of time, the next time we talked they realized that it takes me 6 months to drive 6000 km and decided that 6 months was too long between oil changes.

The only way to really know what maintenance interval is right for your individual driving habits is to have an oil analysis done, it's very simple and relatively cheap. I'd recommend waiting until you hit 5000 km then take a sample and have it analyzed, if it looks good try extending to 6000 (which in your case would more than 6 months) and see if the oil is still good. Give it a try and please share the results, I'm sure everyone on this forum would be very interested in some quantitative data on this subject to back up the speculation and debate!!

[Nick 568]

Kerrton nailed it on the head! The oil does degrade over time, and short trips are the hardest on the engine/oil.
If you're not wanting to change the oil as often, you'd probably want to switch to a full synthetic oil. Generally you can go 6 months between changes or so. But it's still recommended to change the filter every 3 still. Personally, on that last bit, I think it would only need changing every 3 months if you do your quarterly mileage limit between changes. I don't see why you'd need to change the filter too if you run full synth and drive say like 1200 miles over those 3 months. But, maybe someone can learn me something new.
(I've been having it changed every 3 months with regular dino oil for the past almost 3 years since my Rogue came with a maintenance plan. Gonna switch to full synth in December when my plan runs out)

While we're on the topic of oil...full synthetic does also handle temperature changes better than the regular stuff, right? Or am I just making that up from something in my head?

[Qashqai]

I do agree that short trips are hard on the engine but I am not sure if "3 months" is long enough for oils to degrade, I am not an expert though.. As Kerrton said, for $40, I would never risk my car, but you know I have to take appointment, go to dealer, leave the car, wait for 45 minutes, etc ..so my concern here is more than money: my time.

As Nick suggested, I will switch to Synthetic, to decrease fuel consumption and other benefits. On my old car I used to use Amsoil (I think Nissan dealers use Mobil 1) and I was very happy with synthetic.

Kerrton said "I'd recommend waiting until you hit 5000 km"..I have a question: since the car has a maintenance schedule and I have to follow for warranty, I thought I MUST change the oil every 3 months/6000km. Can I change the oil 5000kms/4-5 months? Am I wrong?

[Qashqai]

By the way, thank you guys for the replies.

[PlatinumGraphite]

I had my first oil change today. They used the castrol blend. I just nodded along with whatever they told me. I hope it works out ok. I also left there with crossbars, a bumper guard and window guards. I hated seeing the holes in the side bars and decided to finally get the crossbars. I was sort of worried about wind noise, but didn't notice a bit of difference. I also left there with my first ugly scratches. they huffed and buffed and it's barely noticable, unless you know it's there. I still can't figure out how they scratched my door so bad installing plastic window guards.

[ncsu]

I still can't figure out how they scratched my door so bad installing plastic window guards.

Belt buckle or watch would be my guess.

[Qashqai]

I hated seeing the holes in the side bars and decided to finally get the crossbars. I was sort of worried about wind noise, but didn't notice a bit of difference.

I am so sorry for your first scratch. I know that feeling. They scratch it probably during the crossbar installation. It is so stupid, but 2011 models didn't come with plastic pins for covering the holes on the roof bars (on the instruction manual of crossbar, it indicates to remove those pins first). I installed the crossbar by myself carefully and I just followed the instructions. I try to keep/limit the physical touch of some idiots in the service as low as possible.

...and my friend, those crossbars wont cause any noise, because Nissan Japan designed it. they have a quite good aerodynamic section as well.

However, Nissan Canada let a Canadian company design a hood deflector. They "designed" with Google Sketch up or something (without any wind tunnel tests or simulations, that is obvious) and the result is a horrible whistling wind noise. That is a trade off, wind noise versus a huge paint chip or dent on the hood..I chose the noise!

[Qashqai]

I have a simple question:

On every 6000km or every 3 months, I have to change the oil and oil filter. that is an obligation for the warranty.

I generally make only 2600-3000kms (1600-1800miles) in 3 months. So I will basically change the oil on every 2600-3000kms.

Do you think I really need to use synthetic oil, if I have to change on every 3000kms? I think it is wasting the synthetic oil. I think when you use a synthetic oil, you don't change it for a long time (at least longer than 3000km).

Today I asked a quote and dealer gave $40 for regular, $80 for synthetic oil change. I don't mind spending $40 more for synthetic, but for 3000kms, if I wont feel any difference or my car wont take any advantage, I don't want to waste my money.

[PlatinumGraphite]

I paid 47.27 US for the Castrol Synthetic blend oil change. I thought that was fairly reasonable but what do I know? lol