I'm pretty much new to performance cars.

I have an oil question:

Here's my situation. Live in Southern California, 60 to 90 degrees. Drive about 15,000 miles a year. about half freeway, half local. I want to be able to push the car abit.

I have three questions

1) Do you recommend switching to synthetic oils
2) If so, at what mileage
3) If so, what brand/weight do you recommend?

Thanks

 

there are probably as many different opinions on this as stars in the sky. plus your own comfort level and willingness/unwillingness to follow oil change intervals per the warranty make a difference. it all comes down to personal preference. If you are going to change oil every 3000 miles then a good quality dino, IMHO is all you need to do and i have several cars with 130+k miles to prove it.

i would suggest you do some of your own research on this (use site search engine or check out bobistheoilguy.com)

if you just want an answer without having to use any brainpower i would say no, because you need to be informed if you are going to go to synthetic.

if you get informed then you will probably find that the conversion is usually made sometime after the first 3000 miles. and for the temperature conditions you describe 10W30 would be fine IMO.



****************************
04 6MT sedan, black/willow

 

By all the talk i have done at auto shops in general, all highly recommend using full synthetic oil on your car, especially being of higher performance than your mitsu eclipse, etc. The brand to use and you will see it htroughout this forum is Mobil 1 5W-30 wt, or the one with the Blue cap. This is especially for newer vehicles and engines. Later on you can move to the 10W-30 wt. Change at prescribed intervals. Infiniti recommends oil changes at every 3750 miles. That is just fine.

G35sedan03
03.5 briliant silver, 6MT, premium pkg, 19" Kaizer wheels, Skyline badges, HID upgrade, Racing pedals, clear lenses, 35% tint (Coming Soon- Grounding Kit, CAI & Exhaust, Coilovers)

 

newlifeca,

FWIW, I would recommend you do some research if you really want to understand the benefits of "dino" vs. "synthetic" oils. The best site on the web for oil information is, IMO, http://www.bobistheoilguy.com. A TREMENDOUS amount of information is available there.

In short, just about ANY synthetic will be better than just about any "dino" oil. The best synthetics are, in NO particular order, Mobil 1 (www.mobil1.com), Schaeffer's (www.schaefferoil.com), Amsoil (www.amsoil.com), Royal Purple (www.royalpurple.com), and Red Line (www.redlineoil.com).

The least expensive is the Schaeffer and most expensive is the Royal Purple. Best value, IMO, is Schaeffer's oil. Most popular is Mobil One. Red Line and Amsoil both have a dedicated following. Best overall, depends on who you talk to... and, IMO, is also Schaeffer's. Schaeffer's 7000 synthetic has a "soluble Micron Moly" additive that further improves lubrication, especially under high stress (shear and pressure).

Oh, and one point of clarification. As far as I know, there is only ONE true synthetic oil on the market for automobiles and it is called SynLube (www.synlube.com and priced like it is the only one, at $32/liter). The others are "synthetic blends" of highly refined "base oils" (usually Group II, parafin-based) and synthetic PAO oils. "Synthetic" means artificially created, not "refined". The additive packages vary by brand.

Anyway, the problem with even good dino oils is that they have a tendency to break down during high temperature driving (or hard driving at any time) and have a lower lubricity, compared to synthetics. Also, the detergent package in synthetic oils tends to be better than that of dino oils. Synthetics are credited to giving from .5 to 2mpg better gas milage. YMMV.

If you are driving non-rush hour, highway miles, in less than 80-85 degree weather, you probably can get by fine with a good dino oil, changed every 3K-3.75K miles. When I say "get by", this means that you will not have any excessive wear or sludging at, say, 75K miles.

If you aren't planning on keeping the car that long, save some money and still with the dealer oils. If you think you MIGHT, I'd go with the synthetics, especially if you are planning on driving it hard/racing it.

With the G35, you will be safe, IMO, almost regardless of how you drive your vehicle with any of the above synthetics (with the exception of racing) with the Infiniti recommended oil change interval (OCI). In fact, as someone else has mentioned, you should be able to safely extend that interval, but I wouldn't extend the interval without an UOA to confirm how long you can go. At $40-50 per oil change, it can save some money, even with the cost of synthetics.

As for when to use synthetics, I would say to wait at least until you have 5K miles on the car. Possibly even 10K miles. It will take that long for the engine to be properly broken in. Again, a UOA can help you with that. I started with synthetics at 3750 miles and the engine finished breaking in at 20K miles using Schaeffer's (it has 36K now). The oil was SO good at lubricating that it took much longer for the engine to break in. So I would recommend running the dino for a longer time than shorter.

Running Schaeffer's, I can safely go 6K miles between changes (confirmed by 2 UOAs) and I live in Memphis, TN where it reaches 90-100+ degrees (100-110+ heat index) during most of the summer. I should also mention that the UOAs indicated that the VQ35DE engine "runs hot", preventing what would otherwise be much longer OCIs.

However, I keep it to 5K miles to make it easier to remember when to do the changes (35K, 40K, etc.). But then again, I'm lazy and like to be a bit conservative. Our driving is ~60% highway, ~40% city, but almost no rush hour driving.

The only way you can really tell how well your oil is doing is by an used oil analysis (UOA). This will tell you exactly how well your oil is doing between oil changes. However, at $20-35 each, doing oil analyses can quickly eat up any savings in extended change intervals.

The benefit of UOA's is that it can help build up a history of how well each oil does with a particular engine, such as the VQ35DE... This can benefit the G35 community and provide a foundation for any future warranty claims that Infiniti may want to contest. Not that they would, but it would be nice.

As for oil weights, I would say follow the Infiniti recommendations. If the temps get over 90 regularly, I would go to a 10w30, but would stick with the 5w30 for lower temps.

Anyway, I hope this helps answer your questions.

Scott

 

If you want to go synthetic and still observe the OEM recommedated interval then may I suggest to go with "MOTUL." They are very good as racing oil. I have several friends into racing and they always get discount on them from MOTUL directly. As a friend I'm getting the benefic of it too.

Remember its a for racing and its recommendated to replace it very 3000 miles unlike Mobil 1 which its advertise to last 10,000 miles.

~ GT-R the Ultimate Driving Machine ~
- 2004 G35 Ivory Pearl/Black Leather
- Auto/Nav/Premium/Sports/Aero
- 6 wire grounding kit

 

No reason to change at every 3k with synthetic. That is just a marketing gimmick to make the companys more money. Mobil 1 and Amsoil can go easily over 6k of miles without a oil change. I change my Amsoil 10w30 every 6k of miles. It still isn't even hardly used.

2004 Infiniti G35S, 6MT, Premium, Sport, DP
Mods: JDM Clears, 20% tint, Z-tube, K&N Drop In
Track: 14.32 at 98.79 mph 2.2032 60ft

 

G35_TX,

Ok, a stupid question, but how do you KNOW that it is "hardly used" at 6K? Have you had UOAs done?

I'm really curious, especially since (1) my UOA's indicate otherwise and (2) if the oil is hardly used at 6K, why not extend that to 7.5K?

Thanks.

Scott

2003 G35 Sedan (non-sport), Ivory Pearl, Black Leather, Nav System, Aero Package
Mods: Ceramic brakes, stainless brake lines, Goodyear GSD3 225/55-17
Future Mods: Anti-sway bars

 

Oil issues such as synthetice vs. dino, frequency of change can be interesting. You ask 20 people, you get 20 different answers!!! I used to have my opionion on such issues. However, after reading an extensive tesing report done by Consumer Report serveral years ago, I follow their recommendations. Consumer Report tested a fleet of taxis in NYC with dino oil, and one synthetic, Mobil 1. Now that's a REAL field test!!! You can imagine the wear and tear on the engines in NYC. The conclusion was it found NO visible wear of engine parts among major brands of oil. The oil changes were done at 6K for 50K miles. Since then I change my dino oil at the 6K interval.

I won't be surprised that someone would disagree with me, so write to Consumer Report and present your case. Or do a field test yourself with a feet of cars. Like I said in the beginning, 20 people will have 20 opinions!

2004 G35X

 

Blackstone Labs test prove this. I can easily go to 10k if I wanted, but prefer not too for peace of mind.

All depends on the oil you use. UOA on Mobil 1 can't go past 6k on the VQ easily. But Amsoil can.

6k is easier to remember, I do it every tire rotation since the car will be up in the air anyways.

2004 Infiniti G35S, 6MT, Premium, Sport, DP
Mods: JDM Clears, 20% tint, Z-tube, K&N Drop In
Track: 14.32 at 98.79 mph 2.2032 60ft

 

I think they used Castrol GTX which can go to 6k for a dino oil. It's the best one you can get for dino oil. It actually out ranks its syntec side of the house in quality.

2004 Infiniti G35S, 6MT, Premium, Sport, DP
Mods: JDM Clears, 20% tint, Z-tube, K&N Drop In
Track: 14.32 at 98.79 mph 2.2032 60ft

 

My dealor reccommended using mineral based oils

 

Why would you assume anyone at the dealer is technically qualified to make any recommendation. Concerning oils unless the factory issues a TSB concerning a problem.


The purpose of the Service Department [which breaks even at best] is to install the PARTS that they sell and to placate the customer till the warranty is over.
The Parts Department is the real profit center of the entire dealership. Only Used Cars comes a distant second........new car sales is the bottom of the rung profitwise but again a necessity to sell future Parts.

Mentally they can't wait till something breaks.

Otherwise they would set you down and explain how changing Quality fluids often would extend the life of all the cars rotating systems.

The problem with maintenance is the fluid costs are lower than the labor so the profit margin is inferior to selling a hard exclusive PART.

 

dont use fully synthetic oil for alteast 20,000 miles..u want to let the engine break in. Mobil 1 5W-30 is the best. Dont change weights yet..dont go to 10W-30 later on...i would get 0W-30 or 0W-40 after 70 or 80K miles for maximum performace

 

That is false info. The engine is broken in even before the engine is installed in the car. I started at 1000 miles with Amsoil 5w30. No problems. I also know someone who started at the same time with another car, and he put over 200k on it, without a problem.

Mobil 1 5w30 is not the best. It is the best store bought but not the best. Amsoil is the best, Redline is the next best.

2004 Infiniti G35S, 6MT, Premium, Sport, DP
Mods: JDM Clears, 20% tint, Z-tube, K&N Drop In
Track: 14.32 at 98.79 mph 2.2032 60ft

 

Where do you get Amsoil, is that "over the counter" :-)