0w-40 on a Nissan Versa (second gen)

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So I asked Nissan about using 0w-40 on my 2014 Nissan Versa with a 5speed manual, but they referred me to the dealer which basically referred me back to Nissan...

I do a lot of highway driving, usually in West and South Texas, lots of hills and mountains. My car normally goes at 3.5-4k RPMS in the highway. I noticed my oil turns dark really quick after such drives, 5w-30, that is. SO I was wondering if 0w-40 would be a "better" oil for my usage.

Anyone ever used it?

btw, my car has 45,000 or so miles.

edit: nissan recommends in the owners manual to use synthetic 5w-30 or conventional 10w30
 
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5w30 should do just fine. I have used 0w40 without issues. Personally, id stick with 5w30 syn, simply because I dont see any improved benefit to 0w40. To be honest, worst case give it a try for an OCI, but Id bet its type of oil or just your engine that turns it black quick and not the weight of the oil at fault. They say dont judge an oil by color. Maybe get a UOA on it?
 
First of all, you can forget the "30" or "40" designations. The relevant tech data to look at is HTHS.
Nissan recommends SN GF-5 5w30 synthetic, and that means an HTHS from 2.9-3.2 is fine, as any synthetic GF-5 5w30 will give you.
The 0w40 is a A3/B4, NOT GF-5, so it's HTHS is about 3.5, too much for your engine really.

It will not hurt your engine to run the 0w40 at all.
You will lose about 1.5% MPG and peak power, small but there.

Conclusion: Use Nissan's recommended HTHS (about 3.0) that SN GF-5 5w30 or 0w30 synthetic oils give.
Use a Fram Ultra oil filter to get the best performance there.
Recommending Mobil1 Extended Performance or Castrol Edge Ext Perf gold jug from Walmart, but any synthetic is good enough.
 
I use that weight in my '92 Nissan Sentra and have been since it was new. Seems like the all purpose oil to me even if it costs a mile per gallon or two. I agree with all of the excellent input from oil_film_ movies though, good advice.
 
My 2015 Altima lists:
0W20 full syn
5W30 & 10W30 conventional
But no 5W20 is listed and I use 5W20 winter/5W30 summer.

If 0W40 is listed in your owner's manual(OM), use it. And considering your type of driving, I would say YES! But, stay with the OM recommendations.
 
You'll be fine with 0w-40, I'd suggest synth or semi-synth oil thou.
Oil getting dark means oil does good cleaning job and that's a good thing.
Don't go long OCI crazy and your engine will last a looong time.
 
I wouldn't hesitate to use Edge 0w-40 in that car. South Texas is notorious for heat and that oil will do well in that environment . It's spec'd for some serious applications and I suspect it will have no trouble keeping your engine in fine fettle.
 
Sure you can run a 0W40, half the Nissan's in Australia would be running 10W40 semi-synthetic, as that is our default oil for everything.

However, I would personally try a 10W30 full synthetic first. That fits closer to your local recommendations, plus a synthetic 10W30 has a very low polymer VII load. These polymer VII can sometimes be the source of oil contamination when they break down, so reducing them is a good place to start.

A 10W30 should also have a lower Noack volatility and be more shear stable than the equivalent 5W30. To me a 10W30 is always a better choice than a similar 5W30 if you live in the correct climate. A 10W oil is good for cold starting down to 0F (-20 C) but below that I would switch to a 5W oil.

BTW what 5W30 are you running now ?
 
Don't bother with OEM recommendation of xW30 ..... for you know better than OEM, the specific operating parameters of this vehicle.
 
I would try a 10w30 before going to a 40.

Oil turning dark is not a bad thing, but since you're spinning up that little mouse motor the slightly thicker 10w30 would be beneficial.
 
Good Morning Garak, Mr NightOwl
smile.gif
 
It should be ok, I used 10w40 at one time and there was no problem.
Currently I use 10w30.
The temperature graphs suggest up to 20w50 is acceptable, so you are golden dont worry. :_)
 
Originally Posted By: SR5
Good Morning Garak, Mr NightOwl
smile.gif


I'm on a bit earlier today.
wink.gif


Other 5w-30 options work, including a C3 5w-30. Castrol lists it as an option in their Canadian oil selector. Of course, 1 litre bottles of a C3 isn't going to be cost effective.
 
I wouldn't have a problem running 0w-40 in one. They do have a really small sump and the 5 speeds are geared crazy low. I don't think there would be any benefit over a 5w-30 but, whatever.




Originally Posted By: Char Baby
My 2015 Altima lists:
0W20 full syn
5W30 & 10W30 conventional
But no 5W20 is listed and I use 5W20 winter/5W30 summer.

If 0W40 is listed in your owner's manual(OM), use it. And considering your type of driving, I would say YES! But, stay with the OM recommendations.


Altima has a different engine family, larger oil capacity and the CVT does allow it to run much lower RPM.

I know a few people with new Nissan Sentras and Altimas and it's weird that there is no 5w-20 recommendation, only 0w-20 for longer interval and short 3750 interval for 5w-30.
 
Originally Posted By: FermeLaPorte
So I asked Nissan about using 0w-40 on my 2014 Nissan Versa with a 5speed manual, but they referred me to the dealer which basically referred me back to Nissan...

I do a lot of highway driving, usually in West and South Texas, lots of hills and mountains. My car normally goes at 3.5-4k RPMS in the highway. I noticed my oil turns dark really quick after such drives, 5w-30, that is. SO I was wondering if 0w-40 would be a "better" oil for my usage.

Anyone ever used it?

btw, my car has 45,000 or so miles.

edit: nissan recommends in the owners manual to use synthetic 5w-30 or conventional 10w30


10w-30. QSUD. for protection *AND* performance. I used it on a big V6 in S. Texas so I KNOW. you could even go 10w-40.
 
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