2010 Nissan Frontier V6 4.0 VQ40DE OCI

[Brule]

Looking for Nissan owner's experiences mainly. 68K miles...so out of warranty, but Ford dealer I bought it from gave me a 2 year powertrain warranty. Filter is an FL822, oil is Motorcraft 5w30. Nissan recommends 3750 miles OCI for the severe schedule. I imagine over 95% of drivers including me fall into Nissan's severe definition.

Realistically though, I should be able to safely extend OCIs to at least 5,000 with a decent oil like Motorcraft, no? With my Civic I'll run any "syn" to 10K and the NextGen in it now is probably going to go over. But between this Frontier and the 350z I just sold I have less than 10 months ownership of Nissans so this is why I defer to more experienced Nissan owners.

Additionally, is it true that these engines prefer thick 30's like GC or even 40's like M1 0-40 or T6 5-40?

Lastly, this engine is very smooth, quiet, and powerful. I had planned on going fullsize pickup, but found out the V6 Frontier can tow 5-6K lbs. which is all I need. And it got 25mpg on a long highway only trip over the weekend. That was a shock considering the EPA highway is only 20mpg.

Thanks for any input and suggestions on the OCIs.

 

[randomhero439]

My buddy has run nothing but Amsoil Signature 5w-30 in his Altima SE-R for the last 160k. His engine runs flawlessly. Ok story-time is over.

Personally, if it were my car. I would run Pennzoil Ultra 5w-30 every 5k or 6 months (under severe conditions). Under non-severe, run it the full 7.5k or 9 months. Then sample it to see if you can go farther.

 

[901Memphis]

The Nissan VQ engines have been known to shear oils down to a lower viscosity, but you should be fine running 5k on the MC, even if it shears a little i don't think its going to hurt too bad. How long will it take you to rack up 5k miles?

 

[901Memphis]

I found some VQ40 UOAs for you to browse.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=251617

PP 5w30 @ 6600 miles
This one doesn't have the image, but reading the comments his oil sheared to a 9.27 cSt @ 100C.

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1829869

M1 EP 5w30 @ 5k
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2853702


More reading.
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=1384125

 

[Brule]

Originally Posted By: 901Memphis
I found some VQ40 UOAs for you to browse.


Thanks. I searched "vq40de" and only came up with a pathfinder UOA. Should have left off the "de".

 

[Brule]

Originally Posted By: 901Memphis
The Nissan VQ engines have been known to shear oils down to a lower viscosity, but you should be fine running 5k on the MC, even if it shears a little i don't think its going to hurt too bad. How long will it take you to rack up 5k miles?


So similar to the 3.5 V6 in the 350Z I just sold... I'm not sure how many miles this truck will get, 6K per year? ...but the torque and the automatic make it more enjoyable to drive than the civic so that number could double.

 

[Brule]

Originally Posted By: randomhero439
My buddy has run nothing but Amsoil Signature 5w-30 in his Altima SE-R for the last 160k. His engine runs flawlessly. Ok story-time is over.

Personally, if it were my car. I would run Pennzoil Ultra 5w-30 every 5k or 6 months (under severe conditions). Under non-severe, run it the full 7.5k or 9 months. Then sample it to see if you can go farther.


I've got 2 gallons of Pennzoil Ultra from the recent Walmart coupon/rebate sale. This may be exactly what goes in next. Those numbers sound how I was leaning, too. Run this MC oil for 5K and the PU for 7.5K. Later if I do tow I will probably adhere to 3,750 miles.

 

[Boomer]

I have a 2007 Frontier and have run nothing but M-1 5W-30 (with one change of 0W-30) since it was new. Burns NO oil in the time between oil changes. Now that the engine warranty is expired, I use the M-1 EP 5W-30 and go at leats 10,000 miles which is a little over a year for me.

 

[K20FA5]

I'm doing 5,000 mile OCIs on mine. I've used M1, PYB, PP, MS5K, and I'm currently running the last of my MC5K that I picked up for $0.99/qt a few years ago.

Like above, I've got 60,000 miles on mine and it burns no oil, runs good and strong and if all highway driving, gets way better than the EPA of 20 MPG.

I love this truck!

 

[1999nick]

In my 2005 Pathfinder, I use M1 0W40. I change once a year, at about 9,000 miles. I have 65,000 miles on it right now, and on a recent highway run, it averaged 24.1 mpg running 70 mph, at exactly 2000 rpm. I was alone in the vehicle On another highway run, with 3 in the vehicle, and doing 80 mph, it averaged 19.1 mpg. My son was doing most of the driving.

The owners manual for my 2005 recommends 5W30, 10W30, and 10W40, with a preference for 5W30, so my choice of 0W40 seems to work just fine; no oil used in a 9,000 mile OCI, and the oil still looks good.

 

[marco246]

I have a 2006 Frontier 4X4 Crew-cab with under 35K miles. The gas mileage has always been poor at about 17 mpg. I chalk it up to short trips, truck weight, and poor aerodynamics thanks to a cow catcher and pipe rack. I use pretty much whatever oil is on hand when I do the annual oil change--5W-30, 10W-30, or 10W-40. It doesn't seem to matter. Next oil change I'll probably use Chevron Supreme SAE 30, just to get rid of it. I add about half a pint of oil between changes even though it's not really necessary.