2014 Nissan Versa SV unknown 5W-30, oil is 5624 mile. Car mileage 8196 miles

[Paul_Siu]

2014 Nissan Versa, driven regularly but over short distances. Until last year, it had been driven for less than 3,000 miles over 5 years. For some reason, it was driven a lot in the past 6 months. I am guessing that it was lend out. A few of the numbers appears to be out of range. Blackstone do not seemed concern, but I am trying to get a second opinion. What could cause a larger value for copper and Moly? There was also appear to be fuel in the oil, but that is normal if the car is driven on low miles? My plan is to get analysis on the next couple of oil change and see if the number trend down. Paul

 

[wdn]

Molybdenum is commonly used in some motor oils. I would not worry about it. Havoline for example uses 193 ppm. You do not what oil is in the car. Copper is a common wear metal during engine breakin.

 

[aquariuscsm]

Molybendum aka "moly" in your oil is a GOOD thing. I'm guessing your Versa isn't even broken in yet. The engine is still shedding new wear metals.

 

[Paul_Siu]

Thank you for your response. Interesting, a 6 year old car that hasn't broken in. Usually, how many more miles before a car is broken in and the metal numbers drop? Paul

 

[jayjr1105]

Pretty good overall I'd say for a car still not at 10,000 miles. What did you replace the 5w30 with? And what filter? What does your oil fill cap say on the engine? I'm surprised by the 5w30. I would have guessed 5w20 or 0w20 as the oil spec for that little engine unless it's a turbo model then the 5w30 makes complete sense.

 

[JoelB]

The versa specced 5w30 until 2017 I believe.

 

[csandste]

Looks good if new. Know nothing about Nissan but in my HyunKias I like 5w30 rather than 5w20.

 

[Paul_Siu]

Sadly, I have no idea what the oil or filter it was replace with except that it was with the same conventional 5w30 and whatever filter the local mechanic used. If it looks good, will check again in 6 months and if that is OK, may be extended it longer to see if there would be issues. Paul

 

[FordMan59]

I've never had an oil analysis done on any car I've owned over the 43 years I've owned and operated cars but usually stick pretty close to manufacturer recommendations on the interval. I also still use 10w40 in all my cars. I ran an '88 Ford Escort 518K miles on various brands of 10w40 when the manufacturer recommended weight was 5w30. I just bought a '16 Versa about a year ago. When I bought it it had 10,546 miles. It currently has 20,1XX miles. I changed the oil shortly after buying it because I didn't have any idea when/if it had been done previously. When the oil was changed again at around 16K miles it had been in service for about 5,300 miles and the oil was a dark honey color on my fingers when it was drained. I thought to myself then that I thought the oil would be fine for 7,000-7,500. I'm running Citgo Supergard 10w40 that has been in my garage for probably close to 20 years in the Versa. I remember back in the day people spoke highly of the Citgo Supergard. Seeing Blackstone's recommendation on your Versa I may increase my OCI to 6,000 miles and see how the oil looks and feels. Nearly all my trips are long enough to heat the oil enough to burn off any moisture and most of my driving is very easy driving. My normal driving habits for the roads I drive are speeds in the 45-55 MPH range over 90% of the time

 

[Paul_Siu]

Here's an updated oil analysis after 6 months of driving:

The car is driving short distance and is following the manufacturer's recommended schedule of 5,000 miles or every 6 months. Because we won't reach 5,000 miles in 6 months, we are changing it every 6 months. Does the result above raise any alarm bells (for example in the metal and fuel)?

 

[CharBaby]

There's still nothing alarming about your UOA.
The oil has sheared(thinned down) some due to your short trips and low annual driving but not due to fuel dilution. And the lack of fuel dilution is a good sign.

Moly(slightly higher) but seems similar to your last report and wear metals are down but, you only have ~ 1600 miles on this report.

I know that these Nissan Versa's are a runabout vehicle and I like driving them myself, especially the Versa NOTE(hatchback). However, your car could use some highway driving now & again to stretch its legs, lubricate the internal moving parts in the engine and keep the brakes & exhaust clean & dry.

 

[csandste]

Even at six months, I see no reason to drop any oil at that mileage.

 

[Paul_Siu]

Thanks, keep in mind that the manual said 6 months or 5,000 miles for an oil change. Because Nissan extended the warranty of the CVT, I am trying to maintain the 6 months schedule for now in case we need to use the warranty.

In addition, because the car is subjected to low milage driving, so changing the oil more often is a good precaution. Part of this experiment with oil analysis was to see whether the car can extend the oil change to a year. The car does go through some highway driving every couple of weeks.

 

[JTK]

Paul, the numbers look good to my untrained eye! I don't think these basic little 1.6L are tough on oil. Sure are pretty easy to change oil on. I know on mine, there's no underbelly plastic pan and the spin on filter is easy to reach down low between the radiator and block.

I changed the oil/filter on our 2015 Nissan Versa S last October at ~45K miles and I think we've only got 48-49K on it today. I'll wind up changing it soon based on time. I've been using a case of Nissan filters I've had on hand and I typically use Supertech synthetic 5w30.

 

[Gene K]

Thanks, keep in mind that the manual said 6 months or 5,000 miles for an oil change. Because Nissan extended the warranty of the CVT, I am trying to maintain the 6 months schedule for now in case we need to use the warranty.

In addition, because the car is subjected to low milage driving, so changing the oil more often is a good precaution. Part of this experiment with oil analysis was to see whether the car can extend the oil change to a year. The car does go through some highway driving every couple of weeks.

Unless you have something I've never seen before (A CVT that shares oil with the engine) how you change oil in the engine will have no bearing on the trans warranty. Warranty disqualification doesn't work that way. It's possible if the engine locked up solid at 80 mph and that broke the transmission they would refuse the repair because the failure was caused by an uncovered part.

We have analysis with 5 year old oil still good. The 6 month limitation was to catch ultra short trippers who drove 1 mi to work, 1 mi home for lunch, 1 mi back to work, 1 mi home, 1 mi to the store, 1 mi to church, well you get the idea.

I would at least go 3,000 mi or 1 year whichever came first. The analysis shows the oil will easily last that long.

 

[Paul_Siu]

Gene,

I agree with you. I just wasn't sure how nit picky a dealer would be. I have not actually use warranty repairs in the past, just TBL's. Your description actually matches how the car is being used right now, except that I have convince the driver to drive it on the highway every few weeks or so.

At some point, the oil change will probably be extended to 1 year.

 

[FordMan59]

I let my Versa go 7500 miles on the last oil change. I don't do analysis but, I did a blot test about every 500-1000 miles. The blot test was still looking very good even at 7500 miles with only minor discoloration throughout the sample.

 

[FordMan59]

The sample in my blotter test looked better than the oil in the second picture (properly functioning ICE with short run period) at 7500 miles. https://atomium.eu/home/articles/condition-based-lubricating-oil-change/ Engine total mileage at last oil change was approximately 23.5K.