What oil to use?

Mar 24th, 2003, 03:25 PM

I just recently bought a 1995 Nissan Sentra GLE witha GA16DE engine. It has about 120000 and I was wondering what oil I should be using in it. I have no idea what oil the owners before me were using. The car booklet recommends 5W-30 but what brand should I use. Also what other things should I do to keep my car in top form. It looks brand new since the owners before me took great care of the car. Do you guys think I have a while left with the car. Is a cold air intake worth getting installed? If so what one? Thanks in advance.

By Nature · Mar 24th, 2003, 04:47 PM

As long as you regularly change oil you should be fine. 10-30 is recommended for high mileage engines and thats what I use. I wouldn't recommend switching to synthetic oils as it will prob will open up all seals at this stage. Your car should do you fine service for another 30-50k if maintained properly, but I think aftermarkets parts for it are bit too late

Mar 24th, 2003, 07:05 PM

I ALWAYS USE MOBILE 30WT

95 SentraB13 · Mar 24th, 2003, 08:48 PM

"but I think aftermarkets parts for it are bit too late"
That's about the most disheartening thing I've heard but I guess it's true. My car has 116,xxx miles and I've only just begun a few mods, only suspension though.
I know the engines are reliable, so you will get 200,000 miles and more. Regular maintenance like changing engine and transaxel fluid, filters, plugs and wires, re-pack wheel bearings, inspect axel boots, fix engine leaks immediately, etc. is your best bet to keeping it in good shape along with replacing older and failing sensors will help maintain good gas mileage. Run the ECU codes for any problems.

As for oil, my car always used regular crude based oil, 5W30 when new but 10w30 now. All the engine seals were replaced under warranty in '99-00 I believe so I'm switching to Synthetic. If I get leaks, well they are there anyway and need to be fixed, just they're gummed up with oil deposits.

I'd use Mobil 1 10W30, mainly because it's the cheapest, especially at Wal-Mart as you can get the 4.5-5L for the same price as the 4L everywhere else. I might switch to Redline or AMSOIL in the future.

By Nature · Mar 24th, 2003, 09:33 PM

200k miles for a 4 cylinder gasoline motor is wishful thinking in my opinion... when installing aftermarket parts on engine with 100+k miles I am asumming you do that to increase performance, so then the car will be driven harder decreasing it's life span...

I switched to syn at 30k and replaced front seal and my oil pan gets slightly wet after 3k.

disclaimer:
ga16de is a workhorse no doubt and I am not deterring anyone from their hobby

toolapcfan · Mar 24th, 2003, 09:45 PM

Synthetic oil has the same characteristics as mineral it just takes higher temps to break it down. Switching to synthetic will not cause any problems. Switching back and forth and mixing will not either. I can't vouch for the GA16DE but I know a few people who didn't turbo their SR20's until they had 120K+ on their motors and are still running stong, and SR20's have aluminum blocks, which are not quite as bulletproof as cast iron. So I wouldn't be too leary of bolt ons for it as long as it checks out okay after a thorough check/tune up. I think if it was well cared for and you continue that it'll run forever. You're more likely to wreck it or have it rust out before the engine will quit on you.

sentrapower93 · Mar 24th, 2003, 09:58 PM

Use Mobil 1 10w30 & a nissan oil filter that's what i use. 110k miles and doing fine. FWIW i started adding bolt-ons @ 70k miles, it's never too late as long as your motor & tranny are in good shape...

Katana200sx · Mar 24th, 2003, 11:07 PM

very close to 130,000 and still going strong. about to do a full tune up and also replace the o2 sensors. im thinking about using those new denso o2 sensors since they are resistant to race gas which i run sometimes. i switched to synthetic a few oil changes ago while my engine already had a oil leak....made the oil leak worse but gave me an incentive to fix the problem. your front seal will probably wear out sooner or later bc it seems to on everyone's ga16

Lucino200sx · Mar 25th, 2003, 01:17 PM

USE regular oil and change it eveyr 1500 ~ 2000 miles. The best solution. 200k miles, it's possible, on a Honda maybe more common, but they I'm sure your transmission is slipping like Arnold on ice skate.

SangerSE-R · Mar 25th, 2003, 01:52 PM

mobil 1 syn, I don't thinkt the filter matters as much as people say, IMHO

johnand · Mar 25th, 2003, 01:59 PM

I can't believe all the negatives on the lifespan of the GA16DE motor. I have about 160K on my B13 w/ GA. When performing the auto to manual swap, I pulled the oil pan to reseal it, as it was seeping VERY slightly and figured it was the most oportuned time to do it. When I pulled the pan I shined a flashlight into the cylinders and I could still see the crosshatching from the factory cylinder honing. My car doesn't burn a drop of oil and that is w/ 10K oil changes using synthetic since about 30K miles. If I didn't find a great deal on the parts to swap in the SR motor, I would see no reason why the motor wouldn't easily go to 300K.

Use a quality name brand oil and change often and you'll be fine. Or switch to synthetic, but be prepared to possibly replace some seals. Synthetic's advantages outweigh that disadvantage as far as I am concerned.

javierb14 · Mar 25th, 2003, 06:16 PM

Mobil 1 with Nissan filter

Katana200sx · Mar 25th, 2003, 08:48 PM

im with john. the spare engine i got had 155,000 miles and it had the factory hatchin in the cylinders as well. only thing wrong w/the bottom end was the pistons had alot of carbon buildup which is normal. doubt there's alimit to how long an engine can run anymore w/proper maintanence. most of the time you either wreck it, trade it, or somethin else major goes wrong before the actual engine.

HCS200sx97 · Mar 26th, 2003, 11:32 PM

Just keep in mind synthetics clean the engine a lot, including deposits on seals which keep them from leaking. Best to usually waiver on the side of caution unless your low miles, low years, or have a knack for replace many seals.

Also there is a very similar thread in the b14 section on this same topic. Check it out for some incite.

MontyCrabApple · Mar 27th, 2003, 11:20 AM

Yeah, use mobil 1 10W-30, that's what I use on my 1994 Sentra XE with 92,000 miles. As for oil filters, I get Fram or K&N.

As for upgrdes, I went to checker and bought a $20 cone filter, went to Home Depot and bought an adapter to connect the air filter to the MAF, and attached all that direcly on to the stock air intake tube. Good to give you like 1-2 extra horses plus the engine sounds more throaty.

Don't deny headers or exhaust either. You can put that on with out worrying about anything major.

My car's heading towards the big 100 on my odometer too, and iv'e already replaced the crank oil seal and the outer cv boots, but the car still pulls strong.

Oh yeah, check up on a Hyper Ground System set. The kit cost a $100 and comes with wires to ground your car properly giving you more horses. I did a post on this, don't know if it's still up, so do a search under "proper grounding +16 hp."