Increase viscosity?

Joined
Jan 2, 2007
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31
Location
Tucson, AZ
Wife has a 17 Nissan Sentra. Vehicle calls for 0w20. Been using m1 EP 0w20 since she got the car which had 2k miles. Her car now has 100k. Every oil change (but the last one) has been sent for oil analysis. Never have gotten a bad report.

About to do spark plugs next weekend. Not sure how the plugs look as of yet. But car has been running fine so I am guessing the plugs will show normal wear.

Question is, since her car is out of warranty, could I bump up the viscosity to 5w30? I would assume the car would run a bit more smoothly but loose a bit of mpg.

We live in southern AZ.
 
I wouldn't mess with success. If you always had a good analysis, I would keep using your present oil and not make a change.
 
Don't switch just for the sake of switching, meta or to look cool. Car calls for 0w20 and doing good with it. Why you switch?
Winter is coming and these Nissans are picky especially at cold starts.
 
Wife has a 17 Nissan Sentra. Vehicle calls for 0w20. Been using m1 EP 0w20 since she got the car which had 2k miles. Her car now has 100k. Every oil change (but the last one) has been sent for oil analysis. Never have gotten a bad report.

About to do spark plugs next weekend. Not sure how the plugs look as of yet. But car has been running fine so I am guessing the plugs will show normal wear.

Question is, since her car is out of warranty, could I bump up the viscosity to 5w30? I would assume the car would run a bit more smoothly but loose a bit of mpg.

We live in southern AZ.

YES. 5W-30 would be an excellent choice for hot Arizona Summers. I run 0W-30 all year round in my Toyota, that calls for 0W-16. There is absolutely no reason to run an oil that thin in a hot climate. It accomplishes nothing except to satisfy the politics of CAFE.
 
Id use the 0W20. You had good results with that grade, and UOA backs up this is a okay spec for this engine, but maybe you have even better results with a 0W30 or 5W30 in AZ? Quick question, why so many UOA's though?

EDIT: The Hyundai and kia both have the 2.4L engine, cap calls for 5W20, and I use 5W30 confidently and this is in NY. Im not a thin/thickie, just different engines are harder on the oil than others. The Nissan and even high revving Honda 3.5Ls can run a 5W20/0W20 with great success.
 
Wife has a 17 Nissan Sentra. Vehicle calls for 0w20. Been using m1 EP 0w20 since she got the car which had 2k miles. Her car now has 100k. Every oil change (but the last one) has been sent for oil analysis. Never have gotten a bad report.

About to do spark plugs next weekend. Not sure how the plugs look as of yet. But car has been running fine so I am guessing the plugs will show normal wear.

Question is, since her car is out of warranty, could I bump up the viscosity to 5w30? I would assume the car would run a bit more smoothly but loose a bit of mpg.

We live in southern AZ.
Could bump to 0w30 from Amsoil, M1 or Redline Oil.
 
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Id use the 0W20. You had good results with that grade, and UOA backs up this is a okay spec for this engine, but maybe you have even better results with a 0W30 or 5W30 in AZ? Quick question, why so many UOA's though?

EDIT: The Hyundai and kia both have the 2.4L engine, cap calls for 5W20, and I use 5W30 confidently and this is in NY. Im not a thin/thickie, just different engines are harder on the oil than others. The Nissan and even high revving Honda 3.5Ls can run a 5W20/0W20 with great success.

I felt that it was best to UOA for every oil change in case we had to do something with her car under warranty. With me doing the maintenance myself, I was afraid the dealership would claim the car wasn’t maintained properly. I justified it being a extra cushion in case the dealership was claiming that and if I had to go to court then I would feel a judge would side with me because of my excellent record keeping of maintenance.

But maybe it was over board
 
It kind of seems like you want to bump up the viscosity and it won’t harm anything so I say go for it. What did the uoas show for the viscosity? Did the M1 0w20 shear down to a 16 grade?
Obviously the 0w20 is doing it’s job if you said all reports come back good. If it comes back as a 16 grade and you are ok with that then there isn’t a problem. If it did shear down or fuel dilution is a problem then bump up to 5w30 if you wish.

My 16 accord sheared the super tech 5w20 to a 16, so on the advice of others on here I went to 5w30, it was down to a mid 20 after around 6K miles and I am ok with that. I actually have M1 0w40 in it now just because I wanted to run the oil that I’ve heard a lot of good things about so I’m sticking with that or a 30 grade from here on out
 
My 16 accord sheared the super tech 5w20 to a 16, so on the advice of others on here I went to 5w30, it was down to a mid 20 after around 6K miles and I am ok with that. I actually have M1 0w40 in it now just because I wanted to run the oil that I’ve heard a lot of good things about so I’m sticking with that or a 30 grade from here on out
You actually documented mechanical shear in the oil?
 
I felt that it was best to UOA for every oil change in case we had to do something with her car under warranty. With me doing the maintenance myself, I was afraid the dealership would claim the car wasn’t maintained properly. I justified it being a extra cushion in case the dealership was claiming that and if I had to go to court then I would feel a judge would side with me because of my excellent record keeping of maintenance.

But maybe it was over board
How much $$$ did you spend on UOAs for an economy car like a Sentra? I'd keep using what your'e using and save the UOA cost. For the UOA cost you could have had the dealer do the changes.
 
Wife has a 17 Nissan Sentra. Vehicle calls for 0w20. Been using m1 EP 0w20 since she got the car which had 2k miles. Her car now has 100k. Every oil change (but the last one) has been sent for oil analysis. Never have gotten a bad report.

About to do spark plugs next weekend. Not sure how the plugs look as of yet. But car has been running fine so I am guessing the plugs will show normal wear.

Question is, since her car is out of warranty, could I bump up the viscosity to 5w30? I would assume the car would run a bit more smoothly but loose a bit of mpg.

We live in southern AZ.
Easy driving stick with 0W-20
Harder driving, maybe bump it up to a 5W-30
What is the lowest temp you get there during the winter?
 
Well I didn’t but that one oil analysis company that people use on here that people talk down on (Blackstone) showed in their report that it was down a grade. So does that make it documented? I’m just asking is all
Could have been fuel, that's the problem with Blackstone. Fuel has a huge impact on viscosity, and often, what is blamed on shear, is actually fuel.
 
Well I didn’t but that one oil analysis company that people use on here that people talk down on (Blackstone) showed in their report that it was down a grade. So does that make it documented? I’m just asking is all
Only that they are incapable of determining whether a viscosity deviation is due to fuel dilution or mechanical shear. Considering it is a Honda I’ll guess the former, and if so then the brand (Supertech) won’t make any difference.
 
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