Hello

[LordSmith]

Hi, I'm brand spankin new here. I have an 01 Altima. I have done about 2 oil changes (bought it in February) and am almost ready for another seeing how its been around 3 months. I've probably only gone about 1.5k miles on my current oil seeing how its used mostly to go to and from school. I've been getting it done at a shop near me I'm pretty sure they use castrol gtx. Should I go much longer (wait for closer to 3k miles) or get it done sooner. Also, Would it be safe to switch over to synthetic (the car has about 37-38k on it now) I do mostly city driving and my longest regular trip is like ~8 miles. thanks

 

[michaelc80]

First off....

You have a couple of options. First, if you want to stay with conventional oils 3-4K is fine. Even with short trips most quality oils should be ok with ~3K intervals.

If you decide to go with synthetic, with those short trips, I wouldn't go much beyond 4-5K miles. Synthetic is fine in that engine, however due to the short trips I would keep the oil changes fairly short.

Any chance you could take it out once or twice a month and run it for 50-60 miles? Give the oil a chance to burn off any fuel that might make its way into it from the short trips?

 

[LordSmith]

ya, every couple weeks I take it on a moderately long highway trip (~40 miles) to hopefully pump out any carbon deposits on engine. I rarely get it above 3k rpms, so I hope that is good as well.

 

[racer12306]

since you are changing it frequently i would use a conventional oil. it is good that you get it out for a decent highway trip.

edit: i forgot the

to bitog

 

[aztec12]

if it was mine i would use a semiblended oil (5w30)every 3 to 4k miles

 

[vad]

quote:

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Also, Would it be safe to switch over to synthetic

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Yes, you shouldn't have any problems. This is what I would use.
In your climate you should be able to go up to 6-8K on a good synthetic, even considering your severe driving conditions.
To make sure that everything is OK, I would keep a synthetic for 6K miles during the initial run. Then do an oil analysis ($20-30) which will give you a good idea on how your oil/engine combo performs.
If everything is great then you'll be able to extend your interval and make it longer.
Either that or take an "easy" route and do just the 3-4K intervals with any dino oil that is on sale at the moment.

 

[Maxima]

Use dino or syn blend in summer every 5k and syn oil in winter every 5k. Do UOA only you believe you have engine problem. Thus, you won't forget change oil (every 5k is a easy number) and save the 20-30 UOA fee.