Break in for a 2018 Nissan Altima

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Originally Posted By: Fulgore
Isnt that there will be many metal shavings in the factory fill? I think it would be better to change it out as soon as possible?


That's what the oil filter is for. By the time the car gets to the dealership, the oil filter has caught all the large stuff floating around in the engine.
 
I think that you'll find in your owner's manual that 0w20 synthetic and 5w30 & 10w30 regular oil(or syn) is acceptable. And yes, go 3000 miles before changing the oil and follow the OM from there on while under warranty.

Dealer did my 1st oil/filter change at 3500 miles and every 5000 there after. They gave my 3 freebies all w/5w30 dino/bulk oil.
 
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I drive a new vehicle in a normal manor and like was said before, I don't do anything extreme. My manufacture put an oil filter on my engine to keep damaging bits from circulating in addition to assembly lubes and possible an oil additive to protect. I'd be foolish to dump before ~2,500 miles. This is not 1950 where engines had no oil filters or good oil like today. Ed
 
Thank you everyone. I appreciate your help. Will report back when I buy the car!
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OP, You could do an oil change at 3k miles and then resume the std OCI schedule and be fine. I owned a 2013 3.5S with the CVT and the main issue for you is going to be the CVT fluid. I got the "death shudder" at 19k miles of easy driving. I did a drain and fill myself and the fluid was almost black and full of metal bits, flakes and a nice metallic sheen. I did two more drain and fills (almost exactly 3 quarts each time) and the issue never reappeared but I sold the car at 33k miles.

Stick with a solid 5w-30 and drive on.
 
I like the Altima, I feel it's more sporty than the Camry.

Around here, you can go on autotrader and type in "new" "altima" and 100 mile radius, sort by lowest cost first. I see 2017 leftover Altima SR's going for $17K++

That's almost $10,000 less than a new Accord Sport from the dealer right across the street.

While I love the new Accord, I'm not at all sure it's worth $10K more.

As for break in, I'm a fan of changing the oil after about 1000 miles. I'm not a fan of babying an engine, as it takes pressure to seat rings properly.
 
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Originally Posted By: PimTac
Drive it sensibly for the first 500 miles or so. No wide open throttle starts. No heavy braking. Your are also breaking in the transmission and other drive components besides the engine.

I like to change the factory oil at around the 1k mark. That choice is up to you.

Enjoy your new Altima


Very true, that's what I do too, never had a problem.
 
Originally Posted By: dogememe
Ford is above average when it comes in reliability except for the dual-clutch automatic transmissions in the Fiest/Focus... the larger cars like Fusion are good cars - I know many people with them. My 08 Escape was at 215K on the original engine and trans when I sold it to a coworkers daughter and got a newer Escape because the old one needed tires and shocks all the way around and some paint work and I didn't wanna put that money into it.


I agree. Ford is making some very good cars which compete favorably with the Japanese. I also agree that the dual-clutch A/T is terrible and Ford should have dropped it much sooner (before it torpedoed Focus sales). My 2014 Focus 5speed M/T is awesome.
 
Just drive it. Be easy on it the first few hundred miles then after that drive it and enjoy.
 
I bet your owners manual will give you Nissan's break in procedure. I have broke a car in hard and some easy. Never had a problem with doing it either way. Do what you are comfortable with.
 
While I mentioned sensible driving I do get the rpms up at times. I don’t floor the accelerator but I have a nice hill that winds a bit close to home. It has a 11% grade and putting the transmission in manual mode gives me the opportunity to get the engine up to 3500-4000-5000 rpms.

I say this for two points. Yes some higher rpms help to seat the rings. By doing it gradually and controlled I feel I can break the engine in quite nicely. I’ve done this on six new vehicles during my lifetime. The Altima has a cvt which keeps the rpms in a range to get better fuel economy. One of the reasons I chose the Mazda was their automatic transmission which has excellent reviews.

I’m not diminishing the cvt here. That’s just my personal preference.
 
Does the manual permit 5w-30, as some Nissan/Infiniti manuals do? Use that if you so desire. Note that if it calls for a 5w-30 as an option, it can be 5w-30 SN, not just SN/GF-5, which does open up options.

As for early changes, I would have no problem with that, and would be very tempted to do the same myself. If it were me, and the manual allowed it, I'd run a few conventional OCIs early on, probably in 5w-30, and then carry on with a 5w-30 choice of some sort, and pay attention to what OEM OCIs are when choosing an oil. The old school short Nissan/Infiniti OCIs of years past hardly required Amsoil Signature Series, for instance.
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Originally Posted By: CT8
Just drive it. Be easy on it the first few hundred miles then after that drive it and enjoy.


Yep, just drive normal for the first 1000 miles.
 
Factory fill oil (which has assembly lube mixed in) often has lots of moly for break in. When you dump it early and take out all the moly, your forcing parts to break in with no moly. If you’re going to dump the factory fill early, you should replace it with a proper break-in oil.
 
Originally Posted By: 1JZ_E46
Factory fill oil (which has assembly lube mixed in) often has lots of moly for break in. When you dump it early and take out all the moly, your forcing parts to break in with no moly. If you’re going to dump the factory fill early, you should replace it with a proper break-in oil.


And IIRC, Nissan's factory fill is an Ester/Group V oil.
 
Drive the car like you normally would, Except no red line acceleration such as entering a freeway or passing another car and no excessive Idling (more than 2 minutes) ALWAYS vary your rpm's up to half of red line for the first 3k miles.
Change your oil @ 3k miles. Use the oil your owners manual type and viscosity recommends. If you drive a lot ow highway miles after the 3k oil change use a good synthetic oil, extend your OCI's to 6-10K miles (M-1, PUP, or Amsoil)
NO! Leave the CVT fluid in for as long as the maintenance schedule recommends, It's good stuff It'll be fine. you're wasting time and money if you change it early.


Off topic, I owned two Nissan's with CVT's (2014 Sentra & 2012 Rogue AWD) and I HATED them, Sold them both and bought (2) Mazda's
which is one of the Few brands that still offer an automatic transmission in their Cars and SUV's
 
Originally Posted By: Garak
Originally Posted By: Char Baby
And IIRC, Nissan's factory fill is an Ester/Group V oil.

I'm not so sure. Even their Genuine Nissan Ester Oil isn't an ester/Group V oil.
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Hmmm, first I've heard of this. What is it?
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