2013 Nissan Altima 0w20 oil

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Just traded in the 2011 Sentra for the 2013 Altima with the 2.5 engine. I spoke to the service advisor at the dealership and asked him what kind of 0w20 oil they use for these new Altimas. He told me that for the 0w20, they use Nissan's own oil and that it's not a synthetic. My question to you all is I thought 0w20 was a synthetic oil and has anyone heard of Nissan making there own blend of 0w20. I know they have a 5w30 ester oil but I haven't heard of them making a 0w20.

Martin
 
That's the same line we got initially from the Toyota Dealers in Canada when the Toyota 0W-20 was first made available. It didn't say synthetic on the bottle so they just assumed it wasn't until Toyota Canada issued a bulletin clarifying the matter and stating that it was 100% synthetic (although likely 100% GP III based).

Yes all 0W-20 oil are synthetic although the CoP made Honda 0W-20 does come in two flavours, full syn' and syn' blend, although their spec's including VIs are virtually identical so who knows.

I don't know who is making the Nissan 0W-20. Mobil (used to be Nippon Oil in Alabama) makes the Toyota 0W-20, Idemitsu makes the Subaru, Mazda and Mitsubishi 0W-20 and CoP makes the USA Honda/Acura 0W-20. So I suspect it will be one of these companies that make it for them.
If you can get a bottle of the Nissan 0W-20 it might even say who makes. If not, if you can post a picture of bottle we might be able to figure out who makes it.
 
Funniest thing , manual says if 0w20 isn't available , 5w30 conventional may be used. I'd use M1 afe 0w20 and sleep peacefully.
 
Thank you as always guys for your input.

The car drives great. I got to drive the 2012 and 2013 and there is a big difference with the CVT. The CVT for the 2012 model felt like it hesitated when first stepping on the gas. Not with the 2013 model. No hesitations at all. Only been driving it for a week and averaging 30 MPG on mostly street driving. Will see how it drives next week when I drive it to Los Angeles. The interior is a lot better on the 2013 model. More spacious, little road noise. So far satisfied with the purchase.
 
Which engine do you have in your new Altima? The QR25DE I4 or the VQ35DE V6? (If you're averaging 30 MPG, I'm guessing it's the 4-cylinder.)

It's interesting (at least to me) that Nissan is now spec'ing 0W-20 when 5W-30 was previously spec'd for the same engine.
 
Originally Posted By: bourne
Funniest thing , manual says if 0w20 isn't available , 5w30 conventional may be used. I'd use M1 afe 0w20 and sleep peacefully.
BAhh! It aint all that.
 
Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
Originally Posted By: bourne
Funniest thing , manual says if 0w20 isn't available , 5w30 conventional may be used. I'd use M1 afe 0w20 and sleep peacefully.
BAhh! It aint all that.


Huh?
 
Originally Posted By: bourne
Funniest thing , manual says if 0w20 isn't available , 5w30 conventional may be used.

What I reed into that is that a typical 5W-30 dino will sheer down close to the viscosity of a sheer stable synthetic 0W-20.
Of course the more efficient high VI 0W-20 will still be lighter on start-up and during the warming up period.
 
Interesting. My father picked up a 2012 Altima on year end close out and it clearly spec's 5w30, no mention of any 20wt in sight.
 
2013 Altima 4cyl is the first vehicle that Nissan specs 0w20 full syn for in US afaik.

@Caterham : Interesting thought. I wonder why they only recommend "conventional" 5w30 as an alternative and not synthetic ? And is syn blend ok ? Will the engine grenade if I used 5w30 synthetic ???

LOL !
 
Originally Posted By: bourne
I wonder why they only recommend "conventional" 5w30 as an alternative and not synthetic ? And is syn blend ok ? Will the engine grenade if I used 5w30 synthetic ???


As far as I know, Nissan/Infiniti only requires API/ILSAC oils. So, while the 0w-20 will be either a synthetic blend or synthetic, the 5w-30 could be conventional. Having a manual ask for a 5w-30 synthetic without listing an ACEA or proprietary manufacturer's specification might be opening a bit of a can of worms, since we all know the definition of "synthetic" isn't worth the paper it's printed on.

At least up here, the dealers use Mobil products (conventional and synthetic, depending upon how much one wishes to pay, or even Nissan Ester Oil if one wishes to pay lots) for the service fill.
 
I like GARAKS answer and Caterham talking about high VI 0w20's. I read it as: Any Oil in the engine is better than no oil in the engine. The ow20 is only for warmup fuel economy. CAFE again. "Fully Synthetic" ( SINO like RINO
smile.gif
) means nothing in the US unless its a German or French automaker LL or HP spec - and then it wouldn't meet ILSAC GF-5. Subaru also brainwahes you into using Subaru Synthetic. The last batch had my engine varnishing up to kingdom come at 6K and a couple months in service - but the dealer changed it that time and probabaly put in Peak Conventional 5w20 - knowing them.
 
Last edited:
Originally Posted By: KCJeep
Interesting. My father picked up a 2012 Altima on year end close out and it clearly spec's 5w30, no mention of any 20wt in sight.
The new 2013 car is totally new and supposedly quite improved. Hopefully the new engines wont eat their catalyst and self destruct as in the past.
 
Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
The new 2013 car is totally new and supposedly quite improved. Hopefully the new engines wont eat their catalyst and self destruct as in the past.

But are the engines really new and/or different for the 2013 MY? It seems to be same QR25DE I4 and VQ35DE V6, both of which are very solid engines.

The pre-catalyst problem that I believe you're referring to is NTB03070 and goes back QR25DE problems in the 2002 - 2004 time period that have long since been corrected.
 
Originally Posted By: barlowc
Which engine do you have in your new Altima? The QR25DE I4 or the VQ35DE V6? (If you're averaging 30 MPG, I'm guessing it's the 4-cylinder.)

It's interesting (at least to me) that Nissan is now spec'ing 0W-20 when 5W-30 was previously spec'd for the same engine.



In his original post he states he has the 2.5. Which is the 4cyl.

I have the 2.5 in my 2012 Rogue and I wonder if Nissan has back spec'd any of their engines? Does anybody know?
 
The vq engine is a carry over. The qr engine is slightly updated for friction reduction and optimisation and such for fe and hp purposes.
 
THe engines are not new for the 2013 model. The only new improvement was the CVT.

The owners manuals states that the QR25DE use 0w20 oil and the VQ35DE use 5w30 engine oil.
 
Originally Posted By: ARCOgraphite
The ow20 is only for warmup fuel economy. CAFE again. "Fully Synthetic" ( SINO like RINO
smile.gif
) means nothing in the US unless its a German or French automaker LL or HP spec - and then it wouldn't meet ILSAC GF-5.


Well, another thread here asked about Mobil Super 3000 0w-20 synthetic here in Canada. This is probably one application that will see it, since Imperial Oil is the service fill and not everyone will splurge for M1 at the dealer, and the Nissan Ester Oil probably has dust on all the bottles, since the only ones that would buy it have more money than brains.
wink.gif


If the dealer is going to put in 0w-20 (either Mobil Super 3000 or M1) for the same price as Mobil Super 1000 5w-30 conventional, fine (although the Infiniti dealership here charges through the nose for any oil change). Here, it's close to $70 for a conventional oil change at the Infiniti dealer. I can do it for under $15 with PYB on rollback and a Bosch 3300, or a couple bucks more for the Wix.

The 3 month/3750 mile severe service interval is way, way too short to be using extremely expensive oils, or, for that matter, cheap oils at very high dealer oil change rates. If it were me, I'd run the 5w-30 conventional at severe service intervals until the warranty expires, than play around with something like a 0w-20 or other synthetic if so desired.
 
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