I've got a '97 GXE Sentra with 71000 miles, and it's due for an oil change, uh about 500 miles ago. I'm going to get the stuff to do the change this weekend but I'm wondering--
I'm using 5W30 Valvoline right now, and a Fram filter. This is what I've always used in this car. My wife has a Mustang GT that I use Mobil 1 synthetic 10W30 in and a Ford filter. Since my car has a ton of miles on it, I was thinking of switching to synthetic oil this time, or a blend. I've heard those blends are nothing but junk, though, so more than likely I'll go with Mobil 1, too. Is this a good idea? If so, will switching fro 5W30 to 10W30 cause a problem at all?
Thanks
Switching oil weights wont hurt at all. I used castrol syntec for years, but switched to blend b/c it was expensive. No problems @ all and its been 7 years now!
I've been running synthetic in my XE for a few years now, and switched my wifes '97 grand am over last year. I use Purolator Pure ONE filters. They cost more, like $6 but I buy into their gimmick I guess. I've been told that as long as you change your oil and filter often enough, you might as well buy .99 cent oil and and the cheapest filters you can find. This is somewhat true, because most all cheap oils are made by one company. Amoco oil is bottled by the same people that bottle most store labeled brands, like Advance Auto, O'reilly's, Wal-Mart, ETC. And it's not necessarily Amoco's oil going into the bottle, it could vary with each production run, and this may be true of other brands as well. (PSST, Goodyear and firestone make tires for each other all the time. A good number of those faulty Firestone tires were likely produced at GoodYear plants, it was Ford spec'ing a sub par passenger tire for a SUV that lead to tread seperation issues. pass it on.) I'm not 100% sold on the advantages of full synthetic and I've heard that once you go synthetic you're not supposed to go back to dino. But I've never verified that to my satisfaction. So I guess I'm where you are, not sure what the best thing to do is. You can get 5 quart jugs of mobil 1 synthetic for $17 at Wal-Mart, that's the cheapest I've ever seen Mobil 1. Why do you want to switch to 10W30? It doesn't cover as broad a temperature range. If you park outside a lot in the winter, I'd stay with the thinner stuff, makes for easier starts. Well, that's my undecided .02
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Rob '93 SE-R
PM or e-mail me for Progress swaybars $190 shipped, B13 Progress coilovers $1300 shipped and B13 Progress LCA brace $160 shipped.
i figured oil is oil, but i recently heard in another thread that dino breaks down real quick, specially when you rev the engine up in the range, like most of us probably do because it's more fun up there. that would probably explain why my oil is crude black every time we change it, even though i'm johnny on the spot with oil changes. i'm expecting to upgrade to mobil next change, despite my uncles arguments against it. i have 140K, and i don't expect to have money to buy a new car/motor any times soon, as of now i'm jobless and paying for full time college. i need my car to last at least another 3 years before i start my project XE-R. so a few bucks more at change seems reasonable for the long run. if my car was under 100k, id say i could afford not upgrading for a while.
as far as i know, you can go back to dino if you had to. My uncle states this as one of the anti syn arguments. some guy he works with switched back to dino because he didn't want to pay for syn anymore.
then he argues that my car is getting old and its not worth putting syn. but everyone else says thats exactly why i should put in syn.
Actually, I cheaped out on my oil change. I decided to try that Valvoline MaxLife stuff. It was less than half the price of the Mobil One so I figured I'd give it a try. I did go to 10W30, though from 5W30. 20 miles later, my car is still running, so that's a good sign.
Originally posted by ScarCrow28: "...i read on Sentra.net that Mobil 1 is the cheapest, but when i went out to wally world (read wal mart) it was the most expensive one there! 30$ a case..."
If you buy by the quart, about the cheapest full synthetic I've found is Havoline Synthetic at Advance Auto, can't remember what it costs though, $3 + something. If you buy Mobil 1 in the $17, 5 quart jugs at Wally-World, it's $3.40 per quart. I haven't bought oil in cases before (usually because there's no price break in doing so) so I don't know how much per quart Mobil 1 is when you buy a case for $30. I'm guessing a case is 12 quarts, although they do sell 6 quart cases sometimes. So for $30, 12 quarts of Mobil 1 would be $2.50 a quart, that'd be cheap as hell. Even if a case was 10 that'd be $3 a quart and cheap for full synthetic. I'm going to have to check that out if that's the case. (No pun intended). If that's a 6 quart case for $30, then yeah, you're getting ripped off at $5 a quart. I tried to check Wally's website, but they neglect to include the automotive section on their website. Not too smart considering how much automotive merchandise is purchased on the internet anymore.
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Rob '93 SE-R
PM or e-mail me for Progress swaybars $190 shipped, B13 Progress coilovers $1300 shipped and B13 Progress LCA brace $160 shipped.
Last edited by toolapcfan : Sep 3rd, 2002 at 04:34 PM.
if you live somewhere that is cold and you leave your car outside, id say go with 5w30. If you live in southern Cali and its not that cold, and when you park your car in the garage, use 10w30. There is another thread about oil on the forums. I am using Mobil One 10w30 dino oil with an STP oil filter. It runs great and my oil is not black and dirty, this is after 3500 miles. Usually when your oil turns black and dirty, its that you need to change your oil. Not because you are constantly revving your engine. If you like to rev it and keep it in high rpms constantly, use higher viscosity. Dont buy into that VR1 racing motor oil from Valvoline or any other "racing oil" just buy 20w50 oil as it is cheaper and should be the same thing.
on my last oil change i had a slow oil leak. i was gonna switch to synthetic too so i was like what the hell ill get the heaviest thing i can. ended up getting mobil 1 syn. 15w50. haven't lost a bit of oil yet and the stuff still looks like i just chnaged the oil...and that was about 2000 miles ago. im going back to a more sane oil the next change though, and a nissan filter.
switch to synthetic?
If that's a 6 quart case for $30, then yeah, you're getting ripped off at $5 a quart. I tried to check Wally's website, but they neglect to include the automotive section on their website. Not too smart considering how much automotive merchandise is purchased on the internet anymore.
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