Infiniti dealer trying to sell me synthetic oil

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I just made an appointment to have my wife’s new Infiniti QX60 serviced. The service adviser says the car uses synthetic motor oil, which makes for a $95 oil change! However, my owner’s manual specifies 0W-20 SN, with no mention of synthetic. (I see where the SN classification applies to both conventional and synthetic oil.)

I sent an e-mail to Infinity Owner Services asking them if I can use conventional oil. Will be interesting to see what they say, if anything.

I'm familiar with the benefits of synthetic oil, but this is a 45K mile lease, and I'm sure the internal engine components would last for at least 200K miles with conventional oil. In fact, in 50+ years of car ownership, I have never experienced an oil related failure, except for maybe a couple noisy lifters in a 1960s Chevy V8.

Comments?
 
Pretty much any 0w20 oil is going to be synthetic. I haven’t seen or heard of a conventional one.

I take it you are not interested in changing your own oil? You could do it for less than half the price easily.
 
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if its a lease are you required to have it done at infiniti? then just say minimum required service.
Also can you still bargain for a prepaid plan that gets you to the end of lease. Then ypu dont need to worry about these things

That being said $95 in total for a service interval that has oil change for a luxury car at the dealer is a very reasonable price.
 
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You can do you own oil change with full synthetic with a 99% plus filter for under $30. That's why they call them Stealerships. In the first place they can buy that stuff cheaper than you and I.
 
0w20 is synthetic.
I only know of one, Pennzoil Gold, that is a syn blend 0w20.
Change it yourself. A 5 quart of 0w20 and filter is about 35.00 .
 
I guess the cheaper option would just be to go to an independent shop. Call and ask how much for 0W20 oil change. My Dad got the $100 0W20 oil change spiel at the dealership as well, and the shop down the road will do it for $60. It's documented and that's all you need for the remote chance of an oil related warranty issue.
You could do some reading on it, as I think you've got a VQ35 in there which dates back to the early 2000's, so 5W30 would do fine once you are out of warranty.
 
Thanks guys. I may go "old school" and do it myself. Walmart has 5-qt jugs of Mobil 1 0W-20 for $28. Wonder if I need to use a genuine Nissan/Infiniti filter?
 
Originally Posted By: beanoil
0w20 is synthetic.
I only know of one, Pennzoil Gold, that is a syn blend 0w20.
Change it yourself. A 5 quart of 0w20 and filter is about 35.00 .

Dealerships make money. End of story.

"SN" doesn't mean conventional oil. Its not in the SN spec.
Some GroupIII synthetic (not all) needs to be in there to meet the 0w cranking specs at the same time meeting NOACK and WPD specs on the hot end.

Another 0w20 with some GroupII conventional oil in it: Quaker State Syn Blend 0w20
Cheapest has to be the Harvest King 0w20 at your Rural King stores if you have them around you. Very cheap there.
https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/4290443/Harvest_King_0w-20_from_Rural_
Otherwise, I think you can order Walmart.com's SuperTech 0w20 for kinda cheap.
 
Just noticed the owner's manual has a 39-page Do-it-Yourself section, including oil & filter changes. So I am good to go from a warranty standpoint. I also found a "genuine" Nissan/Infiniti oil filter online for $4.85 shipped. Probably no better than a quality aftermarket filter, but if I ever have a engine problem, Infiniti won't be able to blame the filter.

For most of the past 15-20 years, I've had dealers do oil changes on our daily drivers, but the $95 [censored] charge is a good reason to get back in the habit of doing it myself.

Thanks again.
 
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Check your manual. Infiniti is a recent adopter of 0w20 and some models still allow for 5w30 as substitute.
 
Originally Posted By: mbres2000
Just noticed the owner's manual has a 39-page Do-it-Yourself section, including oil & filter changes. So I am good to go from a warranty standpoint. I also found a "genuine" Nissan/Infiniti oil filter online for $4.85 shipped. Probably no better than a quality aftermarket filter, but if I ever have a engine problem, Infiniti won't be able to blame the filter.

For most of the past 15-20 years, I've had dealers do oil changes on our daily drivers, but the $95 [censored] charge is a good reason to get back in the habit of doing it myself.

Thanks again.



You will also have the satisfaction of knowing what is in your crankcase and that the job was done right.
 
I can’t imagine an Infiniti dealership stocking a synthetic blend 0w-20, so you’re either paying the $95 dealer price for the oil change, getting synthetic oil, and all the other things that come along with that dealership oil change, or you’re doing it yourself.
 
Originally Posted By: JoelB
You bought a premium car, along with that comes premium prices plain and simple.


^^This

That's such a nice new car,don't go cheap on the oil. QSUD 0W20 at Walmart for $19.
 
If one buys a new Infiniti QX60 for $40k+, and this is the luxury division of Nissan, which means its better than a Pathfinder, I can't figure out why oil changes aren't free. My leased '18 Equinox has no snob appeal and yet I get free oil changes for a couple of years from cheapie GM.

Of course, this site has made me paranoid about letting anybody else touch the oil pan. Might DIY anyway here. Not sure yet.

They usually over-fill it, meaning I have to crawl under there anyway. And do they pre-fill the oil filter before installing it? I guess I have to take it in for an "Inspection" to keep the lease-owner company happy, so maybe they can do the oil change and I can adjust the level when they overfill it.
 
Originally Posted By: aquariuscsm
Originally Posted By: JoelB
You bought a premium car, along with that comes premium prices plain and simple.


^^This

That's such a nice new car,don't go cheap on the oil. QSUD 0W20 at Walmart for $19.


Can't be that premium, they didn't include maintenance! Do it yourself.
 
Originally Posted By: mbres2000
Thanks guys. I may go "old school" and do it myself. Walmart has 5-qt jugs of Mobil 1 0W-20 for $28. Wonder if I need to use a genuine Nissan/Infiniti filter?


They have 5 quart jugs of Castrol® EDGE® Extended Performance for $17 dollars just last week and I Maxed out my stash. Keep your eyes open it makes no sense to pay Stealership prices.
 
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