I just took my 08 x sedan in for warranty work and my service advisor told me to stop using synthetic oil. He said that it causes additional friction and damages the engine. Is this true? Thanks in advance.

 

Lies. If anything, synthetic oil does the exact opposite.

However, if you change your oil regularly (every 4k miles or so,) synthetic vs. conventional does the same thing. Synthetic is better in more extreme temperatures but for the average joe, I doubt any of them make a significant difference. Synthetic also lasts longer between oil changes. If you don't change oil regularly or if you live in an extreme climate, then I'd go with Synthetic for longer oil change intervals.

I put Mobil 1 full synthetic 5W-30 into my car every 5k miles with a PureOne oil filter.

Plus, synthetic oil manufacturers like Mobil1 or Pennzoil put a 500,000 mile guarantee on your engine if the failure is due to the oil and not anything else.

 

That's absurd.

synthetic offers better protection.

 

ya, that service guy is a moron as long as you use the correct weight oil makes no diff.

 

It is complete and utter BULLS**T.

If I were you, I would ask for that service writer to put it in writing and, if he's actually stupid enough to do that, forward it to Infiniti Corporate Customer Service. He will most definitely be set straight, and who knows, you may get a free oil change out of it. My best guess is that he'll back away from the declaration as soon as you ask him to document it.

 

Thanks for the responses. I've been using Pennzoil Ultra now for the last 8 months and I actually think the engine is a little smoother because of it. The service advisor said that he has G's in often with engine problems due to synthetic oil and had one in when I picked up my car. I would think any car would benefit from synthetic, right?

 

A few years ago, Infiniti was promoting the use of an ester based oil (at an exorbitant price) for the VQ37VHR motors because it was touted as quieting noise issues with the newer variable cam/valve operation. They've since backed off as far as I heard. My guess is that's what the guy's basing his comments on. Ester based oils are quite good though, and in certain instances, arguably better than common synthetics, but I think that's getting into hair splitting. Also, the term "benefit" may be fairly generous. IF you used regular dino oil with more frequent change intervals, I highly doubt you'd ever see any appreciable difference in longevity for the engine over what synthetic could have provided. SO many other systems and functions of the car could and would fail long before subtle engine lubrication differences became a determining factor. Bottom line, your car will end up in a wrecking yard someday, but it's very unlikely it will be because of an incorrect dino vs. synthetic oil choice you make.

.02

 

^ VQ summed it up nicely, this is not an issue for HRs at all but was an issue with the newer VHRs and ester oil($$) helped quiet them down but that does not mean that syn caused any harm to those engines either, it just wasnt able to keep em quiet. So the rep probably had heard this issue in bits and pieces and misunderstood the problem and forwarded it as such, or he was just being a ... ("..." used to keep it PG! )

 

I heard a service advisor tell this lady at the dealership the same thing while I was waiting for my car.

Service Advisor:"your car is burning oil so we recommend that you stop using synthetic oil and use regular and come in every 3k miles, that way the oil won't have enough time to burn away."
Lady: "Oh okay! Anything else I need to do?"
SA: "Just to be even safer you can come in and buy oil from us and add some in every once in a while, it's a totally normal part of maintaining your car"

I almost fell on the floor laughing.

 

^ PLEASE tell me that when you fell off your bed onto the floor and realized it was a dream!!

but unfortunately this does happen often and it angers me when people make fools out of other people who are less educated in that specific field

 

^^Service advisor is correct in the above scenario. If you got a high mileage engine with questionable seals, synthetic is more likely to leak past than conventional oil.

 

It was a 05-06 G35 sedan...prolly still under warranty...

 

While the part you mention may be true, the adviser is still not correct. Short of being subject to the worst kind of severe duty, there is simply no excuse for suggesting a 3K oil change interval anymore besides profit; conventional oil or not.

 

@Jsolo that is true if the car has been receiving regular oil changes before and you change to syn then there is more likeliness to leak

 

^^Indeed... I interpreted what the service writer said somewhat out of context. All my vehicles get synthetic, though I may go 5K between changes. I do tend to drive hard. Even with synthetic, my bike gets changes at 2-3K (12Krpm redline, and operating at 60-70% of that on a regular bases will beat up the oil quickly).