oil change

[shooter]

I just changed the oil in my 89 pathfinder and 97 maxima with perolators and castrol gtx. In the past I have always changed the oil at 3,000 miles but this time I went to almost 5,000 in both. On many forums you read "you are wasting money if you change your oil earlier than the manufacturer's recommended schedule" and "3000 mile oil changes were just something started by quick oil change companies" etc The old oil was black as ink at nearly 5000. I am staying with my old 3,000 mile schedule, or at least well before 4,000.

[silverton]

That is something that was started by the quick lube places. I will admit I take mine to one of those places, but only because I hate dealing with the oil filter and the used oil. Though this last time I went, the sticker didn't have the next change recommended at a 3k interval, it was 5k!

[nunya]

People do what they want anyway... I do mine by date, not mileage.

[MY1PATH]

pathtfineders and all VG engines, change oil every 3k or less. It is not a myth. dirt and wear particles get suspended in the oil (long before your 5k or 7k oil breaks down) and these particles wear out your lifters. So really with these engines its not the life of the oil but how clean it stays. Newer vehicles and rollerized engines can go longer. I also recomend using @ least 1 qt of royal purple or brad penn racing oil with your castrol (or whatever brand) because it adds some much needed ZDDP to you oil. ZDDP is a wear reducing agent that has been removed from a vast majority of oils starting in 2004.

Edited August 14, 2010 by MY1PATH

[adamzan]

I've been using mobil1 and valvoline oils without issue. You can go 5-7k just change the filter halfway through

[Mr.510]

I just changed the oil in my 89 pathfinder and 97 maxima with perolators and castrol gtx. In the past I have always changed the oil at 3,000 miles but this time I went to almost 5,000 in both. On many forums you read "you are wasting money if you change your oil earlier than the manufacturer's recommended schedule" and "3000 mile oil changes were just something started by quick oil change companies" etc The old oil was black as ink at nearly 5000. I am staying with my old 3,000 mile schedule, or at least well before 4,000.

 

 

I change the oil in all my VGs at 5,000 miles. I use Nissan filters and I cut and inspect every used filter. I *highly* recommend that in the future you NOT use Castrol GTX! The heads on VGs run extremely hot and thus are highly prone to sludge buildup. Castrol is a low detergent oil and VGs need the highest detergent level they can get. I use Chevron 10w-30 in mine year-round. I ran Castrol GTX in my VG510 through four changes (20k miles total) and the heads sludged up enough to make me sick to my stomach.

 

Some of my Nissan tech friends run half a quart of ATF in the oil of their VGs all the time as it's known to be the best detergent lubricant available. I do not recommend doing this unless you're engine is nearly spotless inside to start with. If your heads are sludged up and you add ATF the filter will plug and bypass in as little as 500 miles and you'll essentially be pumping mud through the bearings!

 

If your engine is sludged up buy some cheap oil, Dexron 2 ATF, and half a dozen Nissan filters. Change the oil and filter but put in one quart of ATF in place of a quart of oil. Drive it 250 miles but don't run it excessively hard (no towing or mountain passes!). Change the filter and top off the level with oil. Run it another 250 miles and change the oil & filter using a quart of ATF again. Repeat until you run out of filters. After that put Chevron 10w30 in it with a Nissan filter and change both at 3000 miles as there will be a little bit of residual ATF still scrubbing away. Then go to 5k mile changes with Chevron oil and the heads on your VG will look like brand new forever. This is what I did to save the VG30 in my 510 after my Castrol Mistake.

 

Use Nissan filters, they are worth every cent! I've cut apart hundreds of filters of nearly every brand you can imagine. Nissan and Toyota filters are tied for being the highest quality of construction. (I suspect they are manufactured by the same company.) Nothing else comes close except Wix Racing filters. If you run a remote filter head that takes Chevy filters use Wix Racing filters. Don't ever use a Fram filter, they are the worst of them all with cardboard and hot glue used extensively in their element and bypass construction.