'08 Nissan Frontier - Help me set my OCI and Type

[TWG1572]

So, I just bought a new V6 Nissan Frontier (VQ40 engine). I'm still in the "ooohh.. cool toy" stage so I'm being a bit anal about getting my maintenance schedule set up. And it's fun!

So, when I bought it the service manager's opinion was to change the oil at 1,750 followed by 3,750 intervals. I think I can buy into the 1,750 - but have heard as low as 1,000 before. After that I plan on doing 5K OCIs, with Wix filters. From what I have read on here, any good dino should do that. I tend to be pretty loyal to the yellow bottle, but am kicking around running this on PP.

My questions are -

1) Is there a consensus on first OCI? I believe in better safe than sorry, but also want to give the engine some time to break in.

2) Does anyone have any UOA's that indicate this engine likes some oils better than others? I'll apologize in advance because I haven't done a thorough review of that section of this site. This car is a commuter of sorts - 36 mile round trip to work, mainly highway (until rush hour when it slows to 15mph about 2x per week)

I could be talked up to a full synthetic, but tend to believe that the rest of a car will fall apart long before a properly maintened engine running a good quality dino will have an oil related failure. That being said, if I can signifigantly extend the length of my OCI's with synthetic, I'm down with that too. I do my own oil changes, so time is valueable.

3) Best time to switch to a full synthetic? I've heard from 7.5-10K miles?

 

[Johnny]

I usually drain my new cars between 1K and 2K. If you want to switch to synthetic, you can do it then, you do not have to wait until 7.5K. If you are going to do 5K oil changes, the good old YB Pennzoil will be just fine for your application. I happen to use the Platinum in my cars and change between 5K and 7.5K, depending on when the mood strikes me.

What part of WI are you in, Milwaukee area?

 

[TWG1572]

I'm in Madison actually. East side.

 

[Bill in Utah]

I'd run conventional if you are going to stay @ 3750 OCI.

Well protected and you'll get the by products out often. No issues with the MFG *if* you have a warranty issue (we have had another member who got a new Truck out of Nissan due to engine problems they could not fix)

Take care, bill

 

[Johnny]

Ah! Great place, one of my favorite cities. I use to spend a lot of time in Madison when I was still working. I had a lot of good customers down there. I will be down there in a couple of weeks to hear my good friend Westside Andy play at the Hody Bar in Middleton.