The guy at the local stealership told my G/F that she must run regular oil in it for the first 3-5 oil changes, and not change to synthetic right away. He told her the synthetic does not allow the piston's to seal properly and your car will never run right. This is a huge load of crap correct?

She has 3500 miles on it and the oil change light is on, so it needs to be changed in the next day or so, and I was just making sure I was right

Also, does the Altima have an actual oil life meter, or does it just say it needs changed every 3k miles or so?

THANKS!!

 

ibtsmurf

 

3-5k miles is plenty to break in a new engine, you can change to synthetic without any issues at this point. Many new cars have the engines pre-run at the factory for a break in period and ship with synthetic oil already in them.

 

moving to tech section...

 

Well the synthetic not allowing the rings to seat properly is correct, but I think you only have to worry about that for the first 1k miles or so. Don't quote me on that, but that seems to be what I remember.

 

There are as many different recommendations as there are oil brands. I've heard 1K, 10K, never or immediately.

 

When I bought my Z, I threw some Synthetic blend in for the first oil change because I didn't know what the previous owner used. But you do need to run regular oil to break in the motor.

 

 

Thanks guys

 

Your Altima has an adjustable meter.. you can set that maint. reminder to come on at 250 mile increments, I think factory sets them at 3500. Once you put Synthetic in it you can adjust it to come on at 7500 oor whatever..