I bought a 2010 Maxima February 1. It now has 3000 miles. Per the owner's manual, I have my first change scheduled for 3750 miles or so. Since I intend to change my own oil after the initial free dealership change, I'm looking for recommendations on which to use at what intervals.
- The manual recommends, but does not require, Nissan ester oil in 5W-30.
- The manual suggests two intervals: 3750 miles for 'severe' use and 7000 otherwise. Severe use is defined in such a way to include me.
- I live in Atlanta Georgia. Since we rarely experience more than a few days of temperatures below freezing and the car lives in a heated garage, I'll probably use the same rating of oil year-round.
- I drive gently most of the time, but very fast on the freeway, and with one or more hard acceleration runs up to speed with trips longer than five miles.
- Most of my driving is short trips of 3 miles or less. The engine is always warmed up because the garage is warm and I let it idle for a minute or two. I average 8K a year. The car often sits in the garage for a day or two without use because I work at home.
- The engine has no known problems, though there were about a half-dozen occurrences during break-in between 600 and 1200 miles that I had it up to 5000 RPM.
My current plan is to do this first change at 3750, and then another with conventional oil (Castrol?) at 7500. On the third change at 11,250, I'd like to switch to full synthetic, extend to 5000-mile intervals, and do the changes myself. I'd assumed Mobil 1 was a good choice, but the analysis results from some on this board have me questioning.
Do these intervals seem reasonable? What oils would you recommend, and at what weights?
- The manual recommends, but does not require, Nissan ester oil in 5W-30.
- The manual suggests two intervals: 3750 miles for 'severe' use and 7000 otherwise. Severe use is defined in such a way to include me.
- I live in Atlanta Georgia. Since we rarely experience more than a few days of temperatures below freezing and the car lives in a heated garage, I'll probably use the same rating of oil year-round.
- I drive gently most of the time, but very fast on the freeway, and with one or more hard acceleration runs up to speed with trips longer than five miles.
- Most of my driving is short trips of 3 miles or less. The engine is always warmed up because the garage is warm and I let it idle for a minute or two. I average 8K a year. The car often sits in the garage for a day or two without use because I work at home.
- The engine has no known problems, though there were about a half-dozen occurrences during break-in between 600 and 1200 miles that I had it up to 5000 RPM.
My current plan is to do this first change at 3750, and then another with conventional oil (Castrol?) at 7500. On the third change at 11,250, I'd like to switch to full synthetic, extend to 5000-mile intervals, and do the changes myself. I'd assumed Mobil 1 was a good choice, but the analysis results from some on this board have me questioning.
Do these intervals seem reasonable? What oils would you recommend, and at what weights?
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