It's almost time for my very first oil change that's due at 3,750 miles (I currently have about 3450 on the clock) And I was wondering what kind of oil I should go with. And where should I get it done at? (southern California). Are there any local dealerships to avoid, or are they mostly all the same? And should I buy my own oil and bring it to them to put in my motor, or should I just let them do everything? And finally, do our Z's come with Synthetic fluid in them, or just conventional? What does the manual recommend for us to use, conventional or synthetic? Sorry for the many questions, but I can't find my owner's manual right now. Any help would be appreciated!

 

first, you should have changed the oil at 500 miles or less. but since its too late for that now...

the z came with regular oil in it. keep in mind that once you go synthetic you cant go back to regular oil. personally, i have always used synthetic (mobil 1) in every one of my cars. it costs more, but its much better than most other oils.

as far as shops to do it; go to wal-mart. they have a great deal on a mobil 1 oil change (~30) if i remember correctly, dont get ripped off by the dealer. they will charge you about 40-50 for a synthetic oil change at the stealership.

 

Why would you change the oil before 500 miles? or is that just if you switch to synthetic?

 

He won't be able to explain why it should have been changed at 500 miles. Just like any other "when do i make the first oil change" discussion on any forum, it is all opinion with little to no facts to back it up.

If the first oil change should happen at less than 3750 miles, wouldn't the same owners manual that specifies a 1200 mile break-in period also specify when the first oil change should happen (other than 3750)? You would think so...

Conventional vs Synthetic is yet another debate. I'm inclined to stick to conventional oil. If i drove the car hard/raced, i may consider sythetic. Most on this board have an opinion, but until i talked to engineers from Mobil and Nissan, i'd take "advice" with a grain of salt.

 

I sure would like to hear the reason for that.

 

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

Mineral or synthetic?
Mineral oils are based on oil that comes from dear old Mother Earth which has been refined. Synthetic oils are entirely concocted by chemists wearing white lab coats in oil company laboratories. For more info, see the section on synthetics further down the page. The only other type is semi-synthetic, sometimes called premium, which is a blend of the two. It is safe to mix the different types, but it's wiser to switch completely to a new type rather than mixing.

A couple of words of warning:

If you've been driving around with mineral oil in your engine for years, don't switch to synthetic oil without preparation. Synthetic oils have been known to dislodge the baked-on deposits from mineral oils and leave them floating around your engine - not good. I learned this lesson the hard way! It's wise to use a flushing oil first.
If you do decide to change, only go up the scale. If you've been running around on synthetic, don't change down to a mineral-based oil - your engine might not be able to cope with the degradation in lubrication. Consequently, if you've been using mineral oil, try a semi or a full synthetic oil. By degradation, I'm speaking of the wear tolerances that an engine develops based on the oil that it's using. Thicker mineral oils mean thicker layers of oil coating the moving parts (by microns though). Switching to a thinner synthetic oil can cause piston rings to leak and in some very rare cases, piston slap or crank vibration.
Gaskets and seals! With the makeup of synthetic oils being different from mineral oils, mineral-oil-soaked gaskets and seals have been known to leak when exposed to synthetic oils. Perhaps not that common an occurrence, but worth bearing in mind nevertheless.


He won't be able to explain why it should have been changed at 500 miles. Just like any other "when do i make the first oil change" discussion on any forum, it is all opinion with little to no facts to back it up.

did you look at your oil after the first oil change? there are a ton of metal flakes and other residue. why would you want to leave that in there any longer than you have to?

 

I was just curious if it was opinion or something else... I'm with you on the conventional oil, I just don't race which is what synthetic oil is ment for, imo anyways.

 

I totally agree. Either you trust Nissan's engineers or you don't.

 

Hey i'm in the same position. Except I didn't get to change it around 500, i changed it around 950, is that OK? And I switched to Mobil 1, 5w30, do you guys put in 4.5 quarts or the full 5 quarts. Any help would be useful to me and the thread started.

Thanks,
Ted

 

Hmm.. Well my Z is my daily driver, but my commute is very little. It is driven daily and I've had the car since 9/05... Which makes it 6 months old. And I still only have ~3500 miles on it. I don't really race, just a little spirited driving here and there. Should I just go with the regular conventional oil? And does everyone here think Wal-Mart is a safe place to take your Z without any risk or doubt of their skills/knowledge? I just would naturally assume taking it to the dealership may be expensive, but in the hopes of them knowing what they are doing.

 

You've had the car for 6 months and never changed oil once? What did it do to you? It is every 3,000 miles or 3 months, whichever comes first.

R&T or MT or C&D (one of those magazines) recently answered a reader's question about first oil change by saying that it should be done at 300 miles to get rid of metal shavings, second change at 1,000, and then every 3,000 miles after that. It was the first time I had heard of that timeline for new engines, but I'm glad I did.

 

My '05 Z has 23k miles on it and I just change it with regular 5-30 oil. Somewhere in the manual it says non-synthetic, "regular" oil is fine.

 

dealership by my house includes lifetime free oil changes on any nissan purchased/leased.. and they arent jackasses to put the oil change prices in the price of the car..

 

Wow, free oil changes for life from a dealership? Sounds like a sweet deal. I think I'm just gonna go to my nearest Nissan dealership and tell them to just change the oil using the regular conventional oil. I'll do some more thinking if I want full synthetic or not, then I can just put it in later. Thanks for the replies guys.

 

your first duech huh.

 

If you're running synthetic, you can change it every 5-6K miles unless you are FI. Many people don't put alot of miles on their Zs so running synthetic oil and low mileage, it would be Ok to change it twice a year or every six months. I change mine about 3 times a year which would be every 4 months or 3,500 miles. I'm only putting about 10K miles a year on the car. I check the oil level and coloration weekly

 

switch to amzoil fluids (they invented synthetic oils) if you plan on keeping the car 5 or 10 years.see thier web site and change every 6000 mi. or twice a year.

 

Is that really true? If I put in full synthetic like Mobil 1, I can go without changing the oil for 6,000 miles?

 

Yes sir, I know. But he isn't running synthetic yet. This would be the first oil change for the car after six months of use.

 

Another question: If I decide to go the Synthetic route, would it be better for me to purchase my own motor oil, such as Mobil 1, and bring it to the dealership/shop to change for me? And would it be any cheaper? (assuming obviously because they wouldn't have to use their own oil).