Infiniti G37_VQ37VHR - Dino oil with Moly Add.

[YRMed]

Hello BITOGers!

I recently purchased a '11 Infiniti G37x. It has the Nissan VQ37-VHR engine. As many of you have read, Nissan recommends using "their" Ester Oil. I have read every single thread about Nissan's Ester oil and I have formulated an opinion that it is basically a low quality oil with a substantial amount of molybdenum added to it.

What I would like to ask of the people who are more informed than myself is this: Is it a good idea to run on regular dino oil, such as PYB 5w30 with a 1/2 quart Moly additive for 3,750mi OCI?

 

[friendly_jacek]

Interesting. Toyota's 0W20 oil is loaded with high dose of Moly too. I suspect that helps with MPG some. Any other reasons?

 

[JHZR2]

"ester" oil is low quality?!? If it is a true grp v based oil, I'd doubt it.

I'd want to run a syn oil in there myself.

 

[Radman]

Welcome to the quest of the grail

There have been numerous UOA's on the Nissan engine that you have. The three best performers that I have found are GC30, Mobil 1 0W40, & Redline 5W30. GC30 has been the better of the three by a small margin. I use Mobil 1 0W40 as it is on sale at O'Reilly's for $4.99 Qt. Don't expect normal wear in numbers until over 30K miles.

 

[Sunstealer]

I use Pennzoil Ultra 5w30 in mine and just got back a good oil analysis on it. The Nissan Ester definitely does not seem worth the money judging by some oil samples we have seen on here. I would think any good synthetic would be better than dino+moly.

 

[dparm]

Here is the UOA on my Mom's VQ35HR.

 

[dparm]

The VQ motors tend to be hard on oil, I would not run PYB in there. And I wouldn't waste the money on Nissan's snake oil either. We were not impressed and switched to GC after running it once.

 

[YRMed]

Thanks for posting that UOA! I appreciate that and the other responses as well. I am really interested in the GC. I looked at its product data sheet and it looks quite impressive. The only thing I would be worried about is warranty on the engine.

My other concern is that when I purchased the car, the dealer gave me 6 free oil changes. I am pretty sure that they are not using Nissan Ester Oil for their general $39.99 oil changes. I'll have to call and ask what they use.

Lastly, why does Nissan Ester Oil contain so much moly and other, premium oils, except for products like Redline/Amsoil, do not. Is the high moly THAT important for the Diamond Like Coating (DLC) of the crankshaft?

 

[dparm]

Moly has a proven track record. That's why they continue to use it.

 

[unDummy]

The engines worked well without DLC.

And, a 'drop' of ester pretty much means the label is 'marketing/advertising' driven hogwash. Has been talked about here already.

Use any full synthetic. Keep an eye on the oil level. And, change the oil out a little early the 1st couple times.

 

[Dwight_Frye]

I have a Nissan 370Z with the same engine. The VQ37 has a pretty sophisticated valve train and is known to run hot and be hard on oil. I use Redline 5w30 and a Mobil 1 # 110 size filter which is a little larger than the standard size. Redline has a good dose of moly as determined by a Blackstone analysis I had done, and it is high in esters. I do not run longer than 5K OCI's. Yes, it gets expensive, but I don't mind taking good care of my car. You can buy a case of 12 qts. of the Redline delivered to your front door for just under $10 per qt. with free shipping from Amazon.com and change it yourself.
Keep a close eye on your oil consumption. I had an '04 G35 previously and it used a qt. every 3500 miles. I ran that car on PYB or Castrol GTX but decided to go with Redline for the VQ37 and 370Z. It also consumes some oil, although at 12K miles on the car now, it seems to have settled down.
The Infiniti is a great car, you can't go wrong by using a premium oil.

 

[Radman]

Originally Posted By: dparm
The VQ motors tend to be hard on oil, I would not run PYB in there. And I wouldn't waste the money on Nissan's snake oil either. We were not impressed and switched to GC after running it once.


The Nissan engine shreds the viscosity of most 30 weight oil to 20 weight extremely quick. The Infinity Forum members tend to only run the three in my earlier post, and install the M1-105 Mobil oil filter. I understand on some of the newer engines Nissan has placed a wedge of metal to prevent an oversize oil filter from being installed. That isn't much of an obstacle because it can be dremeled off easily.

 

[dparm]

German Castrol Syntec is a heavy 30 so even if it does shear, it will stay in-grade. Some have even run M1 0w40 since that will shear to a mid/heavy 30.

 

[YRMed]

I am beginning to be very sold on GC. I think that while it starts out to being a heavier 30W oil, when sheared down a bit, it takes on the viscosity of pretty much every other 5w30 out there, which is what the engine needs. It's moly composition is good too.

I'm just hoping that its API rating isn't going to be an issue.

 

[mac9128]

I've searched for the GC but haven't found much online in terms of buying, anyone have any good links? Is the Penzzoil Ultra (or platinum) 5w30 a good choice for these cars as well at 5k oci's?

 

[YRMed]

Speaking of GC, how is US sourced Castrol Syntec 0w30 any different? I looked at the Product Data Sheet of the Syntec vs the GC (Edge 0w30 on the Castrol Germany website) and their stats are 1 and the same. So, aside from a color difference (one looks like regular oil, the other has a green tint), what's the difference?

 

[cryption]

We run Amsoil 5w-40 in our VQ.

 

[YRMed]

Originally Posted By: YRMed
Speaking of GC, how is US sourced Castrol Syntec 0w30 any different? I looked at the Product Data Sheet of the Syntec vs the GC (Edge 0w30 on the Castrol Germany website) and their stats are 1 and the same. So, aside from a color difference (one looks like regular oil, the other has a green tint), what's the difference?


Answering my own question here: GC = Castrol Syntec 0w30 in US.

 

[mac9128]

So the german castrol everyone raves about is simply syntec 0w30 here? is it the new edge oil or regular syntec?

 

[dparm]

It is NOT Edge. It is merely Castrol Syntec 0w30.