New member oil advice

[Jake777]

Long time lurking and finally decided to join and post. I have thee vehicles I have recently decided to maintain myself. I would like to ask this question. I see in service manuals where they say things like severe temperatures or humidity. My question is what are severe temperatures? Are we talking ambient temperature? I assume so but I live in South west Florida and the average high in the summer is 91. Is that extreme temperatures as far as following the oil change extream schedule? Now to my specific application.

Vehicle 1. 2008 Nissan Altima 2.5 4cyl 122,000 miles. Owners manual says 3,500 miles for severe duty and 7,500 for normal. I here the 2.5 is easy on oil in the Altima in highway use. I drive like an old man for the most part and my daily commute is 11 miles one way with 9 of that on the highway at 70mph. The car sits all day and weekend as the family van gets used most on the weekend. I average 11,000 miles per year. I was thinking of going with QSGB or PYB for 7,000 and doing every other change oil filter with Fram Ultra. Looking down the oil cap everything is tan in color for the most part but nothing thick looking.


Vehicle 2. 1998 Toyota Avalon v6. 120,000 miles. Owners manual is outdated for sure but it says 3,000 severe and 5,000 normal. this is my moms car and she drives about 10,000 miles per year and is mostly city traffic with frequent short trips. In fact most trips for here are less than 4 miles and 10 minutes in SW Florida weather. I have heard the late 90's Toyota v6 are easy on oil. I was thinking PYB or QSGB every 5k with every other OC filter Fram Ultra. Should I go 3,000 or 5,000.

I didn't list the 05 odyssey as I already have a preferred schedule of 5,000 miles PP every other Fram Ultra just because it's severe use stop and go short trips and is known to sludge up a bit.

Thanks everyone in advance for advice. Just as a heads up I'm not interested in synthetic for either the Toyota or the Altima if I don't need to.

 

[Bigdaddyeasy]

Sounds like you want to use conventional oil. Both qsgb and pyb are great. I personally would just go 5k in both cars and not worry at all.

 

[cptbarkey]

make it an even 5k changes on both cars and call it a hard days work.

 

[Jake777]

Ok. Sounds good. I will do that. I assume you feel 7,000 is too much for the Nissan? Also what are your thoughts of using the Fram TG for every other change. Oh and do you think QSUD synthetic is similar in cleaning capability as PP?

 

[mjoekingz28]

Thats my story and Im sticking to it.


Sounds like you have a good plan. Just pull the dipstick every so often to check the level.


You would probably be fine with 10-w30, but the manual might state 5w-30, so go with that!

 

[SLATRON]

I think the altima could go 7k with oils you mentioned if mostly highway. You could get a uoa to check.
I've done 2 oci with tram ultra & TG, many will say just change filter, but I've never had problem and filters looked great when cut.
QSUD is a great oil, very close to pp, I think the QS has a different type of moly and/or more of it, PP probably cleans a little better. Doesn't matter much IMO if engines clean. You can see oil VOA at pqia.com

 

[HTSS_TR]

You can buy name brands synthetic on sale for not much more than regular priced conventional, since both cars do about 10-12k miles a year I would do oil change based on time every 6 months. The everyday price of 5-qt jug QSUD at Walmart is about $20, if you use 4 jugs a year for 2 cars your extra cost per year over conventional oil is no more than $20, can you spare less than $2 a month for both cars ? What can you buy for 50 cents that you save a week ?

With Fram Ultra oil filter, you should be able to change it every other oil change to save time and money.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Let me be the first to welcome you to the forum!

Originally Posted By: Jake777
I see in service manuals where they say things like severe temperatures or humidity. My question is what are severe temperatures? Are we talking ambient temperature? I assume so but I live in South west Florida and the average high in the summer is 91. Is that extreme temperatures as far as following the oil change extream schedule?


Heat and humidity combine to make an air mass feel really oppressive to us, but the engine doesn't generally notice it (I say "generally"...more on that later). The heat index and wind chill, the apparent temperatures when factors other than actual temperature are added in, are felt only by us people (and dogs, cats, etc). Our machines do not have a concept of heat index or wind chill. 91*F in south Florida is the same to the engine as 91*F in Oregon or Michigan or Arizona.

Speaking of Arizona...folks in the desert valleys routinely see high temperatures in the 105-115*F range during the summer. What you and I feel to be oppressive heat when it's in the low 90s with high humidity is not severe as far as engine or oil temperature.

Now...I said earlier that engines don't generally notice humidity. The one area where humidity DOES factor in is spark knock. The more moisture the air has, there is less oxygen available to produce spark knock -- so in areas of high relative humidity, you generally produce less engine power, but your octane requirement is generally a bit lower as well. The worst scenario, as far as octane requirement goes, is the desert southwest -- high temperatures (raising req'd octane), low elevation/high pressures (raising req'd octane), and low relative humidity (raising req'd octane).

Anything less is just all around easier on an engine, assuming good mechanical state of tune, etc.

 

[Pesca]

Change both cars the same day every 6 months, with oil filter once a year.

You will get dirty twice an year and then move on more interesting thing to you.

With those OCIs, dino oil is perfect.

 

[Jake777]

Thanks for all the info. I think I will stick with 5k/6month Dino. I noticed Nissan reduced the 7,500 mile normal interval to 5,000 for the newer 4 cyl Altima. I wonder why they did that what with the trend of longer intervals.

 

[ExMachina]

At least use a dexos1 rated oil. At least an oil that decent, as its better than SN-GF-5. Like any name brand synthetic blend is good enough for that you'll notice. Pennzoil, Valvoline, QuakerState, Castrol Magnatec synth blends all good enough and cheap at walmart. The more synth basestock oil you have, the cleaner the rings over time.

You chose right going for the Fram Ultra filter, the best.

 

[razel]

I run similar miles 10k per year and dreaded changing my oil 3-5k back when I didn't know much about cars. You could actually be a candidate for oil analysis if you are interested in proving to yourself that you can do 10k oil intervals. I didn't think that I would with dino oil but was surprised that I can with my commute and it sounds like you run similar amount of miles.

Yes, 10k with dino, especially with current API SM/SN is very doable, but prove it to yourself with oil analysis since everyone's commute isn't the same.

 

[Jake777]

Originally Posted By: ExMachina
At least use a dexos1 rated oil. At least an oil that decent, as its better than SN-GF-5. Like any name brand synthetic blend is good enough for that you'll notice. Pennzoil, Valvoline, QuakerState, Castrol Magnatec synth blends all good enough and cheap at walmart. The more synth basestock oil you have, the cleaner the rings over time.

You chose right going for the Fram Ultra filter, the best.


Ok so that brings me to the next question. Dexos 1 is better than gs5? I noticed PP 5w20 bottles at Walmart were Dexos but 0w-20 was not. So what's wrong with 0-20 that it can't get Dexos approval? I was told its ok and actually good to get the lowest first number 0 as it will warm up quicker and protect better for short trips. Why wouldn't I want 0w if I can get it at same price. Now I'm talking about my honda

 

[Jake777]

Ok I'm sorry if I'm getting annoying but I just checked Walmart and I can get QSUD synthetic for a price that if I went 7,000 miles on it it would actually be a bit cheaper. So now I'm thinking. Can I go 7,000 on quakerstate ultra?

 

[bbhero]

Yeah absolutely

At $21.97 for a five qt container... It's a very reasonable price.
What exmachina said in his last post a couple back was very good advice.

 

[ExMachina]

Originally Posted By: Jake777
Ok so that brings me to the next question. Dexos 1 is better than gs5? I noticed PP 5w20 bottles at Walmart were Dexos but 0w-20 was not. So what's wrong with 0-20 that it can't get Dexos approval? I was told its ok and actually good to get the lowest first number 0 as it will warm up quicker and protect better for short trips. Why wouldn't I want 0w if I can get it at same price. Now I'm talking about my honda


Yes, dexos1 is a tougher spec than mere SN-GF5 specs. .... All Pennzoil Platinum and their Ultra synthetics (except the Euro oils) are ALL dexos1 approved oils, as you'd expect. QSUD too. All Shell products and considered very good.
I'd say 0w-anything is preferable, especially in a Honda application.

 

[ExMachina]

Originally Posted By: Jake777
Ok I'm sorry if I'm getting annoying but I just checked Walmart and I can get QSUD synthetic for a price that if I went 7,000 miles on it it would actually be a bit cheaper. So now I'm thinking. Can I go 7,000 on quakerstate ultra?


Like bbhero said, QSUD ("Ultimate") should be fine going 7,000. I would put a 1 year time limit on that though. If you do mostly trips under 10 miles, I'd only leave it in for up to 6 months.

 

[Greasymechtech]

I'd use a good full synth oil and yearly changes for both.
Use a synthetic oversized filter. Check oil regularly and top off as needed.

Mobil1 HM or EP, Castrol Edge EP, and Pennzoil Ultra Platinum, along with euro 0w30's 0w40's should have no problem going a year or ~10k+ miles, whichever comes 1st.

 

[xtell]

I agree with Greasymechtech. Yearly Synthetic change and Syn filter. Change the oils in all vehicles at the same time. No worries.

 

[anndel]

2005 Toyota Avalon - 81,000 Miles, M1 HM 5W-30 & Toyota OEM Filter, OCI 7,500 miles (usually 1 year)
1993 Toyota 4x4 Hilux P/U - 156,000 Miles, M1 HM 10W-30 & Toyota OEM Filter (OCI 5,000 miles, usually 1 year)
2014 Toyota Tacoma 4.0L V6 - 4,500 Miles, PYB 5W-30 & Toyota OEM Filter (2 year dealer free maintenance; OCI every 6 mos)
If Wal-Mart is out of M1, I use Pennzoil PP or UP