Nissan Ester Oil 5W-30; 09 Maxima; 14,300 Miles

[zloveraz]

Hello all - long time lurker finally got an account... Here is my final UOA I had performed with Nissan's Ester Oil that they prescribe for valvetrain noise reduction. Their has been a lot of discussions about whether this oil is worth the premium cost and possibly might just be DINO which I know is just fine if your careful on the OCI but if this is DINO @ $10.50 a QT Nissan is nuts.... I've since changed this out with P-Utra 10W-30. Enjoy and welcome your comments.

 

[Colt45ws]

Woah. How much more is TAN? Another $10?

 

[zloveraz]

Originally Posted By: Colt45ws
Woah. How much more is TAN? Another $10?


Yes $10- additional

 

[ARCOgraphite]

The low Boron additisation is showing in your Cu numbers but you are at the tail end of break in so wear # will be high anyway. Looks like the typical Japanese "I love Moly" oil. Maybe a hard 3K run of Formula shell 10w-30 conventional to get parts worn-in would be helpfull here. Also, The ester oil sheared out of grade - typ of non-stout 5w-30 run over 4K miles and not good for "sporting" drivers.

 

[Pablo]

Can't really comment on wear metals and such. Engine is new, 14K miles of 16K. Looks pretty good. What is the OEM recommendation for OCI?

I question the amount of ester and the amount of "shear" - what is virgin viscosity?

 

[hate2work]

Does Nissan recommend this long OCI? Wow, that's a long OCI on a new engine, especially with what is essentially an unknown oil.

 

[PandaBear]

That goes Michael Wan's defense of Nissan about exotic engine need exotic oil.

EPIC FAIL to Nisaan, shearing out of grade, no better than the last UOA in wear metal (and high, despite the tail end of break in), etc.

A $2.5 / qt 10w40 will perform better than this.

 

[buster]

I agree with ARCO and Pablo. There is probably some ester component to this oil and it's probably a very small %. The price of this oil is crazy, but if you have to use it, use it.

I'm sure other oils will work fine in this engine, with just a different additive chemistry. The ester oil looks like most Japanese oils with the moly.

 

[INDYMAC]

I'm surprised that most people think 5625 miles is a long/extended OCI. Toyota actually recommends 5K OCI's. Is this the 3.5 or 3.7L engine? Some esters are acidic, so that could explain the high TAN with a still reasonable TBN.

Just like all the other energy conserving oils, this one sheared quite a bit.

 

[Pablo]

Originally Posted By: INDYMAC
I'm surprised that most people think 5625 miles is a long/extended OCI.


Oh. I thought it was 14,300 Miles.

 

[ARCOgraphite]

You expect people to read and comprehend the forum header instruction? This is YEAR 2010

 

[qship1996]

At 10.50 per quart for the nissan oil, might as well upgrade to Redline for the esters and much, much better basestocks for less money.I cant think of a better oil choice for these engines, except maybe Motul.

 

[Gary Allan]

Drop the moly (different oil) and see if the Cu drops.

 

[The Critic]

Originally Posted By: PandaBear
EPIC FAIL to Nisaan, shearing out of grade, no better than the last UOA in wear metal (and high, despite the tail end of break in), etc.

What doesn't shear out of grade?

What does this UOA prove anyway? Not much.

Nissan states that the ester oil is recommended to resolve engine noise issues. The effectiveness of that may or may not be illustrated by this UOA.

 

[Gary Allan]

Nissan ester oil apologist!!!!!

The stuff is gah-bege ..

 

[qship1996]

Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
Drop the moly (different oil) and see if the Cu drops.



I would be shocked if it did, as my Infiniti{nissan} engine uses a oil with over 2x that amount of moly{redline} and I have never seen high copper readings in any of my 11 uoa reports.

 

[Gary Allan]

The earliest posted UOA you have was @ 144k.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Main=16756&Number=236400#Post236400

I'd say that any "free copper" is long gone from that engine.

 

[qship1996]

I have only posted a few of my 11 uoa. Copper was never high in any of them.

 

[addyguy]

Originally Posted By: Gary Allan
Nissan ester oil apologist!!!!!

The stuff is gah-bege ..

I gotta agree - if this oil is made specifically for Nissan engines, it should perform better in them, even in new ones.....

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

I have the same engine (although older and slightly less powerful) and it has 90k miles on it with no discernible oil consumption. I've only had it for 10k miles so I don't even know what was previously used. It does have the characteristic cold start up chain noise, but runs really smooth and quiet when warm. I would not pay that much for Nissan oil if it's mainly for noise reduction.