2013 Altima OCI -- QR25DE

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Hello everyone,

I have a 2013 Altima with the 4 cyl QR25DE. This car is driven a lot -- on average, 190 miles per weekday. The OCI called for in the manual is 7.5k miles for "normal". This equates to an oil change every 2 months. The dealer is cheap, but instead of using OW20 (presumably called for to get the advertised 30 mpg) they use typical 5W30 conventional. The manual states that 5W30 is acceptable, but not preferred.

Questions:

1. Worth it to switch to the more expensive 0W20?

2. With this many highway miles, should we extend the OCI (presumably with the OW20)?

Thanks!
 
I'd go ahead and get some Mobil 1 0w20 and run it every 7500 miles to keep the warranty happy while you still have it. When you're out of warranty get some Mobil 1 0w20 EP and run 15k miles if your driving is all highway. If it's got a lot of city driving I would still keep it to 10k miles out of warranty.
 
Sounds like a perfect candidate for full syn and longer OCI's as long as it doesn't mess up your warranty.
 
Is your 190 miles a week involve mostly hwy/fwy or is there a lot of stop and go, excessive idling, etc.?

If it's mostly hwy/fwy then a quality synthetic (0w-20 M1 EP is killer oil for the price, but pretty much all 0w-20 oils are solid) and synthetic media filter should easily do 10k safely and likely 15k.

If you spend a lot of time in stop and go traffic then stick with shorter OCI's (actually this should be less than the "normal" OCI)
 
I am not totally surprised they decided to drop the viscosity down to a 20. There is absolutely nothing wrong with running a 5w30 in it. Question I have is how high is your rpm at say 70 mph?? If the motor is at more than 3,000 rpm that would lead me to believe your motor is one of the "peppy" 4 cylinder motors. Which is fine but I believe a consideration in regards to what type of oil to run and for maybe how long.. Think about it this way.. Say in your car traveling at 70 is turning at 3200 rpm and my car at the exact same speed turns 2200 rpm. That would mean your motor would turn 60,000 revolutions in just 1hour than my car. Take that and say we both go on a 10 hour road trip.. Equals = 600,000 more revolutions than my car in the same exact distance.
What does this mean? This would mean your car is working MUCH harder than my car. So I would tend to believe this increased work load over time becomes literally EXPONENTIAL.
So if this is the case.. And I had a 2.5 Altima I would run a 5w30 full synthetic. Whether it be Mobil 1, Pennzoil Platinum or Ultra, Quaker State, Valvoline or Havoline etc.. 7500 is fine with any of just about any product you can buy. And I would NOT extend the interval if it were me. IF YOUR MOTOR is a high rpm motor that turns A LOT of rpm even at cruising speed. RPMs equals work.. More work equals more potential wear.
Now if that's not the case then extending the interval would make sense. I also hope you have a good one without any CVT issues too
smile.gif
 
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I still it's weird the QR25DE in my Rogue calls for 5w-30 but even that grade is quite noisy in the motor, 0w-40 keeps it quiet.
 
I would not extend your OCI until out of warranty, but I would go with a 0W-20 - with this much highway mileage, the thinner 20 could give some mpg gains...not a lot, but some.
 
Your manual actually has a recommended OCI? My '13 Accord has a oil life monitor that the owners are suppose to follow.
 
Originally Posted By: BikeWhisperer
Is your 190 miles a week involve mostly hwy/fwy or is there a lot of stop and go, excessive idling, etc.?

If it's mostly hwy/fwy then a quality synthetic (0w-20 M1 EP is killer oil for the price, but pretty much all 0w-20 oils are solid) and synthetic media filter should easily do 10k safely and likely 15k.

If you spend a lot of time in stop and go traffic then stick with shorter OCI's (actually this should be less than the "normal" OCI)



I believe he typed 190 miles per weekDAY
 
Hi everyone,

Thanks for your input. Yes, it's 190 miles per weekday, or 45k/year or so. It's nearly all highway miles, and the transmission is a CVT, so the RPMs are quite low at higher speeds. That's one of the reasons the car can get close to 40 mpg and still have a decent amount of pep.

I'm already out of warranty, and will try for full syn and a 15k OCI. Thanks again for your help!

Oh -- and yes, Nissan still uses an OCI.
 
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I have nearly the same engine in my Frontier (changes made to accommodate N-S mounting and boost low speed torque) and Nissan specifies 5W-30 for it at a 5k OCI. They also gave it an oil cooler. Even in my truck you have to go over 75 MPH to hit 3000 RPM. Once I'm out of warranty it will be Mobil 1 EP 5W-30 every 10k. UOA has shown that these engines wear very well and so oil contamination is not a big issue.
 
Originally Posted By: 15951
Hello everyone,

I have a 2013 Altima with the 4 cyl QR25DE. This car is driven a lot -- on average, 190 miles per weekday. The OCI called for in the manual is 7.5k miles for "normal". This equates to an oil change every 2 months. The dealer is cheap, but instead of using OW20 (presumably called for to get the advertised 30 mpg) they use typical 5W30 conventional. The manual states that 5W30 is acceptable, but not preferred.

Questions:

1. Worth it to switch to the more expensive 0W20?

2. With this many highway miles, should we extend the OCI (presumably with the OW20)?

Thanks!


Technically speaking 15951, we wouldn’t have a problem recommending either viscosity for your vehicle since the OEM says these two viscosity grades are OK. However, a full synthetic 0W-20 or 5W-30 would be the good options for your Altima because full synthetic motor oils tend to perform better than conventional mineral oils. With that said, we recommend Pennzoil Ultra Platinum or Pennzoil Platinum Full Synthetic motor oils in either 5W-30 or 0W-20 viscosity grades. To see the technology behind Pennzoil Synthetics visit: http://synthetics.pennzoil.com/#pure-synthetics. Hope this info helps! – The Pennzoil Team
 
Originally Posted By: Joshua_Skinner
I have nearly the same engine in my Frontier (changes made to accommodate N-S mounting and boost low speed torque) and Nissan specifies 5W-30 for it at a 5k OCI. They also gave it an oil cooler. Even in my truck you have to go over 75 MPH to hit 3000 RPM. Once I'm out of warranty it will be Mobil 1 EP 5W-30 every 10k. UOA has shown that these engines wear very well and so oil contamination is not a big issue.


The QR is the 13 Altima is quite a bit different than the truck version. The 13+ Altima QR also has Variable timing on the intake, and exhaust side. Altima 2.5 probably turns around 2200 rpm at 75 MPH.
 
I would get a UOA with TBN at 10k and see how the oil is holding up.

Stick with synthetic oil and keep a weekly check of oil level and top off always.
 
I have the same engine. Been using 0w20 PP FOR 7500 Miles with FU, changing every other oil change. Very smooth and quiet.
 
I've got the same engine in a 2015 Altima. FF came out sheared badly, been using 5w-30 instead, it has been coming out fine on UOAs at the 20k mark. No intention of using 20 weight, the car is all interstate highway miles.
 
Originally Posted By: RGR
I've got the same engine in a 2015 Altima. FF came out sheared badly.


How do you know that the FF sheared badly? Do you have a VOA of the FF?

From what I gathered on Nicoclub, Nissan FF is a high moly, really low viscosity 0w-20 oil.
 
Originally Posted By: Pesca
Originally Posted By: RGR
I've got the same engine in a 2015 Altima. FF came out sheared badly.


How do you know that the FF sheared badly? Do you have a VOA of the FF?


Nope. Only a UOA at 660 miles.

I've got 2 FF UOAs on Nissan 2015 model cars, a Juke and Altima. The Juke was like a 5.9 at 100C, the Altima 6.3 I believe?

The 30w oil comes out of the car at 9.5 after about 4000 miles.

Not a clue what goes in FF.


Quote:

From what I gathered on Nicoclub, Nissan FF is a high moly, really low viscosity 0w-20 oil.


really low viscosity 0-20 might cover it. Someone mentioned the oil that came out of the Juke at 1400 miles had already sheared out of a grade for a 16w.
 
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