MC 5000 10W30, 4,366 miles, Infiniti G35

[chinee]

Does my engine not like Mobil or what? Tell me if I'm wrong, but it looks like I should stick with conventional oils. And since I'm now driving only half as many miles as I used to, it makes a lot of sense. I was planning on running the current fill of MC7500 to 5000 miles, do a UOA, then switch to a conventional oil.

Now, I like the availability of over-the-counter stuff. With that said, what other conventional oils, besides Pennzoil, would you try in my situation?

 

[TR3-2001SE]

I think you have just had some break-in going on. I found on my Miata that it was still breaking-in at 40,000. My last UOA at 62,500 was great for all wear metals. I think any conventional oil at 4000 mile changes would work for you but I would go back to the M1 and 6000 mile changes. This is what I have stuck to and now shows the great results. I think your engine will stay cleaner inside with the synthetic. I have compared my miata on synthetic to my honda on dino and there is a major difference in varnish etc.

 

[ekpolk]

TR3:

Your observations make sense. The interesting thing about this is how long it seems to have gone on, especially compared with my VQ, which is also installed in a G35. Coincidentally, another member just revived my first synthetic oil UOA (posted 11 months ago) taken at ~10k miles, and you can see from it (look for the "GC strikes again" title) that at much lower miles, and on syn, my engine is much more settled down than his. Moreover, this car is a G35 -- it virtually begs to be driven hard, and I frequently accomodate its wishes

, so it's not like mine is exactly babied. I can't explain the difference between the two except that maybe he's really hard on his, or maybe I just got a much tighter example of the breed. Nutritious food for thought, if nothing else.

 

[Ray H]

"Break-in" at 53,000 miles?! I'd be more inclined to try the current conventional champ in that engine - Havoline 10W-30 (unless Nissan insists on 5W-30 in as mild a climate as Florida's).

 

[JAG]

I totally agree with TR3. You can see the M1 results improving as break-in conditions gradually disappear. The last M1 result's wear numbers are quite close to the later results and the TBN for the M1 is better, as expected. And synthetics will keep the engine cleaner in terms of varnish, so there is always that reason to use synthetics. The TBN on the conventionals got pretty low too. I don't know the starting viscosity of these conventionals but it looks likely that they sheered (M1 runs had higher ending viscosities).

The harder you push the engine the sooner the break-in will be completed. Maybe this guy doesn't push his engine as hard as ekpolk does? I would use GC or some other synthetic thicker oil in this engine.

 

[ekpolk]

FWIW, Infiniti specs three oils for this engine, 5w-30, 10w-30, or 10w-40 (with the first being "preferred"). Personally, I think GC is the champ in the VQ, but that's my opinion, of course. And depending upon where he is in FL, the climate is hardly "mild". Even in Pensacola (affectionately known as "LA" or "Lower Alabama"), you'll often see the outside temp guage start off in the triple digits all summer long. South FL is hotter still. If I were below Orlando (which, btw, is about a seven hour drive from Pensacola...), I'd not mess with the 5w oils.

 

[Winston]

Look at that TBN for the second round of Pennzoil. TBN = 1.0 after 4500 miles?!?! Maybe the wear metals started dropping out in the sludge at that point? Go ahead and flame me if you want because I freely admit that I don't know what I am talking about. But still, that Pennzoil seems like a really weak oil.

Another thing, I do not think there is any test value that is statistically different between that second Penzoil analysis and the mobil 5000 analysis EXCEPT the TBN. And the M5000 was clearly the winner there.

 

[sebring01]

Held it's viscosity and 1.9TBN vs. 1 for Pennz. Me likes.

 

[chinee]

At 5K miles I'll do a UOA on the MC7500, but not change the oil; I'll make the decision to change or extend based upon the results of the UOA. I will also determine which oil to use at that time. It will most likely be between Havoline dino or the GC.

As for my driving style... I'm aggressive but not really hard on the engine, I rarely ever see redline, but my VQ does visit 5000rpm quite often (manumatic is the only way to drive this AT). And it's not just polk... other VQ owners get much better results with M1. I've yet to see a VQ UOA (regardless of oil type or brand) that gets wear numbers as high as mine. Again, I drive spirited, but I don't think it's responsible for the realtively high wear.

10W30 has been recommended to me in the past from members here, in fact many here believed that the M1 10W30 is still a little too much on the thin side. There's nothing mild about So. Florida weather... with the exception of 2 or 3 months, we're hot all year round.

quote:

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Look at that TBN for the second round of Pennzoil. TBN = 1.0 after 4500 miles?!?!

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From the two Pennz UOAs, I determined that 4,000 miles was the maximum ODI for this oil in my application.

quote:

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Maybe the wear metals started dropping out in the sludge at that point?

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If so, then the last fill of MC5000 should have cleaned up the sludge reflecting higher relative wear. And the current fill of MC7500 will reflect much lower wear numbers when i perform the next UOA.

Does the silicon seem to be high to anyone here? Maybe there's a leak that needs to be sealed, contributing to the higher wear?

[ November 10, 2005, 03:42 PM: Message edited by: chinee ]

 

[ekpolk]

Chinee:

Nice to hear from you. I just don't get it with your VQ. Those iron numbers are far from disastrous, but they are higher than they should be, for sure. You might try a run of GC, even in the "gold" formulation. My VQ35 absolutely loves the stuff (green, of course), both from a UOA perspective, and by subjective feel (at least compared to the Havo dino I used during break-in, it's clearly smoother on the GC). I'm tempted to try a run of M1 myself just to see if my numbers end up like yours. Have you tried Terry? I'd strongly recommend having him read for you; I've gotten some very good info from him. Again, thanks for the info -- this one will need some thought.