should I switch to 10w-30 now?

A forum for the legendary Nissan Pathfinder and Infiniti QX4.
hangout
Posts: 138
Joined: Tue Mar 31, 2009 1:00 am
Car: 2007 FX35,, 2016 Q70L

Post

my 2001 QX4 almost turn to 118k miles .
I'm using the Mobile one 5w-30 now, my friend told me that on the engine with high mileage should use thicker oil.
He suggest me switch to 10w-30. actually, I heard that before. But, is it true?


User avatar
Towncivilian
Posts: 4868
Joined: Sun May 23, 2010 10:21 am
Car: 2001.5 Nissan Pathfinder SE 3.5L 2WD A/T
2007 Nissan Altima 2.5L CVT
2012 Nissan Sentra 2.0L CVT Special
2012 Infiniti G37 Sedan 7A/T
Location: Florida, USA
Contact:

Post

Is it consuming more oil at this point? If not, stick with the same weight oil. If your temps are above 0 degrees Celsius, you can use 10W-30/40 per the owner's manual.

I've read on BITOG that the VQ engines are hard on oil and shear 5W-30 down to 5W-20-ish after a few thousand miles, and these engines prefer thicker weight oils, or at least a 5W-30 that's on the thicker side (read here). I am going to try 10W-30 or 10W-40 for my next oil change (maybe even an API-certified HDEO [diesel oil] which I've read are good cleaning oils and can lower oil consumption).

m0nkeyprince
Posts: 329
Joined: Sat Jul 10, 2010 7:03 am
Car: 1998 Qx4
Location: Bay Area, CA

Post

agreed, dont switch unless your engine is eating up mor than normal amounts of oil

Thicker oil on older engines work on the assumption that older engines have leaky seals and that a thicker oil would slow down those leaks. That aint a solution, cause youre changing the weight of the oil just to prolong the amount of time you need to check the oil levels.

Stick with 5w-30, and if you really are worried about leaky seals, just check the oil levels more often and top off (which i doubt you will need to)

User avatar
Chuck Tribolet
Posts: 1490
Joined: Mon Nov 24, 2008 3:15 pm
Car: '01 Nissan Pathfinder
'87 Chevy Corvette
'01 Toyota Camry daily driver
'98 Boston Whaler Montauk
Location: Morgan Hill, CA and Marina, CA
Contact:

Post

5W30 will give better gas mileage than 10W40, in general.

That said, I run 10W40 because it helps keep the P1110/P1135 camshaft advance codes away.

yeldogt
Posts: 426
Joined: Sun Jan 23, 2011 8:23 am
Car: 02 Pathfinder 4X LE (X2)

Post

No need to switch -- the oil is doing its job. Manufacturers often list different oils that will work properly in an engine.

Remember a 5-30 is a 30w when it is warm. The only time you would want to move to a heaver oil is if you have a leak or the thinner oil is leaking past the rings when the engine is cold and smoking on start up -- obviously you should fix the leak. The 5-30 will give you better gas milage as the engine warms up on a lot of short trips.

We have used the high miles oils in a couple of out fleet cars that have over 200k -- just to try them out. The oil worked great on an older DOHC ford V6 that had very light valve noise -- quieted it right down. But I would not change unless you are having some issue


Return to “Nissan Pathfinder Forum / Infiniti QX4 Forum”