In case you don't have an Owner's Manual, you can get one here for free (after registering):
http://x.infinitihelp.com/forum/loca...s.php?catid=56
Besides those, here's tons of free info there including factory service manuals.


BTW, Your auto parts store guy is misinformed in this case; the HR motor was BUILT to be driven hard WITH its recommended oil.

 

I hate having to write this but the alternative is worse. Since we've had our G35 sedan 2003, my husband took care of all the maintenance. Well he died suddenly in July and I realize I need an oil change and am an ignorant female widow who can't afford to be taken advantage of. There is no Pep Boys where I live, do have NAPA. Should I go to Lube It USA or Oil Can Pete or private place and what should I do about the oil filter and oil? Should I purchase them in advance and take them in with me and if so what do I get that's best for my car? This car is all I've got and I want to make sure that is pampered to best of my budget. Thanks for the help.

 

After reading the posts I am confused on which oil weight I should be using. The owners manual states SAE 5W-30 viscosity oil recommending MINERAL based oils. I live in Western Oregon with moderate temperatures. I have a 2003 G35 sedan with currently 32,148 miles (yes it's not a typo). Another dumb question, regular or premium gasoline?

 

My advice is to be very very careful of places like Jiffy Lube, Pep Boys and the like.

A fifteen year old vehicle is likely to eventually need parts, repairs which tend to be expensive.

Check oil change prices at your local Infiniti/Nissan dealer.

Telcoman.

 

Yep, call your local Nissan and ask how much it is for an oil change. With such low mileage you should consider using the synthetic oil and changing it every 5k miles. It's slightly cheaper than conventional oil changed every 3k and will offer better protection for you low mile engine.

Get in the habit of checking your oil level every week in case it does.consume a little oil, if it does then switch back to conventional on the next oil change. You should check your oil level every week regardless because it's pretty much the one thing that can accidently destroy your motor.

Nissan is usually very competitive (or cheaper) for lube services and you know they used the correct parts, replaced the crush washer, properly torqued the oil filter and drain plug plus they do a vehicle inspection so you know how other wearable components are doing by reputable mechanics.

And they probably also offer complimentary car wash with service.

 

As for fuel, there's two schools of though on the matter. One thought is to use regular unleaded since you probably aren't running around driving wide open throttle all the time and the computer is sophisticated enough to retard timing quickly if it does detect knock.

The other school of thought is why force the.computer to make needless corrections when it only costs about $10 per tank of fuel to use the octane rating it was factory tuned for.

You're not going to hurt the motor using regular unleaded, it is tuned and designed to be run on premium however so I think you just need to decide how hard you run the motor. Do you regularly push the gas pedal all the way to the floor to merge onto a highway? Run premium. Do you just put around town and never see more than 4k rpms? Use regular.
Is money not an issue? Run premium. Are you tight on cash? Use regular.

Personally I always run premium but I push my car hard a LOT.

 

+ 1, the franchise oil change spots aren't always the greatest choice, and they can be quite predatory

I still opt for the OEM oil filter myself http://www.infinitipartsdeal.com/par...Coupe&Filter=()

 

Unless you have taken the time to cut some filters open, it can be a real guessing game. Just so happens that in my racing world, cutting filters open is a common occurrence. If for some reason whether it be just the thing to do or the engine doesn't warrant anything better, then a regular spin on filter is going to handle the job just fine. When it comes to brands, Wix and Baldwin are hard to beat. The NAPA Gold and top of the line Carquest (now Advance) are both Wix filters with different paint jobs. Internally they are identical. Next would be your Purolator, K&N and Bosch filters. All of these filters are within a gnat's hair of each other. After that it's pretty much everything else, including the AMSOIL , Nissan, Fram and assorted other filters - like Mobil 1. Most of these filters are made by a 3rd party with a different paint job/decal and are very much the same internally. My mark against the AMSOIL unit is that it appears to be way too restrictive which ends up opening the bypass and therefore filters very little of the oil.

Right now on a scale of protection, AMSOIL Signature series oil is extremely good. The formulation was changed last fall and the oil has really stepped up the anti-wear abilities. After that Mobil-1, Pennzoil and Valvoline are good choices for synthetics, and reasonably priced at Wallymart. Valvoline is tough to beat in a conventional oil, as is Brad Penn. Pennzoil and Quaker State are second best, I have seen Quaker State foam badly at higher RPM. Stay away from Castrol and Royal Purple - two of the worst oils being made right now. If you hate your engine, use them. If you like additives which I think are okay for conventional oil but not synthetics, Lucas Oil Treatment is good stuff.

 

My condolences on the loss of your husband. I was fortunate in the past to help out my mother-in-law when her husband passed away, so I understand a little bit of your frustration and possible bewilderment at how to care for your vehicle. I think that the first thing you should do is speak with some of your friends and see if they have a good, decent local garage that can provide the services you need. A recommendation from one of them will probably do a lot to ease your mind about this. Further on in this thread I make some recommendations about oil and filters that I have gained through the experience of working on cars for 52+ years. I can also tell you that while I am sure there is one good one here and there, most of the oil change outfits are thieves. They will lie to you, they will show you false information and you have no idea of what they are putting in your engine, no matter what color and decal is on the drum of oil. Try to stay away from those places. Dealerships are just as bad and I know there are some very professional mechanics, but the dealerships are interested in one thing and that is profit. Nothing else matters and the mechanics are told what they will and will not do. If someone on here thinks they torque filters, replace copper crush rings and torque the drain plugs, more power to them - that simply does not happen unless you request it and pay for it. Bon chance.

 

Really?
I am really sick of this stuff - this is how bad information gets started on these forums.

The longer filter was a stock size on a 2007 Nissan Murano with a 3500 engine. The smaller one was the stock size on a 2007 Nissan G35/350z with a 3500 engine. You really think the manufacturer is going to quibble over an oil filter that is roughly 3/4" of an inch longer? An engineer picked one over the other because of the amount of room he had in the area of the oil filter or he/she was told that we can spend this $XX on a filter for this vehicle. Both filters fit and work just fine for the Nissan 3500 engines.

And just so all of you know, the VQ35DE engine in my car is filtered by a System 1 filter that has an equivalent size of a WIX 51068 or NAPA 1068 - basically the filter used on most Ford production cars from the mid-70s through the 80's. And yes this takes setting up a remote oil filter mounting which sits quite nicely next to a B&M 20,500 BTU cooler. And believe me in the scheme of things, the damned cooler is a lot more important for these engines than the oil filter.

 

I think it's also important to note that for a mildly driven engine there is very little difference in the condition of the oil regardless of filter used. Adding load and rpms however and you can see a fairly drastic difference in flow and filtration.

If you have ANY questions about whether your filter and oil is working I strongly recommend getting an engine oil analysis performed. It can also tell you a lot about the condition of various wearable components depending on which metals are found in the oil.

 

I work on a lot of different vehicles for different friends and customers. One of the things that I do sometimes is to cut a filter open just for my own knowledge of how it is built. One, if not the worst filter for actually collapsing internally is a Fram. On three different vehicles and 3 different owners, these filters have failed. I would reason that all three of the drivers drove somewhat differently and two of these were female. I do not discount sending in oil for analysis if you suspect an issue but not using good filters and oil is akin to not bothering with ever changing the oil and filter. And I had one of those too. Lady had driven the vehicle just short of 60,000 miles when the oil light came on. 10 quart system on this Mercedes that took 7+ quarts to bring it back to full. Oil and filter had never been changed - she had no idea that you needed to perform that maintenance.

 

Wow that poor motor, I typically send in for oil analysis every 30k in my vehicles. Easy way to spot a potential issue and get it corrected early. Also a big fan of snipping the shell off oil filters to see how well it's working but I only do that usually once per year.

 

I personally use the Mobil 1 M1-110A. I believe it's intended for the M35, so it's a good bit longer than the filter that's specified for our car. More filtering media sounded like a good idea to me, so that's what I use for every oil change. Castrol 5w-30 and M1-110 every 3k miles.

 

You might want to do some research on that motor oil before you continue using it. With the new ownership of Castrol a few years back, the oil products they are putting out now have turned to rubbish. It used to be a very good oil as they did a lot of research and development on their oils - most of that work has now been abandoned in the search for a better bottom-line.

Also, I am going to purchase one of the Mobil-1 M1-110A filters and cut it apart. I'll let everyone know what I find out.