Redline 5W/30, 4958 miles, '09 Nissan 370Z

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Dwight_Frye

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Here is the 3rd Blackstone report on my 2009 Nissan 370Z. I bought the car new, and changed the factory fill at about 1250 miles. I refilled with the Nissan Ester Oil, ran that until the 5K miles mark, and switched to Redline 5W/30. OCI's are 5K miles, I have used the Mobil 1 # 110 filter exclusively. Here's how my engine looks at the 25K milestone, with 20K miles using Redline 5W/30. Consumption is still high with 1.25-1.5 quarts burned every 5K miles. I keep a close eye on it, I may just have to live with it but at $11 per quart I certainly wish it were less.
BlackstoneReport6-14-12.jpg
 
Do you have access to an fsm for this car? Does it list various viscosities depending on driving speeds/ambient temps,etc? Wonder how something like M1 0W40 would do in this car? I bet it would do better on a synth 40 weight.
 
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Nissan's only specification is 5W/30 API SM. They recommend the Nissan Ester Oil but that stuff is overpriced and nothing special. The Redline is good at shear resistance and does a good job of staying in grade. I'm reluctant to try a different grade, although if I found a deal on the Pennzoil Ultra 5W/30 I wouldn't feel unprotected. It has given some good reports in this engine and is a few bucks a quart less than the Redline.
Forgot to mention: The previous report stated that copper is one of the Redline additives and that accounted for the high copper count while the engine was still breaking in. It has settled down from the last analysis at around 15K miles to meet the universal average number.
 
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Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
I bet it would do better on a synth 40 weight.


It would probably do well, but it's only speced for 5w-30 SM/GF-4 or better. I'm assuming the OP doesn't drive it terribly hard. Severe service OCI is 3750 miles. If they're driven hard, an additional oil cooler is a better choice than a thicker oil, since if the oil gets hot, the engine goes into limp mode, and a thicker oil will make that happen sooner.
 
I wouldn't be happy with the oil consumption but it is likely within the allowable Nissan specs. I would advise getting a TBN analysis as I'm sure you can double, if not triple your change interval.

Doug
 
Originally Posted By: Dwight_Frye
Consumption is still high with 1.25-1.5 quarts burned every 5K miles. I keep a close eye on it, I may just have to live with it but at $11 per quart I certainly wish it were less.


I hadn't noticed that part of your post before. Look on the bright side, though. If you were on the severe service interval of 3750 miles, you may not even have noticed the consumption.
 
Originally Posted By: buster
Just curious, how was the engine broken-in?


I'm the original owner, the car had about 12 miles on it when I bought it. It was broken in strictly by the book, no revving over 5000 for the first 1250 miles and no really hard driving after that. I have never tracked the car, it's pretty much a daily driver with an occasional blast through the mountains. I had an '04 G35 with the VQ35 engine, also bought new and it consumed about 1/2-3/4 quart every 3000 miles running PYB or GTX for the 80,000 miles or so that I owned it.
I guess some of this family of engines just burn oil.
 
Not bad results at all for a Nissan 3.7L V-6.

BTW, copper isn't an additive in RL. Don't know who told you that, but it isn't true.
 
Originally Posted By: Dwight_Frye
Originally Posted By: buster
Just curious, how was the engine broken-in?


I'm the original owner, the car had about 12 miles on it when I bought it. It was broken in strictly by the book, no revving over 5000 for the first 1250 miles and no really hard driving after that. I have never tracked the car, it's pretty much a daily driver with an occasional blast through the mountains. I had an '04 G35 with the VQ35 engine, also bought new and it consumed about 1/2-3/4 quart every 3000 miles running PYB or GTX for the 80,000 miles or so that I owned it.
I guess some of this family of engines just burn oil.


Thanks. I often wonder if aggressive engine break-in is really the more ideal way?

It could just be this engine type. I have one of the few Honda 2.4's that use oil and I was gentle on it during break-in.

The Mazda was given WOT from the first 30 miles. Car never uses any oil.
 
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
Do you have access to an fsm for this car? Does it list various viscosities depending on driving speeds/ambient temps,etc? Wonder how something like M1 0W40 would do in this car? I bet it would do better on a synth 40 weight.

RL 5W-30 with it's 3.8cP HTHSV is effectively a 40wt oil.
M1 0W-40 has the same HTHSV but a much higher 185 VI plus it is not as shear resistant as the VII free RL. End result is that it will be somewhat lighter than RL in service.
 
Originally Posted By: buster
Originally Posted By: Dwight_Frye
Originally Posted By: buster
Just curious, how was the engine broken-in?


I'm the original owner, the car had about 12 miles on it when I bought it. It was broken in strictly by the book, no revving over 5000 for the first 1250 miles and no really hard driving after that. I have never tracked the car, it's pretty much a daily driver with an occasional blast through the mountains. I had an '04 G35 with the VQ35 engine, also bought new and it consumed about 1/2-3/4 quart every 3000 miles running PYB or GTX for the 80,000 miles or so that I owned it.
I guess some of this family of engines just burn oil.


Thanks. I often wonder if aggressive engine break-in is really the more ideal way?

It could just be this engine type. I have one of the few Honda 2.4's that use oil and I was gentle on it during break-in.

The Mazda was given WOT from the first 30 miles. Car never uses any oil.


Absolutely agreed.
 
I broke in my 2003 G35 pretty hard. It never used any oil.

When I bought my 2004 S2000, I asked the service writer how to break it in. She said "if you want a whimpy car, drive it like a whimp"...my S2000 doesn't consume any oil.

In the last 40 years, I can't remember owning a car that consumed any oil, and many were Nissans bought brand new. I think the best way to break them in is to vary the speed, acceleration and allow for plenty of compression braking during the first 500 miles, and be gentle with the brakes. If you could find a highway with lots of red lights and a 70 MPH speed limit, that would be good. Taking it on the Interstate for a family vacation right off the showroom floor would be worst case, IMO.
 
Motoman agrees, although his page might burn your eyes a bit.
http://www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm


"3 more words on break- in: NO SYNTHETIC OIL !!

Use Valvoline, Halvoline, or similar 10 w 40 Petroleum Car Oil for at least 2 full days of hard racing or 1,500 miles of street riding / driving. After that use your favorite brand of oil. "


"Q: If break- in happens so quickly, why do you recommend using petroleum break- in oil for 1500 miles ??

A: Because while about 80% of the ring sealing takes place in the first hour of running the engine, the last 20% of the process takes a longer time. Street riding isn't a controlled environment, so most of the mileage may not be in 'ring loading mode'. Synthetic oil is so slippery that it actually "arrests" the break in process before the rings can seal completely. I've had a few customers who switched to synthetic oil too soon, and the rings never sealed properly no matter how hard they rode. Taking a new engine apart to re - ring it is the last thing anyone wants to do, so I recommend a lot of mileage before switching to synthetic. It's really a 'better safe than sorry' situation."
 
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