Nissan 3.5VQ Syn Switchover Plan

Pennzoil motor oil
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Max_Tl

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Jan 15, 2005
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Location
Alberta
’03 Nissan Maxima 60,000Kilometers (37,500 miles)
Second Owner – no service manual, no past service records.
Looking inside oil cap & sticking finger in, IT’S CLEAN – no residual!
Transmission & Rad coolant machine flushed (OEM dealer) Dec/04

Avg annual 15,000 K (9,300 miles)
Every day use car, one way commute 10kilo’s (6 miles)
Current oil : dino castrol gtx 5w30 gl4 with napa/wix filter 21356 (about 1,500k on this)

Our weather here: -30C to +30C (-22F to +86F)
Car is garaged at night (no heat), though still -18C.

On my previous cars/van I have been on a 5000K OCI or about 3/year all on dino (QS, Pennzoil, and Castrol) whatever’s on sale! 5w30 winter and 10w30 summer, never an engine issue. Up to 225K!
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Here’s my plan – opinion & suggestions please.


1) Continue using napa/wix filter napa proselect 21356 with ADBV $5.75ea

Because of the **** COLD, switch to Esso XD3 0w30 winter immediately. $4.75ea
I’ve heard this one has incredible detergents in it. I still have 2quarts GTX 5w30 in my garage.

a) should I go 50/50 of xd3/gtx & dump after 1000K (600miles), me thinks that it may loosen
some sludge/varnish - then refill xd3 only? A ‘rinse’ phase?

b) for spring/summer should I use the xd3 in 10w30 or 0w40? are either of these formulas ‘superior’
to the 0w30 brew? In my newbness, I thought I read somewhere that it is best to keep the two
numbers closer together, or will the 40 give me better summer protection? Or use 0w30 all year?

c) lastly – because of my low annual mileage & temp extremes. Do two OCI’s.
Oct - March 0w30
April – Sept weight?
 
I wouldn't mix the GTX and do the flush thing. Save the Castrol for another application. I'd run the XD-3 0w30 straight all year and keep the 1st and second oci under or at 5K miles.
 
I don't know that a cautious approach would hurt anything, and if you're more comfortable with that fine. I did a cold turkey VQ35 syn conversion in my G35 sedan, but my facts are a bit different. I bought mine new, and had run several short OCIs with dino for breakin, and then made the switch to German Castrol 0w30 at only 6k miles. So far, so good on the GC. Car runs beautifully on the stuff (esp noticeably less harshness at high rpm compared to the Tex Havo 5w30 I had used previously). I've got a used oil analysis on that first GC fill posted; it's now a few pages back (see "GC Strikes Again. . .").
 
but, i couldn't tell anything different about the NAPA gold filter, looked, felt same size/weight/gasket mat'l. The counter guy couldn't even tell me why it's $5 more ($12 Cdn)
 
If you can't find any detectable evidence of massive internal sludging, then just dump the XD-3 and your remaining Castrol into the engine, run that for a modest OCI, perhaps 5k miles, and then switch completely to XD-3. Or keep the GTX for use as top-up oil -- why bother topping up with expensive synthetic when you are going to be draining it anyways?

XD-3 0W30 can be used year-round. If you want dino XD-3 to save a few bucks in the summertime, the stuff is available bottled as 'President's Choice' Motor oil carried wherever President's Choice store-brand products are found. (look for the bottles with the stars on them).
 
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