Infiniti G35... M1 10W30... 6,285 miles

chinee · Sep 9, 2004

... not good! I'm not sure if it's my VQ or my driving habits, but I always seem to get higher than normal lead wear in my UOAs. I use the same oil in my Sequioa and get excellent results yet my VQ seems to get some real abuse. I will likely leave this fill in only for 4 - 5K, and switch to something else. At this point I'm ready to head back to dino, maybe GTX with a 4K OCI and see how that pans out.

Talk about a downer... it appeared that the lead wear was trending downwards, so I was hoping that it would be closer to normal this time around, but sh!t man!.. I'm so ****** not knowing what I'm doing wrong. I don't race at all but I do drive aggressively... no (or hardly ever) redlining though.

Mostly "city" miles now but not typical city, more like suburbia miles. Fourteen miles to work and I only encounter about a dozen traffic lights, and no stop and go traffic. I'm driving less now, about 1300 miles per month vs. 1800 miles monthly a year ago. I use no additives in the fuel nor oil. Purolator Prem Plus oil filter.

Oilheads Supreme... please give me some feedback...

Al · Sep 9, 2004

Well-when I looked last at Maxima.org this engine seemed to produce pretty high lead levels in general. Yours seems to be pretty consistant and probably not a problem. I would put a quart of RedLine oil in with the Mobil. That could be an excellent educating experience for all of us.

TR3-2001SE · Sep 9, 2004

I think the lead will come down with time but I would try a thicker Mobil 1 oil. Maybe mix in some 15w-50 to see if this makes any difference in the next interval. I don't think it is the brand of oil. I am getting lead of 3 using this same oil and interval in a Mazda engine. Your oil is thicker than virgin so must be getting greatly stressed in some way. Unusual to see Mobil 1 10w-30 thicken. Check other UOA's on this same engine. Maybe that will give you some answers.

slider · Sep 9, 2004

Blackstone's comments are pretty meaningless. The so-called 'universal averages' don't mean squat unless they tell you what the mileage is for them, and they often don't. Saying that the wear metals go up when running long intervals is really inane - OF COURSE they will go up. (sheesh)

Have they said what the mileage for UA is on previous comments? Even then, such data is almost useless if the sample size is low and they say how many samples it the UA entail.

unDummy · Sep 9, 2004

Stick with a synth.
Try the Syntec 0w30 or RoyalPurple 30wts.
Another choice is the 0w40 Mobil1. If boutique oils (like Torco/Amsoil/Redline/Neo/Schaeffers/...) are available, try them.

Anyone think that he should try one of the oil additives? LC? Valvoline? Stp? oilextreme? moly? lubegard? lucas?........just for comparison.

I don't know if blackstone purposely makes their comments simple. They might be meaningless to the educated, but acceptable to the norm.
Are the universal averages computed using PPM per 1000miles or PPM per UOA?
Does PPM per 1000miles go up/down or does PPM measured in the UOA go up/down?

I would stick with a 5k interval. I would experiment with weights/brands/additives for these intervals until I find something that works well.

Another choice is oil filter used. I would try different brands or sizes.

I thought that Nissan is assembling their engines well. They supposedly have tight mfg tolerances in the forms of specs, balancing, micropolishing, supplier quality....... Where is this lead/iron/copper coming from?

Is this an auto or manual transmission?
What PN oil filter was/is used?

buster · Sep 9, 2004

Try thickening the oil a bit by adding some 15w-50 to the Mobil 1 or switch to a thicker 30wt oil like German Castrol or Amsoil. That is what I would do. Your not going to wear out your engine with numbers like this. Also realize a lot of us are fanatical to the point of almost being a bit "insane" in the membrane.

zoomzoom · Sep 9, 2004

well first get your lead and rest of the wear numbers in ppm/1000 miles to get real picture...

I think you neeed oil with higher HTHS...next oil change try one of these GC or M1 0W-40 or maybe even Redline 10W-30.

chinee · Sep 10, 2004

How can I be sure I'm purchasing GC?

Steel Blue Wind Rider · Sep 10, 2004

Spend an extra $15 on your next UOA and have a Terry Dyson analysis done. Blackstone does the numbers and runs the data by Terry, he interprets your analysis and helps you make changes to whatever needs adjusting, so you get the results you specifically want. (example less wear, longer OCI, lower insolubles.)

Al · Sep 10, 2004

quote:

Originally posted by chinee:
How can I be sure I'm purchasing GC?

It should say "Made in Germany" unless this changed.

ekpolk · Sep 10, 2004

quote:

Originally posted by chinee:
How can I be sure I'm purchasing GC?

Look for "Made in Germany" on the back of each bottle. Be careful, stock of GC is often mixed bottle by bottle with US made 0w-30.

I'm watching this unfold with great curiosity, as I've got a new VQ myself, but mine is only up to about 3,500 miles, so I'm still on dino for now.

I'd be inclined to try a heavier oil. Note the manual for this car allows the use of 10w-40 oil, in addition to 5w-30 and 10w-30. Perhaps the engineers at Nissan/Infiniti are telling us something.

EDIT: Also note that GC, although nominally a 30 wt oil, is actually almost a 40 wt, as it tyically shows up at the very high end of the 30 range, unlike the M1 products which are thin 30s.

[ September 10, 2004, 09:22 PM: Message edited by: ekpolk ]

Geoff · Sep 10, 2004

I wouldn't hesitate to use a 5w-40 or mix in 50% M1 15w-50, but with your short commutes, the oil probably doesn't get that hot to make viscosity an issue.

It probably would be worth the $$$ to get a professional analysis to get an opinion as to whether its a manufacturing defect.

Drew99GT · Sep 11, 2004

I believe one of the best results we've seen in this engine was from 15w-40 Delo.

dropitby · Sep 11, 2004

If you stay with M1 I would add some red line to it or M1 15/50. If you change to GC or AMSOIL I would add some Mola Brew to it to improve the #ers.I have a engine that runs well on a 40W and just added a little Mola Brew to thee GC..

gfcrane · Sep 12, 2004

I have two UOA's on my Maxima with the same engine. The problem with a comparison is that I change at 6 month intervals but only run about 1,800 miles in that time. At 7,614 total miles with an OCI of 1,707, my lead was 2, or some 1 ppm per 1,000 miles. Copper was 2(ppm/k), iron 1, and aluminum 1 using GC 0W30.(Second of two changes)
The last analysis at 4,280 total miles, lead 1, coper 6, iron 5, and aluminum 2(ppm/k) using Chevron dino 10W30.

I guess the point is that this VQ35 engine seems capable of low wear based on my and others on Maxima.org. What you may be doing different I don't know. Myself, I would use GC next change.

chinee · Sep 12, 2004

Okay... I going to run this fill of M1 to 5K then switch to GC 10W30 (assuming) I find it. If I use an OCI of 5K, that'll translate to ~4 months between changes... I hope results will be better.

spartan · Sep 12, 2004

quote:

Originally posted by chinee:
Okay... I going to run this fill of M1 to 5K then switch to GC 10W30 (assuming) I find it. If I use an OCI of 5K, that'll translate to ~4 months between changes... I hope results will be better.

There is no GC 10w-30 you want the Syntec 0w-30 with the red label and made in germany on the back. The only place that has it is Autozone. This is the stuff you want to locate and try in your Nissan. I run it my Armada and it runs great !

[ September 13, 2004, 09:12 AM: Message edited by: spartan ]

ekpolk · Sep 13, 2004

Spartan is correct; GC is only available in the 0w-30 weight. Don't let this scare you, though. It does not seem to shear down the way lesser 0w-30s or even 5w-30s might. After 5k miles in my V-6 Camry, it still showed up as an almost-40 wt, heavy 30. With my wear numbers as low as they were, I'm very sure that it was not experiencing any HT/HS problems even during high temp, high rev operations. In short, it's really a very good, wide range oil.

chinee · Sep 15, 2004

Change of plan....

A concern has cropped up on the G35 board about Infiniti recommending mineral based oil in this engine, so some members are thinking that they should go back to dino. To compare synth vs. dino results, I've decided to run this fill of M1 10W30 only to 3750 miles, then do two fills of dino for the same intervals, then possibly one more 3750 interval on M1 again. My own little Oil Study... it's a hobby to me and makes my oil changes more interesting.

With that said, I would like recomendations. Infiniti's Owner's Manual recommends the following oil weights:

I've always like GTX... ever since I was a youth of 12 or so, but this board makes me feel really good about Pennzoil. So what say you all... which brand and weight?

Santo Fontana · Sep 15, 2004

Go with Pennzoil 10w30.

I would also try a groupIII "synthetic".

Infiniti G35... M1 10W30... 6,285 miles

Similar threads