Baddad

I have finally reached the 3K mark on the odometer and it's time for the Maxima's first oil change. Some of the newer car models (Newer Fords)these days require/recommend a graphite additive in the oil. Is there any recommended oil blends (synthetic, graphite etc) that Nissan or any other specialist out there would recommend using? I am the type to buy quality and drive for many years, I am not the type to buy every two - five years, so maintenance if very important to me. I run synthetic (Amsoil/Royal Purple)in all my race bikes and have had very good luck overall.

If synthetic is recommended, should the engine have a minimum amount amount of miles on it before going to synthetic.....say 10-20K?

Thanks,
Craig

Bror Jace

Baddad, it's a myth that synthetic oils prevent proper break-in You can switch over (and back) at any time.

Modern oils do NOT use graphite. I think you are thinking of molybdenum ... or "moly" for short. The form used in oils is a soluble moly, and not the disulphide used in anti-seize, etc ... And even then, Honda uses a LOT of molybdenum in their oils (especially the factory break-in oil) but Ford uses none in their Motorcraft oils. They used a boron-based anti-wear additive instead. Some oils like Pennzoil, Chevron and Mobil 1 use both moly and boron in balanced amounts.

Arco had a grahite oil on the market decades ago but it is not sure whether it was any better than any other 'normal' oil ... and probably because it was dark grey right out of the bottle, it never caught on and was taken off the market long ago.

Check your manual, but the book for my QR25DE says to use mineral oils, not synthetics. I think this is BS. Nissan might be worried that people will use somehting like Amsoil and then go 25,000 miles without an oil change ... which would be very bad. But there's no reason most "synthetics" (whatever that means these days) can't be used as long as you never exceed factory drain intervals.

I use Schaeffer Oil, a private blender in St. Louis Missouri. Specifically, I run their Supreme 7000 synthetic blend which is a real 20-25% PAO and Group II+ mineral blend unlike most of the mass-market oils which are no longer true synthetics (Mobil 1 being an major exception). Schaeffer also has double the moly of most off-the-shelf oils, and has had this for years:

http://www.schaefferoil.com/

Choose either 5W-30 or 10W-30 depending how cold it gets in your area. The stuff is very robust and only the most extreme applications will cause them to shear down. All this for about $3 per quart.

I know someone who has your engine in a new Quest and has used this oil with great results. I'll try to find his lab report and post a link to it in the coming days.

In the meantime, try searching this forum using the word "synthetic" as well as the various oil brand names such as "Pennzoil," "Chevron" or "Castrol" for more motor oil discussion. There's plenty here.

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--- Bror Jace

Tavel

well i use walmart's supertech oil, a whopping $0.70 a quart! it actually has a better additive package than a lot of name brand oils. and i use the supertech filter, or if walmart is out of stock i use a mobil 1 filter(same desighn, different build quality. mobil 1 is the better on lol).

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Baddad

WOW , Thanks Bror & Tavel,

Bror, that was a lot of great info I knew I asked the right group. I think I found a gold mine of info. on this forum. You led me to look up "synthetic facts" and I have weeks of reading now and I'm learning a lot.

I really appreciate your time,
Baddad

Bror Jace

Baddad, glad to be of help.

Yes Tavel, Supertech oil, despite its cheap, cheap price is actually not too bad. I'd take it over Valvoline. Just don't leave it in for long, its TBN drops quickly.

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--- Bror Jace

Bror Jace

Oh, and here's that Used Oil Analysis (UOA) of a motor just like yours:

http://theoildrop.server101.com/cgi/...c;f=3;t=002121

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--- Bror Jace