which synthetic motor oil?

[shokhead]

The used 08 G35 Journey I bought is due for my first oil change @ 25,000 and change. So I drive 5-7K ayear. 70/30 city/highway. So I change it once a year. A good synthetic to use is? BTW, I'm in SoCal.

[telcoman]

The used 08 G35 Journey I bought is due for my first oil change @ 25,000 and change. So I drive 5-7K ayear. 70/30 city/highway. So I change it once a year. A good synthetic to use is? BTW, I'm in SoCal.

What does your owners manual say in regards to oil changes.

Changing oil once a year is going to create a substantial amount of sludge in your oil pan. If it clogs your oil pump or oil passages you'll be getting a new G or a new engine before I will.BTW I change my oil every 3k miles. 33 oil changes so far.

Telcoman

[marlin29311]

The longest interval you should be changing your oil at is at 6months time, simply because of breakdown. And since you are going through a lot of city driving, your engine is subjected to more torture than someone who doesn't drive all that stop and go.

You should really be changing every 3-4k / 3 months and STILL use a good synthetic like Mobil 1 or Royal Purple.

[shokhead]

Don't belive in 3K oil changes. That's old school as oil has gotten 10X better since the old every 2500 oil change. Have done mine once a year in my Altima since the Warr went away with no problems. Runs great and I get 29.9 going to Vegas. I will go with the 3750 until the G35 Warr is gone in 20 months. BTW, isn't there a big difference from M1 to RP?

[RED_DET]

Amsoil...

[johnparkyourcar]

Motul

[biggie]

Just had to say, car will be dead soon at 25k mile oil change intervals.

Apparently newer BMWs have been recommending 15K+ intervals, at about 60k+ the head components look like they are in a black pudding.

[shokhead]

Who does that?

[chicos240]

Amsoil FTW!Amsoil Full Synthetic will support your once a year oil changes. I have an old colleague that owns a transmission shop. Amsoil is all he uses and all he uses for his clients. He recently just changed the local college over to amsoil and the savings for the college and the environment have been outstanding. The college saves money because of less maintenace due to better protection, they save on labor because of less time on oil changes, they save on downtime. The environment thanks tthem because now they do not fill up a 55 gallon drum once a week like they used to. So after all of this, i switched.....guess what, engine is fantastic and I change my oil once every 9 mos...even thoguht he says to wait a year. Oh and there is no sludge in my oil pan. NONE.

[joe603]

I recommend you use Royal Purple. I've used them for years and have had great results! 5k miles is the recommended 3rd party interval.

From their website:

How do you compare to Amsoil?

A study by North Carolina State university showed that Royal Purple improved fuel economy and reduced emissions when compared to Amsoil. Numerous independent users have also reported performance improvements when upgrading to Royal Purple. It's important to note that any lubricant manufacturer can point to specific lab tests in which their products excel as evidence of product quality. Royal Purple products excel where it matters, in real world applications.corner graphic

You will have engine sludge or "black death" if you wait 25k miles between oil changes.

http://www.carbibles.com/engineoil_bible.html

[RED_DET]

The XL series for amsoil is 7500 interval....

[4wheelkillr]

oh no! The dreaded oil topic again!

This is so highly debated it's not even funny anymore.Simply because someone uses $10/qt Royal Purple or Amsoil and say they've used it for 60,000 miles and their car is perfect doesn't mean that those are the ONLY oils that will do the same for anyone else's car. You may very well use the Wal-mart stock SuperTech oil and get the same results.

IMO, people who change their auto oils every month or less than 3500 or so, unless their car is a track car, are just throwing money away. Yes 25,000 miles is a long oil change interval but 7,000-10,000 with modern oils...especially PAO oils (full synthetics) is not unreasonable. Hell they're even marketd with a full guarantee at 15,000 miles (although even me, Mr. Oil Skeptic, wouldn't let my personal car go that long!) Specifically the M1 extended interval stuff but that's not even a full synthetic, technically it's a group III blended synthetic.

Everyone has their story and now here's mine. I sold my trusty old 1990 Honda Accord with 220,000 miles on the original engine and the thing ran like a dream; it didn't use or lose a drop of oil. I used plain-jane Castrol GTX 10w-40 every 5,000-7,000 miles depending on when I got around to it. At about 200,000 I did the valve cover gasket because it sprung a leak and the underside of that cover and all the guts on the head underneath were totally clean, no sludge, no gunk, none of that "black death" that's been so widely talked about and feared.

The G37x (VQ37 engines) "recommends" the magic oil "Nissan Ester" oil which actually isn't an ester oil at all; it's a base petroleum group II oil with ester additives, that's it. So at $12/quart the dealer can pound sand!

On my '05 Mustang GT (which I beat the piss out of) I used M1 5w-20 and the car ran like a dream. I'll use the same oil 5w-30 oil on the G37x.

Use whatever oil you want. As long as your car is not exposed to prolonged high RPM and high heat cycles like on a race track, you shouldn't have any problem running just about anythnig for years and years to come.

Let the flaming begin!!
Modified by 4wheelkillr at 6:35 PM 3/3/2010

[telcoman]

oh no! The dreaded oil topic again!

This is so highly debated it's not even funny anymore.Simply because someone uses $10/qt Royal Purple or Amsoil and say they've used it for 60,000 miles and their car is perfect doesn't mean that those are the ONLY oils that will do the same for anyone else's car. You may very well use the Wal-mart stock SuperTech oil and get the same results.

IMO, people who change their auto oils every month or less than 3500 or so, unless their car is a track car, are just throwing money away. Yes 25,000 miles is a long oil change interval but 7,000-10,000 with modern oils...especially PAO oils (full synthetics) is not unreasonable. Hell they're even marketd with a full guarantee at 15,000 miles (although even me, Mr. Oil Skeptic, wouldn't let my personal car go that long!) Specifically the M1 extended interval stuff but that's not even a full synthetic, technically it's a group III blended synthetic.

Everyone has their story and now here's mine. I sold my trusty old 1990 Honda Accord with 220,000 miles on the original engine and the thing ran like a dream; it didn't use or lose a drop of oil. I used plain-jane Castrol GTX 10w-40 every 5,000-7,000 miles depending on when I got around to it. At about 200,000 I did the valve cover gasket because it sprung a leak and the underside of that cover and all the guts of the intake underneath were totally clean, no sludge, no gunk, none of that "black death" that's been so widely talked about and feared.

The G37x (VQ37 engines) "recommends" the magic oil "Nissan Ester" oil which actually isn't an ester oil at all; it's a base petroleum group II oil with ester additives, that's it. So at $12/quart the dealer can pound sand!

On my '05 Mustang GT (which I beat the piss out of) I used M1 5w-20 and the car ran like a dream. I'll use the same oil 5w-30 oil on the G37x.

Use whatever oil you want. As long as your car is not exposed to prolonged high RPM and high heat cycles like on a race track, you shouldn't have any problem running just about anythnig for years and years to come.

Let the flaming begin!!

Oil is cheap



Just did my 34th oil change at 110k miles

Telcoman

[SavG35]

what are the thoughts on filters???

[shokhead]

Well I bought some pennzoil platinum because it seems like the hot new oil and it was on sale for $3.99.

[4wheelkillr]

Well I bought some pennzoil platinum because it seems like the hot new oil and it was on sale for $3.99.

I have seen a lot of "buzz" about this new oil. Hopefully it's not just advertising. At $4/quart I'll probably try it for a little while and see how it does. I generally run an oil thru 1 complete cycle then pay for an oil analysis to see how it's doing. If the additive packs are still strong after 3,000+ miles and there's no sign of significant wear metals in the sample then I'd say it'd be a worthwhile product at $4/quart.

[4wheelkillr]

what are the thoughts on filters???

Oil filters are another debated area. You just have to do your research and be careful what you buy. Remember that Nissan/Infiniti is not in the business of making oil filters. They simply use a company that meets their requirements and slap the nissan name on it then quadruples the price.

Last time I checked the filter recommended for the my G37 had cardboard endcaps and the only company I'm currently aware of that uses cardboard endcaps is Fram. Fram's have long been thought of as substandard junk.

Also remember that many companies have the same rebadged filter. A champion, bosch, Mobil (just as a random example) filter may all be the exact same filter, just rebadged and priced differently.

Personally I use the Purolator PureOne on my G37, Xterra and CBR. It has a significant number of pleats, good filtration numbers and a quality build.

Edit:OF NOTE: My '05 Xterra, '10 G37x and '08 CBR 1000RR all use the exact same oil filter: the PureOne PL 14612! This sort of proves my point about oil filters in general. Manufacturers don't make their own filters, they just find what works, stamp their name on it and quadruple the price.

Of course the X and G are Nissan products and use the same filter so it's not too surprising even though they have different engines. But a Honda Motorcycle too? Not only a different make but a COMPLETELY different type of engine and vehicle. My point being is that manufacturers simply use what works...don't get caught up in brand. Find a decent filter adn stick with it.
Modified by 4wheelkillr at 9:54 AM 3/8/2010

[kmckis1029]

25k wow... have you saw the bmw thread... "epic car fails of 2009" search it...

for me its Royal Purple 10w-30 every 3-5k with either a M1 EP filter or k&N performance gold filter...

engine loves the purple stuff!!!!

[SavG35]

Ya I'm thinking for sure to go with the purple, and thanks for the info on the filters.

[pits200]

Lol, guys, he isn't saying he bought the car new and put 25k miles on it and this is his first oil change since the car has been out of the factory.

He said he bought the car "used" and this is HIS first oil change with the car.

So obviously he probably bought the car with 18-20k miles on it and is curious about his first dealer oil change.

My wife has 125k miles on her 04X and we pretty much do 90/10 highway city and I change it with Mobile one oil/filter every 7.5k miles with no engine issues whatsoever.

But I wouldn't recommend 7.5k mile oil changes if you do more city driving than we do . From what I noticed, Infiniti engines really degrade oil quality much faster than other vehicles.

As for your Maxima, yes they are the same family but two different cars. One is much higher torque and a different engine. I have an Acura (Fwd also) and I can go 10k miles easy with synthetic.

These cars just aren't made for long long oil changes. I'd recommend 5k for you and no more.

[SVTCOBRA]

Mobil 1 Syn in all 4 of my cars + Nissan filters (except for the Focus )

Also, I change between 3K and 4K miles.....oil looks dirty, so I get it out of there!!!

Saw the inside of our 05 engine when a part failed and it even impressed the guys in the shop at Infiniti!!!

Works for me!!!

Continue with the debate!!!!

[miataeric]

I find it funny that both my 92 Miata and my fiancee's 04 G35 takes exactly the same filter as well. As far as my oil experience, I have used full synthetics in both cars since I've had them. Used to use M1 in my Miata, but found that I would end up using or losing some oil between changes....I was using about a half a quart every 3000 miles. I have since switched to RP and have had good results so far. I've only changed the oil in the G35 once so far, and in fact have everything sitting here to change it again with RP oil and filter. I have a PepBoys here local to me that I can get 5 quarts of RP and one of their filters for $50, plus a 10% discount for being military.
Oddly enough though, she's been having recent intermittant warm start issues with the car, and she called the stealership who told her it's likely due to the RP. Sounds like a cam sensor to me, but that's issue for a whole other thread.

[speedeast]

Mobil 1 5w20 in my Mazda 6, Mobil 1 15w50 in my Nissan 240sx.

I've put 80,000 miles on my Mazda with the intervals around 3.5k to 5k and at least once every 3-6 months regardless. I use Mobil 1 EP filters as well. Everything runs great! 94,000 miles on the Mazda and it hasn't has a single issue except a misfire when I gapped the plugs wrong. Advance told me .044", when in fact they were supposed to be .060".

In a car I had a while back I went from conventional autozone crap to Pennzoil Platinum and didn't notice a difference. That vehicle had oil leaks, starvation problems, etc. I never let it run low on oil either.

I've never used Royal Purple. All of my racing buddies hate it. They all prefer Mobil 1 or Amsoil above all else. My pleasant experiences with Mobil 1 will have me staying on that diet until it fails me.

@ 5-7k/yr, your car has a lot of down time. I would change your oil at least every 6 mos with the warm weather and other factors. I ran into somebody at Advance once who was completely overhauling the v8 engine in a newer Ford Expedition. He said he bought it new for his parents and just found out they hadn't changed the oil in 80k miles, LOL. Everything was coated in sludge, all bearing were gone, block was hardly salvageable. If it was mine I would have cried.

If you only want to change your oil annually, go for it! My spidey-sense tells me there's going to be a lot of "told ya sos."

[tollboothwilley]

I'm a fan of Royal Purple. Been running it in my G for close to 30K miles and its been great.

Last oil change was 4 quarts of Royal Purple, 1 quart of Nissan Esther oil, and 12 oz of BG oil additive. (I have an oil cooler = higher capacity)

You want to make sure that when you get an oil filter that is has an ADBV (anti-drain back valve) like the OEM filter. It is important and some people have reported odd errors when using a filter without one.

The only FRAM oil filter you should consider buying is the Tough Guard which should have the ADBV.

I'm a fan of the K&N and Mobile1 oil filters.

[joe603]

Why use ester oil on the older VQ35??