This is my first post so hello to everyone and thanks for providing very useful information (I've been reading this forum a lot since I bought my Rogue).

Anyway, I have a question about using synthetic oil. I know there are threads about this topic - which I read - but I have a specific question about using synthetic while driving very little in a very mild climate.

I've had my Rogue for 6 months now and about to do the second service. I live in Los Angeles and put only 3,300 miles on it so far. I wanted to go for synthetic oil but my question is, does it still make sense to use synthetic with very low annual mileage and mild-to-hot climate?

I drive about 7,000 miles a year almost all in Los Angeles. The dealer recommends changing the oil every 3 months here so it would cost a lot to use synthetic. Is it better to use longer intervals between oil changes with synthetic or use regular oil more often?

Looking forward to hear your thoughts.

Thanks,- Daniel
Modified by jzzdan at 3:42 PM 12/3/2008

First off, a little education:

Short trips and infrequent driving can be harder on both the engine and the oil. When the engine is started, it's cold and the tolerances are greater. During engine warm-up, a small amount of fuel and combustion gases can make thier way past the piston rings and can contaminate the oil. This contamination oxidizes the oil, reducing it's effectiveness which is bad for the engine.

The only way to remove the contaminents is to change the oil. Time plays a factor in this as the longer contaminated oil sits in the engine, the more it breaks down and possibly cause damage. This is why the oil must be changed every few months regardless of mileage.

To answer your question:

Changing to synthetic will do nothing to prevent it from being contaminated in the first place. Some synthetics may have better additives to keep contaminents in suspension before you perform an oil change. Generally it seems 6 months is the average most oil mfg's recommend for synthetic oil. I would hesitate to go any longer especially in a vehicle used for short trips.

Sidenote:

If you are really curious how your engine oil is doing, take a sample (3-4 oz's) at your next oil change and get an oil analysis done. Blackstone Labs (search ) offers a analysis that is highly recommended.

You are blocked between a rock and a hard place, here: You have to follow Nissan guidelines to not void your warranty.

You could go on BITOG forum (google BITOG and you will find it) to get some advices but you will have all sort of them, so I will save you some time and sum up for you:

- Want to keep you warranty: Use any brand API SM rated conventional oil (Pennzoil Yellow Bottle or PYB, Castrol GTX, etc...) and change it every 3 months. You could change it yourself to save some money. With oil and filter on sale at Walmart, Pepboys, Autozone, you could change your oil for less than 10$ (some do that for about 2-3$ with the MIRs).

- Want to take some risk with your warranty: Use any brand API SM rated conventional oil (PYB, Castrol GTX, etc...) and change it every 6 months. SM conventional oil are not that bad fighting fuel contamination (a good one is PYB). That does not mean that your warranty will be void but you may have to fight with Nissan if you ever have a problem. In this case, doing some UOAs (oil analysis) is good to have some records on how your engine is behaving. An oil analysis is about 20$, so if you can get oil on sale, does it worth it? I will let you do the math.

In any case, It would be good for your engine to do a long run (more than 30 minutes long, preferably on highways or free road) every weekend or at least every other weekends to get the car up to temperature and remove some fuel from the oil. That will slow down the contamination and keep the oil in better shape.

Thanks for the replies.

So let me see if I understand it right. Using synthetic won't help with decreasing the contamination. I'm also risking the warranty by having longer intervals between oil changes (when using synthetic oil) than the dealer recommended 3-month periods.So what is the advantage of using the synthetic? I thought it was to keep the engine cleaner and to extend the time between oil changes.

Using Synthetic should decrease a bit the contamination, but new conventional oil (API SM rated) can do as good as synthetic ones for the short interval. Differences between conventional and synthetic can be seen only at the end of a long time OCI, they are similar during the first months of an OCI.

Doing short trips, stop and go drive, is clearly severe service, therefore you are under the "3 months interval or 3750 miles, whichever comes first" rule.

Synthetic are good for long oil change intervals, either in time and/or mileage.Therefore, it is worth the money when you do a lot of miles and/or when you keep the oil for a long time in the sump.

When you do 5000 miles or 6 months, or less, conventional oil should keep your engine clean, lots of UOAs show that... except if you want to overpay for your oil changes (we are in democracy afterall, you are allowed to waste).

Best practice for short tripers is to do some long runs from time to time to burn the fuel in the oil.

I am a do it yourself for basic service (oil+ filter, brakes tire rotation) so I did my second oil and filter change on my Rogue at 10k kms, very easy, first was done at dealer at 6k kmsSo I'd like to know what is the best way I can protect myself against warranty claims with Nissan re: oil + filter maintenance service.I do keep a record of mileage and dates. Do I need anything else for proof, maybe a dated picture. I bought the oil filter at Nissan dealer cost 9.90 + 0.75 for gasket + tax = over $12. and I used synthetic oil. I find with synthetic oil the engine is a lot quieter at cold start-ups.I am looking to buy Nissan oil filters #15208-65F01 in bulk (5-10) I couldn't find any on ebay.Toyota dealer only charges $6. ea.Any info is appreciated.

I did in fact make a warranty claim on my '03 Altima's engine. All the dealer requested was a detailed log showing the oil change intervals and receipts for the oil and filter. Nissan accepted this with no problems.

There is a good thread on oil changes in the FAQ: zerothread/296876

As for filters, Nissan has made several different ones for the QR25DE motor:

15208-65F00 (same as NAPA 1365) - OEM Rogue filter. This shorter filter appears to be used on some models for space reasons.

15208-9E000 (same as NAPA 1356) - 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 also 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 15208-65F01 is a new one. I've also seen an 15208-65F0C which is the latest filter shown in Nissan's parts website: http://www.nissan4parts.com

Rest assured all of these filters are similar and interchangeable on the Rogue. Nissan is constantly changing part numbers and has now consolidated to one main filter (likely for simplicity and cost) for most models: 15208-65F0C

When you had the warranty work done on your Altima had you been using non-OEM filters. I can't see they would be that anal, but I wonder if Nissan is accepting of using the longer filters (NAPA 1356).

ahhbeebee wrote:When you had the warranty work done on your Altima had you been using non-OEM filters. I can't see they would be that anal, but I wonder if Nissan is accepting of using the longer filters (NAPA 1356).

Nissan spec'd the '02-06 Altima with the 'longer' 15208-9E000 (same as NAPA 1356) from the factory so it was a non-issue. Actually, all the 1st gen QR25DE motors from '02-06 used the longer filter. Mine was an '03 Altima BTW.

BTW, the longer filters are used on current Nissan models as well... namely the Titan (5.6l V8), the Pathfinder, Xterra, and Frontier (4.0l V-6). Considering it's still used on certain models and has been used on the 2.5l engines before, I can't see there being an issue.