Not only an oil use post, but an introduction as well...I stumbled across this site doing an online search for UOA places as my 2003 Suburban has a mysterious coolant leak and I needed a UOA to eliminate or pinpoint the infamous intake gasket problem.
Anyway, my wife drives a 2005 Nissan Quest with the wonderful 3.5 VQ35DE powerplant. I steered her towards the Quest (she didn't care what we bought, she took the Dodge Grand Caravan past 100K, now it's my daily beater) because of the engine. I had an '02 Maxima that I put 120K on in 3.5 years (120 mile daily commute). It never so much as thought about blinking. I did 3-5K OCI, with dino, Pennzoil, Havoline and Castrol. With the 120 mile a day commutes, most at interstate speeds of 70 MPH+ it was a dream. I replaced the O2 sensors at 95K and that was it. Unfortunatley I had to let it go because when we added the fourth child it became impossible for the family to fit in it and still obey the law.
Now my wife's usage is a little different. I'm afraid we permenantly damaged the engine. We purchased it in April 2005 when we had a three month old. During the next several months it saw a lot, and I mean A LOT of idle time as my wife needed to retreat to the van to feed the baby in a more private setting, especially during all of the other 3 kids activities. I'm talking idling 30 minutes at a time 3 days a week. This was during the first 10K on the car. After the first 10K my wife no longer needed the "privacy" to feed the baby. There is still some idling even today, as rainy soccer practices are not something she likes to stand out in. The idling is no where near the level it was during the first few months. The fan also has the occasional 500-800 mile weekend trip for soccer/hockey tournaments. Every morning the van makes a 3 mile roundtrip to school (during the school year). It probably doesn't get to full temp during then, but other than that all other runs are long enough where it gets to full temp.
Unfortunately I was NOT a BITOG follower until recently and kept doing the usual 3-5K OCI with Pennzoil dino (except for one Castrol in there along the way) for the first 18K. At 18K I switched to M1 5W-30. Checking the oil regularly I have had to added 1.5 quarts over the past 4,000 miles. I have four theories as to why:
1) The engine was damaged during all the idling in the first few months because I did not change the oil frequently enough.
2) The M1 5W-30 is too thin for the engine as from my searches here I learned that the Nissan V6 likes thicker oil
3) The manual recommends dino, doesn't rule out synthetics altogether, but seems to recommend dino, and I went against that with the M1
4) My Maxima was driven hard like it was meant to be - acceleration was fun and easy. It had a four-speed AT. The van weighs more (especially with all six of us), has a five-speed AT, my wife drives much less "sporty" and even I do in it because it is a van! Maybe it's not fair to compare the two engines because they don't see the same conditions. I just need to accept it.
Where I stand today is the van is at 22,500 miles and I have a 5 quart jug of Havoline 5W-30 and 5 quarts of GC 0W-30. This weekend (maybe sooner depending on work) I need to decide. I am not comfortable leaving in the M1 any longer. Would Auto Rx be overkill on a 22K engine??? Should I open it up and check for sludge??? I can't do a UOA because I think the results would be tainted as I just added 1.5 quarts and it has seen 10 miles since then. It only holds 4.25 quarts which means over one-third of the used oil would be practically new.
I've been having my wife drive the Suburban for the past few days until I decide which oil to use. Do I go with the dino, or with the GC 0W-30 be thicker than the M1 (like my searches indicate) and put an end to the oil consumption.
Frankly, I'm leaning towards the GC because it is so highly touted here, but 1.5 quarts every 4K gets expensive with synthetics. 1.5 qyarts with Havoline is not as hard to swallow, knowing I can walk in to Wally World and pick up a 5 quart jug for under $9.00, vs. $5.49 a quart for GC.
Thanks in advance for the input.
M1 5W-30 to GC for Nissan V6 using oil???
- Thread starter TNBurban
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With a 3 mile school commute you'd probably be better off using a cheaper oil (Havoline) and change it more often. I don't see how idling it would damage the engine. The oil consumption may appear high due to fuel dilution that later burned off.
I hate to say it, but this is on the somewhat high side of normal for the VQ. My 02 Altima uses about 1/4 to 1/2 of a quart in 1000 miles.
You can only speculate why it uses so much oil. It's hard to tell. I would go with #1.
I would recommend a quick Auto-Rx cycle (well, the recommended application), but just one of course. It will help clean the rings, which could be part of your problem.
BTW, That knoxville heat will really stress the motor. I would switch to GC as soon as the ARX is over. So far, after switching my altima from havoline dino to GC I have a little less oil consumption. Its also MUCH quieter.
Good luck
we were in the same situation re idling with our 99 Quest with a 3.3L. sometimes one hour plus. anyways, when I switched it over to synthetic, at 110K, it did consume at first, but later levelled off to roughly 2L/10K.
I don't think anything is wrong with your van.
Is this your very first run of M1? If so then it was pretty much a given that you'd see consumption. Most M1 first timers see this type of thing, which usually stops after about the 2nd or 3rd OCI. If your heart is set on changing out the M1 then I'd run Havoline, incase the consumption continues.
As far as the excessive idling goes, I doubt it did any real damage. Trucks do it all the time at construction sites, and they're not damaged. As long as you can make a good highway trip for say 30 miles or so, that should be adequate to burn off any excess fuel in the oil from the idling.
An Auto-Rx treatment, to me, seems unnecessary. However, if you feel like it will start you off with a "clean slate" then it wouldn't do any harm.
I think I would try Shell Rotella Synthetic 5w-40. Its beefed up ad pack would help against the short trips and maybe clean it up a bit.
Originally posted by TNBurban:
![[Wink]](images/icons/wink.gif)
quote:You got that right!!! Take your pick of a high quality 10W-40 for both the Maxima and the Quest.
2) The M1 5W-30 is too thin for the engine as from my searches here I learned that the Nissan V6 likes thicker oil
I'm leaning towards the Havoline for the next 2,500 miles. I'll watch it a lot closer and have a UOA done. Hopefully it was just the fact that M1 is on the thin side for a 5W-30 oil, and maybe the manual preference of dino oils may be good to follow in this case. Looking back I never did use synthetics in the Maxima that gave me 120K strong.
If oil consumption is gone, I'll stick with Havoline. If it's still a problem I'll look to move to a 5W-40 or 10W-40, or maybe even Maxlife, even though the miles are way below 75K. I thought about 5W or 10W-40 for the van but the manual states the preference of 5W-30. I've been using Maxlife in the daily beater '98 Grand Caravan and have been extremely happy with 3-4K OCI, no consumption or leakage. (BTW - I picked up seven five-quart packs of Maxlife at Wally World for $7.50 each as I change the oil in the Caravan about every 4-5 weeks. Yes, there is a rebate out there but I already used it and don't want to have to play the game of different addresses/names/emails/etc.)
As far as consumption after switching to M1 like someone stated above, I switched my Suburban to M1 5W-30 EP and have since put about 5K on it with zero oil needing to be added. I'm doing the UOA right now to help rule out the intake gasket leak for a coolant loss problem but have been pleased with the M1 EP so far.
quote:M1 5w30 is no longer on the thin side at 11.3 cSt. bighead got this right. Many first time users of M1 (or synthetics in general) will see increased consumption the first OCI or two, they dump it thinking it's because its "too thin", or "my engine doesn't like the oil". While idling the engine isn't the best for it, cold starts are far worse. Ford claims that 1 hour of idling is roughly equivalent to 33 miles of driving, so if you do a lot of idling you need to factor that into the mileage for your selected OCI. Try to get a 30 mile trip in once a week or so to boil off water/fuel dilution. Whatever you decide to use, Havoline dino, GC or M1, an AutoRX application might not be a bad idea if the ring packs became stuck from all that idling.
Originally posted by TNBurban: Hopefully it was just the fact that M1 is on the thin side for a 5W-30 oil
quote:But it's a VAN!
Originally posted by Drew: I wouldn't be suprised if your rings are glazed or not properly mated to the cylinder. I'd put a nice 10-30 cheapo oil in it and drive it very hard (once warmed up of course) to see if it helps reseat the rings.
![[LOL!]](/forums/graemlins/lol.gif)
I don't think my brain will allow me to drive it hard. Kinda like patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time... ![[Big Grin]](images/icons/grin.gif){kind=icon}
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