15w-40 okay on a 2003 Ser Spec V?

[Torquejumper]

Is it okay to run 15w40 on a 2003 Nissan Sentra Ser Spec V (2.5L 4-cylinder) during Spring and Summer? The manual specs for 5w30/10w-30, but 10w-40 is acceptable if you're having oil consumption problems. I burned about 1qt every 2000 miles with 10w-40. The car is running perfect, no blue/black/white smoke during idle or hard acceleration, and no oil leaks what so ever. Pcv valve was replaced even though the old one was working fine. 92k on the motor. Precat looked fine when I replaced it with an aftermarket header at 78k, and butterfly screws were locktite at the same time. No SES or CEL.

I do a lot of driving (average 30k a year) and planning to do some road trips during Spring and Summer that will involve some highway or mountain traveling. If 15w40 was safe on my car, what brand of 15w40 would you recommend? It doesn’t matter if it’s conventional or synthetic as long as it's decently priced and gives adequate results. Depending on the type of oil, my oil change interval is between 3-7k.

 

[gathermewool]

No need for 15w40, IMO. If you want a thicker oil, try Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel Truck or Rotella T6, both 5W-40 and shear stable.

 

[HTSS_TR]

You can try High Mileage 10W40 oils such as Maxlife, Pennzoil High Mileage ... and do 5-6k OCI. Or you can try Mobil 1 10W40 HM and do 10k OCI.

 

[Torquejumper]

Thanks. I have Rotella T6 right now in the car, great oil. I will try your recommendations.

 

[CourierDriver]

Originally Posted By: gathermewool
No need for 15w40, IMO. If you want a thicker oil, try Mobil 1 Turbo Diesel Truck or Rotella T6, both 5W-40 and shear stable.
Plus 1 , on that T-6

 

[fdcg27]

There would be no harm in trying a 15w40 in warm weather.
Depending upon what part of the state you live in, you might be able to use it all year.
The big advantage of a 15w40 is that it is a HDEO, and it is pretty inexpensive, with the ocassional BOGO or MIR or clearance deal here and there.
Delo, Delvac, Rotella, Valvoline and Tection are all pretty widely available in 15w40, and you can usually find one of them for around ~$10.00/gal.
You could try one of these oils, and see what it does to reduce your consumption.
You could also try Maxlife SB 10W-40, usually a good deal in five quart jugs at Wally, and Valvoline often offers MIRs.
The syns noted in posts above are certainly worth a shot, but in an engine using a fair amount of oil, they end up being pretty expensive.
Also, I see no point in using a syn and then topping up after 2K with any oil you happen to have sitting around.

 

[aquariuscsm]

What kind`ve 10W40 are you using? Conventional or synthetic? Maybe try a "thicker" conventional 10w40.

 

[Torquejumper]

The part where I stated that I was burning about 1qt every 2k, I was using Castrol Synthetic 10w-40 during that time. For some reason, Rotella T6 seems to be slowing down the oil consumption better than Castrol Synthetic 10w-40. I've put about 1200 miles on car since the oil change with the T6, and it has used about half 1/2 quart so far. I live in California in the central valley so it never snows here. Yes, 15w40 are cheap one of the reasons why I'm asking about it.

I will also like to note that these motors (QR25DE) are notorious for oil consumption. The same motor was used in:
- 2002-2007 Altima
- 2000 and up X-trail (not sold in USA)
- Presage (minivan)
- Bassara
- 2005-up Frontier Pickup (RWD)

 

[Texan4Life]

with that kind of consumption. I would run whatever HDEO is on sale or even just SuperTech 15w40.. ST is hard to beat at $19 for 2.5 gal.

 

[simple_gifts]

I would run the 15w40 for the reasons fdc stated (and I am)

Delo has substantially reduced my consumption and I'll be using it all winter. Winter starts run from about 10F-35F with a few < 0F I'm using LubeControl as a top off oil, so by the time the cold weather sets in, the cold temp fluidity might be much better than right out of the bottle.

 

[Torquejumper]

Do you guys think 15w40 will be safe for Winter or even year round over here? The lowest temperature recorded during Winter was 18F and the hottest was 113F for Summer, but this was back in 1932. Typically, we experience anywhere between 30F-40F for Winter and 94F-106F for Summer.

 

[simple_gifts]

Quote:

Do you guys think 15w40 will be safe for Winter or even year round over here?

yes.

 

[cronk]

1 quart in 2K? That isn't really that bad...alot of oem's say even 1 quart in 1k is acceptable. For your climate 15w40 is fine.
Have you tried any High Mileage oils? I would think Mobil 1 High Mileage 10w40 or Valvoline Maxlife would work well in your situation. They tend to run a little on the thick side.

 

[Torquejumper]

I can live with 1qt every 2-2.5k. I did run Mobil 1 10w-40 High Mileage Synthetic but did not keep track of how many mileage it burnt in one quart. I would run Mobil 1 again but oil prices jacked up over here. Used to be on sale for $21 for the 5qt jugs but prices jacked up to $24.50. I've heard good things about Maxlife also. I still have to try it for myself.