Oil for a 300ZX?

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Originally Posted By: Puckrobber
No real reason. I won't be driving it much in the colder weather. Should I just do 10w-30 year-round? Or something different while it sits for a month or two?


Going to a heavier weight oil in the winter is backwards. Run a 10w30 conventional year round. Those motors aren't complicated or need special requirements.
 
Yes, that would work, or, if choosing synthetic, a simple A3/B4 year round would work, too. As for viscosities, I've heard worse.
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A parts man once told me that 0w-40 is too thin in the summer for my old Audi but that 10w-30 ILSAC was fine.
 
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
I use 10W30 Pennzoil Platinum and a Nissan OEM oil filter in my 300ZX. Per Nissan Z32 fsm,only use a 10W. From the 1990-1996 Z32 fsm:



I dont understand this chart, why will the 5W30 protect up to 15 C only? Isnt it still a 30?
 
Originally Posted By: Garak
It would be based on older, much poorer quality 5w-30 varieties. With a modern 5w-30 ILSAC conventional, much less a 5w-30 A5/B5 or an A3/B4 or the like, I wouldn't worry.

Thank the Gods. I Just bought Magnatec 5W30 on sale a week ago for my 1980s turbo engine.
 
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My old Audi had a similar chart, with 5w-30 not being recommended at the same high temperatures a 10w-30 would. I'd have more faith in a current 5w-30 A3/B4 over a 10w-30 from when the Audi was new.

Edit: By 1995, Audi had modified the chart, and the 5w-30 and 10w-30 had the same upper limit, except if you chose ILSAC oils, which had no upper limits. Now we know where Audi got into trouble with oils and intervals.
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Oil_Chart_S6.jpg
 
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See, even 20+ years ago they knew thin oils were junk and bad for an engine! Nissan plainly calls out the 5W20 as unacceptable for normal use or any high speed/high performance!

This was back when the CAFE didn't rule the roost and car makers used facts and common sense!
 
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Originally Posted By: racin4ds
See, even 20+ years ago they knew thin oils were junk and bad for an engine! Nissan plainly calls out the 5W20 as unacceptable for normal use or any high speed/high performance!

This was back when the CAFE didn't rule the roost and car makers used facts and common sense!



That's kind of ignorant. In 1990, the engine wasn't BUILT for a 20 wt oil. Literally, the clearances were set up for the 30-40 wt oils of the day so of course they wouldn't recommend 20 wt oils as they weren't as common place. This motor in an actual performance setup includes twin turbos, oil coolers and squirters and would be made for serious heat that would work better with the clearances and technology built at the time.

These days, modern engines that are setup for a 20 wt oil can still be high heat, high performance applications that have no issue with that viscosity.

You can't prove a point by referencing a product that is common today and saying it's always been junk because 30 years ago manufacturers weren't building engines to support it.
 
Thanks for all the help, folks! Always good to learn a thing or two every time I'm on here.

And yes, I agree, car makers knew what worked, and what didn't, in their vehicles for many years. Then, bean counters & environmental hags stepped in and took over. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for protecting the planet, and getting the best out of our oils. But, it seems like all the "fun" got taken out when they made cars "better". Just my
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As an aside, I do think the oils are superb, nowadays.
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Originally Posted By: racin4ds
See, even 20+ years ago they knew thin oils were junk and bad for an engine! Nissan plainly calls out the 5W20 as unacceptable for normal use or any high speed/high performance!

Note that there are differing options within grade, even. As already mentioned, there are A3/B4 and C3 and HDEO 5w-30 options which are significantly thicker at operating temperatures than an ILSAC 5w-30. Note that the Audi chart that is earlier than the one I posted allows for 5w-20 under limited circumstances, though the 5w-20 options might have had higher HTHS at the time. Running a Red Line 20 grade with elevated HTHS in my G37 wouldn't be significantly different than running an ILSAC 0w-30, 5w-30, or 10w-30 in it.
 
Any 10W-30 or 10W-40 should work just fine in this engine.
An API 10W-40 will have at least 3.5 HTHS so might (or might not) give a little better bearing protection.
The temp/visc chart depicted by another poster is not a development of Nissan engineers but was rather a fairly generic one of the era.
Any current 5W-30 would be okay in this engine and a 5W-20 probably would as well.
All of the above said, if it were mine I'd give it M1 HM 10W-30 and call it good.
 
Originally Posted By: jayg
That's kind of ignorant. In 1990, the engine wasn't BUILT for a 20 wt oil. Literally, the clearances were set up for the 30-40 wt oils of the day so of course they wouldn't recommend 20 wt oils as they weren't as common place. This motor in an actual performance setup includes twin turbos, oil coolers and squirters and would be made for serious heat that would work better with the clearances and technology built at the time.

These days, modern engines that are setup for a 20 wt oil can still be high heat, high performance applications that have no issue with that viscosity.

You can't prove a point by referencing a product that is common today and saying it's always been junk because 30 years ago manufacturers weren't building engines to support it.



This is 100% correct. DO NOT put a W20 oil in your Z32. The VG30DE/TT was not built around fuel economy 20wt oils. A friend of mine owns a Z shop where that's all they work on. He builds these engines for a living,they aren't designed to get maximum fuel economy via fuel efficient oils,they're made to crank out as much power as possible.

10W30 if it's your daily driver. 10W40-20W50 if it's raced or tracked.
 
[/quote]

This is 100% correct. DO NOT put a W20 oil in your Z32. The VG30DE/TT was not built around fuel economy 20wt oils. A friend of mine owns a Z shop where that's all they work on. He builds these engines for a living,they aren't designed to get maximum fuel economy via fuel efficient oils,they're made to crank out as much power as possible.

10W30 if it's your daily driver. 10W40-20W50 if it's raced or tracked. [/quote]

Exactly! I wouldn't have even thought of a weight less than 30 for these engines, knowing they're built for horsepower, not economy. I just wondered if a 5w-30 or 5w-40 would be better in this era of improved oils. However, I'm happy with a 10w-30. Kinda makes me feel like a little kid again, when 10w-30 was the be all, end all of oils.
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Originally Posted By: rooflessVW
Interesting chart that - a 20W-20 was acceptable for all temperature ranges but a 5W-20 was not.


I thought the same thing and LOL'd after seeing that in the chart. The 5w30 / 10w30 temp range is also funny to see. Reminds me of when I had my Honda S2000 and the dealer told me 5w30 isn't good for the engine, only 10w30.
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Originally Posted By: Artem
Originally Posted By: rooflessVW
Interesting chart that - a 20W-20 was acceptable for all temperature ranges but a 5W-20 was not.


I thought the same thing and LOL'd after seeing that in the chart. The 5w30 / 10w30 temp range is also funny to see. Reminds me of when I had my Honda S2000 and the dealer told me 5w30 isn't good for the engine, only 10w30.
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Shannow has described the 20W20 thing before. It's more like a monograde 30wt of today.

Concerning the 5W vs the 10W,the VG30DE engines destroy oil. Mine turns 20W50 into a 10W40 within 3000 miles,which is why I'm guessing Nissan recommends oils with a thicker base oil. There was a recent Nissan TSB which stated "All Nissan vehicles to use 5W30" with an addendum that stated *except for 300ZX models*.
 
It's really a shame that more high performance straight grades aren't available.

And by available, I mean less expensive than Redline.
 
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