Oil Recommendation for 2006 Infiniti G35 Coupe

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Hey all,

Just picked this G35 up a couple of days ago. The original motor was replaced under warranty for the common VQ35DE Rev Up oil consumption issues when it only had 40k km (25k miles) on it. The new motor, which has 26k kms (16k miles) on it, has not exhibited any issues as per the original owner and he's been running conventional oil in it thus far.

I plan on changing the oil every 5k kms (3100 miles) on this vehicle and was wondering if I should continue to run conventional oil or switch to a synthetic? I always run synthetic oils in my vehicles with GC and PP being my go to options due to all the reading I've done around here.

Any pros/cons/recommendations will be appreciated!

Thank you!
 
I have always heard good things about folks using GC 0W-30 in their Nissan 3.5s with good success. That's what I'd use as well. Since you already use it (and maybe have some on hand?) I think that would make your decision pretty easy.
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Originally Posted By: ThirdeYe
I have always heard good things about folks using GC 0W-30 in their Nissan 3.5s with good success. That's what I'd use as well. Since you already use it (and maybe have some on hand?) I think that would make your decision pretty easy.
smile.gif



Worried that switching to synthetic may somehow cause consumption issues. If my short OCI won't really give me an advantage to run a synthetic, I'd rather spend half the money on something like Castrol GTX.

Another thing I should mention is I plan on driving the car year round and the winters here are very cold, we see -30c (-22f) on a regular basis.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: tawheed
Originally Posted By: ThirdeYe
I have always heard good things about folks using GC 0W-30 in their Nissan 3.5s with good success. That's what I'd use as well. Since you already use it (and maybe have some on hand?) I think that would make your decision pretty easy.
smile.gif



Worried that switching to synthetic may somehow cause consumption issues. If my short OCI won't really give me an advantage to run a synthetic, I'd rather spend half the money on something like Castrol GTX.

Another thing I should mention is I plan on driving the car year round and the winters here are very cold, we see -30c (-22f) on a regular basis.


I wouldn't think switching to synthetic, especially at such a low mileage, would suddenly cause consumption issues... especially with a thicker 30 grade such as GC 0W-30. The 0W-30 should also be fine in those subzero temps with the 0W rating. I switched to synthetic in our Firebird when it was over 15 years old that always ran conventional and it did not cause any kind of consumption or issues, FWIW.
 
I have the same 3.5 VQ motor in my car.. Bought it and it had 39k miles on it and it was very well maintained. I have run full synthetics in it like Castrol w titanium and Pennzoil ultra with no problems. Almost zero consumption over 4k miles change interval. I am running Havoline conventional now for a number of reasons. And so far so good. So I think you would be fine running either one. Better luck finding a unicorn in the woods than being able to find Pennzoil Ultra.
smile.gif
 
Originally Posted By: tawheed
Originally Posted By: ThirdeYe
I have always heard good things about folks using GC 0W-30 in their Nissan 3.5s with good success. That's what I'd use as well. Since you already use it (and maybe have some on hand?) I think that would make your decision pretty easy.
smile.gif



Worried that switching to synthetic may somehow cause consumption issues. If my short OCI won't really give me an advantage to run a synthetic, I'd rather spend half the money on something like Castrol GTX.

Another thing I should mention is I plan on driving the car year round and the winters here are very cold, we see -30c (-22f) on a regular basis.


Our previous vehicle was an Infiniti M37 Sport. We used GTX Synblend at 5,000 mile oci. It was driven hard and never had an issue.
 
Originally Posted By: wemay
Originally Posted By: tawheed
Originally Posted By: ThirdeYe
I have always heard good things about folks using GC 0W-30 in their Nissan 3.5s with good success. That's what I'd use as well. Since you already use it (and maybe have some on hand?) I think that would make your decision pretty easy.
smile.gif



Worried that switching to synthetic may somehow cause consumption issues. If my short OCI won't really give me an advantage to run a synthetic, I'd rather spend half the money on something like Castrol GTX.

Another thing I should mention is I plan on driving the car year round and the winters here are very cold, we see -30c (-22f) on a regular basis.


Our previous vehicle was an Infiniti M37 Sport. We used GTX Synblend at 5,000 mile oci. It was driven hard and never had an issue.


I was thinking about the synblend as the perfect in-between solution, however, I have not been able to located it in Canada.
 
See the M35 in my sig, owned since new with 85K miles now. I never drive in extremely cold temps, but do drive frequently in extremely hot temps (Florida). I have always used either a bottled synthetic blend by Kendall (or Union 76) or my own blend of QSUD/QSGB in 5w-30 at about 4500 to 5000 mile intervals.

Never had any oil related issues. I'd guess that a 0w-30 weight would serve you well in your climate, but going by the owners manual recommendations would be my choice.
 
tawheed - That era VQ35 engine burned oil especially if you extended the OCI beyond 4,000 miles. Your plan to change the oil at 5k km is very smart. I think any oil, synthetic or conventional, will be fine. Teh key is how long will it take you to reach 5k km? One month? Three months? Six months? If you drive a lot and will likely change the oil every 2 months, stick with conventional and save money. If it will take you 6 months, I would go with synthetic. Plus you'll likely cross over seasons and the synthetic may offer better protection.

I had this engine in my Nissan Quest. I learned to change the oil between 3500-4000 miles. I used conventional.

good luck.
 
Originally Posted By: dtownfb
tawheed - That era VQ35 engine burned oil especially if you extended the OCI beyond 4,000 miles. Your plan to change the oil at 5k km is very smart. I think any oil, synthetic or conventional, will be fine. Teh key is how long will it take you to reach 5k km? One month? Three months? Six months? If you drive a lot and will likely change the oil every 2 months, stick with conventional and save money. If it will take you 6 months, I would go with synthetic. Plus you'll likely cross over seasons and the synthetic may offer better protection.

I had this engine in my Nissan Quest. I learned to change the oil between 3500-4000 miles. I used conventional.

good luck.


Yeah, I don't put a lot of mileage on my car.. I drive probably less than 1k km a month, so if I stick to mileage (5k) vs time, maybe synthetic is the way to go as it could be a year before I hit 5k, in which case I'd be changing it once a year..
 
No reason to be concerned about using a synthetic oil.
The PP 5W-30 you mentioned would be a good choice and for cold unaided starting in an Edmonton winter you'll find nothing better than M1 AFE 0W-30. Of course you can use AFE year round as well.
 
Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
No reason to be concerned about using a synthetic oil.
The PP 5W-30 you mentioned would be a good choice and for cold unaided starting in an Edmonton winter you'll find nothing better than M1 AFE 0W-30. Of course you can use AFE year round as well.


Hmm, I haven't even heard of the AFE until just now. Canadian Tire doesn't list the 0w-30 flavour on their website - how does this compare to GC 0w-30?
 
Synthetic is largely a marketing term today when it comes to motor oils. It implies a premium product but there is very little difference between a name brand so-called conventional oil and a cheap synthetic in fact some like Pennzoil may be even better.

So it's best to talk about a specific named oil
as have been en doing rather than generalizing.
That said, any oil will easily last 5,000kms but
you want to use a superior performing product like M1 AFE 0W-30 over the winter months then that's what you should do if you don't mind the higher cost or the oil.
 
As an owner of an '06 G35, I recommend M1 0w40. It has performed excellently for 160k miles so far w/ track days and trailer towing. UOA's have been good w/ 5k changes, after about 5k, consumption goes up dramatically even with M1 0w40.

The high oil consumption seemed to be mostly 6MT cars (which mine is). Normally it uses about a quart every 3k, which is fine. On a track day, I can use a quart in a few hundred miles. It seems to be related to the higher redline and higher vacuum during decel of the manual cars. The key is keeping an eye on it and not letting it get low.

Overall they are very durable if you take care of them.
 
Originally Posted By: CATERHAM
Yes Cdn Tire does carry Mobil 1 AFE 0W-30.
The main difference compared to GC is that it's lighter with an API SN rating; GC is SL rated and not approved for your car.

With the warranty long gone.
wink.gif
That gives him lots of options. GC is a great oil at a terrible price in Canada, given that it's only in the 1 litre bottles. I'd do the Syntec 0w-40 ahead of that one. The M1 and the PP of course are on sale often enough. And there's also nothing wrong with sticking with conventional over those short OCIs, either.

Something of note to Canadian posters who have Costco memberships - Castrol stuff is now advertised there, and their regular prices are quite reasonable.
 
Hi Garak,

Call me a contraian but I think Nissan knows how heavy an oil is required especially for strictly street use.
M1 AFE 0W-30 not only meets Nissans' warranty requirements but being lighter than GC especially on start-up makes it a preferred oil choice, IMO.

Another oil choice would be Petro-Canada Supreme 0W-30. It is heavier than M1 both in terms of MRV and HTHSV but lighter than GC.
 
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