Recommend an oil: '03 Nissan Frontier

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Looking for a recommendation for my dad's truck. I believe the engine is a 3.3 V6. It has 114k. I know that he has changed it every 3-4k, using mainly castrol gtx, but im not sure what viscosity he has been using.


Any suggestions?
 
Any good 5W-30 will work well for you.

Most good dino oils will go 4-5k.

Most blends will go 5-7k.

Most syns will go 7-9k, and some of the higher end ones will even go longer.
 
Guess it depends upon what matters most to him ...
Value
Longevity
Cost
Ease of availability
Servicability
Operating environment
Operational severity

It's likely that the engine is used in a "normal" manner, and there is no reason to suspect any high-end product is needed. (Note: "need" and "want" are NOT the same thing). With that OCI in mind, I'd say any API cert spec'd oil would do, incluing bargin house brands.

The 3.3L v-6 is an outgrowth of the old 3.0L v-6; reknowned for it's longevity. You'll likely not see any true performance or wear issues with any properly spec'd fluid, in the right grade.

You can get "better" fluids that cost more, and as long as you use them for a longer OCI, you'll get your money's worth. But for 3k miles, I'd run the least expensive dino oil I could find on sale. Same goes for the filter as well.

I had a 2000 Frontier for a year or so; as I recall it had the same 3.3L engine. Holds 3.5 quarts, uses a tiny filter, and yet the "normal" OCI per Nissan was 7.5k miles!

Some people are on a fixed budget, and need all the advantage they can get, fiscally. Others have done quite well, and money is no object. What your dad chooses as "best" for him may not be best for the next guy, but that engine couldn't care less what it had in it for 3-4k mile OCIs, as long as you stay in spec/grade.
 
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Most of the Frontier/Xterra VG33E owners use Mobil 1, truck runs quieter than other oils. I myself have not yet put Mobil 1 in the crank case but do have Mobil Clean 5k in there and it is quieter(not sure if its due to being Dino or being formulation).

I've tried QS, Valvoline SynPower and PP in the truck and all were fine, some noisier than others(just my opinion). The dino oil has been the quietest yet.

Recommendations run to the 0w30 Mobil 1 to 5w30. No more than 5k OCI's due to the 3.5qt sump on the trucks. Any synthetic should do fine, but the crowds on ClubXterra and ClubFrontier are Mobil nuts.
 
I guess there is no reason to change from the Castrol GTX 5w-30 if it's working fine, I was just trying to see what other people were using and having success with.

It has a small leak, nothing really measurable. I'm just wondering if there is maybe a high mileage oil that would be better for the engine.
 
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If he's happy with GTX, and you want to try a HM, just try GTX HM. A recent UOA showed it was perhaps weaker than some might like to see, but perhaps there are ingredients that don't show up.....?
 
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