Last week was oil change time for my 2004 Altima 2.5 4cyl. I had been using 5W-30 dino and since the manual says 10W-30 and 10W-40 can be used for temps above 0 degrees, I decided to give 10W-40 a go in this somewhat noisey Nissan motor. Off to Advance Auto and I bought some Castrol GTX 10W-40 that was on sale. First impressions with 10W-40 in the DOHC motor, amazingly quiet and smooth. Today was the second fillup with gas on the 10W-40 and gas mileage came out to 32 mpg. This is better than the 28-29 mpg I usually get. I double checked the miles on the trip odometer and the number of gallons it took and it was correct. Now I am not going to say 10W-40 will get you better mileage but I will keep checking at the next few fillups. The car does not feel sluggish and still accelerates quickly. More importantly I would think less noise from the motor would mean less wear but I will leave that debate to those who know more than me. Maybe Nissan has a good reason for allowing heavier oils in their motors.
10W-40 in 2.5 Nissan
- Thread starter Frank D
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The best viscosity oil for your engine is the oil viscosity oil that works best for your engine.
That's the exact same experience I had switching my Buick LeSabre from 10W30 CS to 10W40 MaxLife. A world of difference! A lot of people here at BITOG advocate using the thinnest oil possible that your car can handle. I have the exact opposite opinion; I believe you should use the thickest oil possible within your engine's mileage and outside climate temperature.
I'm running a 5W-40 in my 2.5L Altima for the summer months also. I find the engine is very quite and very peppy on acceleration too. Short trip milage is down 1 mpg or so but highway mpg seems to be up 1-2 mpg. I will be putting 0W-30 in for the winter months later. FYI 5W-40 is ELF Excellium oil and 0W-30 is GC.
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