SE-R Tricks
- Thread starter dropitby
- Start date
- Status
"In my opinion, you still need to change the engine oil at about 3000 miles for best results even with synthetics"
Hm, does that guy have any factual reason for stating this? I highly doubt it.
Hm, does that guy have any factual reason for stating this? I highly doubt it.
I think, perhaps, instead of questioning him, you should email him.
I know the guy personally. He's not just some guy. He's an engineer for Nissan. Highly educated in mechanics, thermodynamics, and engine processes. He's seen many oil companies facilities and used many different brands.
Basically, he's not just spouting off.
I know the guy personally. He's not just some guy. He's an engineer for Nissan. Highly educated in mechanics, thermodynamics, and engine processes. He's seen many oil companies facilities and used many different brands.
Basically, he's not just spouting off.
Hey chimmike, great to see you posting here!
How old is that site’s info?
As for Kojima and what he’s written, I’m afraid I’ve seen the type before. A guy who knows a lot about engines, fabrication and hi-po mods which work well ... but when it comes to automotive lubes, he’s passing on some experience mixed in with a bunch of hearsay and marketing. I don’t think people are going to run into trouble taking his advice … but I can’t weight it heavily, either. We have whole threads on whether or not it’s a good idea to take mechanics’ advice about oil and lubricants. I, for one, don’t give their advice much weight on the basis of their job title alone. They need to know something about chemistry and or been unusually interested in oils for years. Knowing about hard parts just isn’t good enough.
Some things I picked out of Kojima’s “Synthetic Oils & Fluids” section:
Over the years, I must have heard a few dozen claims that all go something like this: “Everyone knows ‘Way-Too-Fast Racing’ is sponsored by ‘Slippery Oil’ but I know a guy who knows someone on the team personally and they really use ‘Lottalube Oil’ in all their race motors. They even dump and refill the ‘Slippery’ bottles with ‘Lottalube’ product before race day.”
After a while, I just tune out these rumors as much as possible. Teams could work funny like that ... but who knows if any of it is authentic? Some of the claims are just too outrageous and in direct conflict with each other so I tend to dismiss all of this hearsay in general as ‘not likely to be true.’
He talks about OEMs and Mobil 1. Mobil 1 (especially the current version) is a pretty decent high-performance oil. But their high-profile relationship with auto manufacturers is really a sponsorship deal, not unlike plastering their name across the side of a race car. Expensive cars have to be factory filled with something ... why not Mobil 1? And unless you (as a manufacturer) are Ferrari or Lamborghini, you wouldn’t recommend something really exotic and hard-to-find as you have customers all over the world. I just don’t give this Mobil 1-is-factory-fill thing much weight. I’m sure the stuff works fine ... but let’s not go crazy over it.
He then goes on to recommend Motul. Um, why? Just because Nismo uses it? OK, but P.D. Cunningham and Realtime Racing use Red Line Oil in their Sentra SE-R. I did too, until I ran a UOA and decided Schaeffer would protect my engine just as well or even better. I even picked up some fuel economy when I switched from one to the other.
Sponsorship may make me take a good look at a brand of oil ... but I no longer pass on recommendations based on this kind of info alone.
When mentioning other brands of “synthetic” oil, Kojima would have scored a lot of points with me and others here if he had mentioned the Group III controversy ... especially if he could do it with some authority. But he didn’t.
His using oil pressure to judge when a sump of oil has had enough and is ready to be drained isn’t the worst thing in the world (my lil’ brother had a ‘68 Dodge Charger with a 440cid and he did the same thing about 20 years ago) but it’s very imprecise. Basically, it sounds like his Mobil 1, which is a little thin to begin with, might be beginning to shear down some more. But that’s no indicator that the stuff is spent and needs to be drained. If Kojima had cited some UOAs and he found that wear metals accelerated from this point forward, that’d be different. Believe me, I prefer an oil which will stay in grade for 5,000 miles or more but we’ve seen plenty of UOAs here which look excellent despite a significant amount of shearing.
If Kojima wants an oil that stays in grade, he should try Schaeffer’s Supreme 7000 synthetic blend in 10W-30. Also, UOAs and other evidence here suggests Royal Purple works pretty well in a number of applications, but if he has a problem with oils which shear down quickly, I can’t see how he’d be happy with it.
He said: “In fact, one oil that is highly regarded by list members that is sold as a direct marketed product is in fact nothing but rebottled Mobil 1 for twice the price.”
He’s probably talking about Amsoil here. But if so, he is wrong. Amsoil may buy their PAO basestocks from Exxon-Mobil …. But they blend in a totally different additive package, one which has been better, in my opinion, than some versions of Mobil over the last decade. Pick any year in the last decade and you’ll find that the different versions of Mobil 1 and Amsoil have always been very different.
As for gear oils, he mentions Red Line MTL … but not MT-90? Of course MTL is too thin for most Nissan trannies. None of us should use it in those applications. So why didn’t he mention MT-90? And “Shockproof” for a Sentra tranny? Isn’t that way too thick? Unless you are strictly racing, this does not seem right at all. There are better choices from Red Line in between those two extremes ... but he doesn’t mention them. This just doesn’t make sense.
Lastly, he mentions oil filters, specifically OEM Nissan Gee, I think EVERY aftermarket filter manufacturer puts an anti-drain-back valve on filters where the application calls for one. As for quality of construction, Wix and Baldwin/Hastings have OEM Nissan beat. I’ve chopped them all apart myself so I know. Again, he doesn’t make his case very well.
Sorry buddy, as a seasoned BITOGer, I just don’t find this info very useful.
Anyway, good to see you here.
--- Bror Jace
As for Kojima and what he’s written, I’m afraid I’ve seen the type before. A guy who knows a lot about engines, fabrication and hi-po mods which work well ... but when it comes to automotive lubes, he’s passing on some experience mixed in with a bunch of hearsay and marketing. I don’t think people are going to run into trouble taking his advice … but I can’t weight it heavily, either. We have whole threads on whether or not it’s a good idea to take mechanics’ advice about oil and lubricants. I, for one, don’t give their advice much weight on the basis of their job title alone. They need to know something about chemistry and or been unusually interested in oils for years. Knowing about hard parts just isn’t good enough.
Some things I picked out of Kojima’s “Synthetic Oils & Fluids” section:
Over the years, I must have heard a few dozen claims that all go something like this: “Everyone knows ‘Way-Too-Fast Racing’ is sponsored by ‘Slippery Oil’ but I know a guy who knows someone on the team personally and they really use ‘Lottalube Oil’ in all their race motors. They even dump and refill the ‘Slippery’ bottles with ‘Lottalube’ product before race day.”
After a while, I just tune out these rumors as much as possible. Teams could work funny like that ... but who knows if any of it is authentic? Some of the claims are just too outrageous and in direct conflict with each other so I tend to dismiss all of this hearsay in general as ‘not likely to be true.’
He talks about OEMs and Mobil 1. Mobil 1 (especially the current version) is a pretty decent high-performance oil. But their high-profile relationship with auto manufacturers is really a sponsorship deal, not unlike plastering their name across the side of a race car. Expensive cars have to be factory filled with something ... why not Mobil 1? And unless you (as a manufacturer) are Ferrari or Lamborghini, you wouldn’t recommend something really exotic and hard-to-find as you have customers all over the world. I just don’t give this Mobil 1-is-factory-fill thing much weight. I’m sure the stuff works fine ... but let’s not go crazy over it.
He then goes on to recommend Motul. Um, why? Just because Nismo uses it? OK, but P.D. Cunningham and Realtime Racing use Red Line Oil in their Sentra SE-R. I did too, until I ran a UOA and decided Schaeffer would protect my engine just as well or even better. I even picked up some fuel economy when I switched from one to the other.
When mentioning other brands of “synthetic” oil, Kojima would have scored a lot of points with me and others here if he had mentioned the Group III controversy ... especially if he could do it with some authority. But he didn’t.
His using oil pressure to judge when a sump of oil has had enough and is ready to be drained isn’t the worst thing in the world (my lil’ brother had a ‘68 Dodge Charger with a 440cid and he did the same thing about 20 years ago) but it’s very imprecise. Basically, it sounds like his Mobil 1, which is a little thin to begin with, might be beginning to shear down some more. But that’s no indicator that the stuff is spent and needs to be drained. If Kojima had cited some UOAs and he found that wear metals accelerated from this point forward, that’d be different. Believe me, I prefer an oil which will stay in grade for 5,000 miles or more but we’ve seen plenty of UOAs here which look excellent despite a significant amount of shearing.
If Kojima wants an oil that stays in grade, he should try Schaeffer’s Supreme 7000 synthetic blend in 10W-30. Also, UOAs and other evidence here suggests Royal Purple works pretty well in a number of applications, but if he has a problem with oils which shear down quickly, I can’t see how he’d be happy with it.
He said: “In fact, one oil that is highly regarded by list members that is sold as a direct marketed product is in fact nothing but rebottled Mobil 1 for twice the price.”
He’s probably talking about Amsoil here. But if so, he is wrong. Amsoil may buy their PAO basestocks from Exxon-Mobil …. But they blend in a totally different additive package, one which has been better, in my opinion, than some versions of Mobil over the last decade. Pick any year in the last decade and you’ll find that the different versions of Mobil 1 and Amsoil have always been very different.
As for gear oils, he mentions Red Line MTL … but not MT-90? Of course MTL is too thin for most Nissan trannies. None of us should use it in those applications. So why didn’t he mention MT-90? And “Shockproof” for a Sentra tranny? Isn’t that way too thick? Unless you are strictly racing, this does not seem right at all. There are better choices from Red Line in between those two extremes ... but he doesn’t mention them. This just doesn’t make sense.
Lastly, he mentions oil filters, specifically OEM Nissan Gee, I think EVERY aftermarket filter manufacturer puts an anti-drain-back valve on filters where the application calls for one. As for quality of construction, Wix and Baldwin/Hastings have OEM Nissan beat. I’ve chopped them all apart myself so I know. Again, he doesn’t make his case very well.
Sorry buddy, as a seasoned BITOGer, I just don’t find this info very useful.
Anyway, good to see you here.
--- Bror Jace
- Status
Similar threads
