my car just got around 4500 km now
i think i will oil change first time for my 350z soon

when should i change to use synthetic oil????????

or wait for next time to use synthetic oil?

 

Well when ever your next oil change is you can switch to synthetic. But I was told by a mechanic, once you put synthetic oil you can't go back to regular oil ...

 

That "you can't go back" stuff is BS.

As for when to switch, a lot of people think you have to break in the engine (set the rings) before going to synthetic. I personally think that isn't true, since lots of cars, from Vettes to Porsches to AMG Mercedes ship from the factory with synthetic.

 

Even cars that aren't high-end, like my g/f's RSX, come synthetic from the factory. The maintenance schedule book even indicates the first oil change at 10K or 12 months... pretty impressive.

My Z has about 6500 miles and my next change (should be tomorrow, we'll see how lazy I feel first ) will be into synthetic... this despite a few mentions from people on this board that the switch to syn should be only after 10k miles or so

 

I went to synthetic at my first change (1200 miles).

 

every 3g's

 

The service manager at my dealership told me I could go with synthetic any time, but he recommended against waiting longer between oil changes just because I use synthetic. He said the oil gets dirty regardless, so they recommend every 3500 miles no matter which oil you use.

I personally think you should be able to go twice as long between oil changes with synthetic, thus making the expense almost the same as with regular oil, but his comment gives me pause.

Any comments?

 

Get your oil tested, and they can let you know how your oil holds up and about how long you can go between oil changes.

 

my service manager told me there was no such thing as a 1200 mile service and that i shouldnt change my oil untill 3750. i told him regardless i wanted it change and he refused. looks like i'll be doing the oil changes at home now.

 

Now that's a new one... most dealers are happy to make the money for an oil change regardless of interval frequency... I'll bet if you try other dealerships, you'll get a completely different answer.

I suggest going with your last statement... but be ready for that first one though. The oil filter is on there TIGHT!!! If you don't have a GOOD oil filter wrench, you might look to invest in a genuine Nissan oil filter wrench attachment

 

so using channel locks with me a PITA? i'm at 1400 miles right now and just drove my car hard for the first time.. only got up to 80 but gotta love chirpin in all 3 gears

anyway. i was planning to do the oil change today but i need an oil filter. will pepboys or autozone have the correct filter? preferably mobil1?

 

that "worthless advice" stuff is BS.

the sludge that i had to scrape out of my last vehicle's block was created by switching from synthetic back to dino oil. when the oil could no longer flow at all, i had to break it down and start over.

synthetic oil lasts over 7000 miles no problem, but all filters are rated at 5000. that's the reason for whatever blah blah.

some engines like rsx are designed to come with synth oil. cars that are supposed to have dino need the valves and rings to seat and be conditioned before you can switch to synth.

my altima w/ vq35 seemed to love it so...
i am going to do the switch at my 3rd oil change... around 6500-7000 miles.

 

Synthetic oil lasts a pretty long time. My parents' BMW has Castrol Synthetic, and the first oil change in the car is due at 15000 miles. Pretty impressive stuff to me. Only thing is, that it can only run on a certain type of Castrol oil.

 

One case does not a truth make. It is anecdotal.

I've had three cars and a jeep that have switched from synthetic back to non-synthetic when I sold them, and they all did great for 10s of thousands more miles. My other car is a 98 GTP with about 100,000 miles that has run at least 5 or 6 non-synthetic oil changes mixed in with they Mobil 1 (dealer did oil changes with some warranty work, and put in other oil).

So, you've got one case, I've got 4. Neither of our stories prove the case. I'll just say that in all my time in the car business and since, I've never seen anything other than a theory to prove out that switching hurts anything (in fact, I've seen lots of cars run most of their lives on synthetic opened up that still looked great, even after a few crankcases full of non-synth).