Oil Recommendation Nissan VQ40DE + opinions on current oil/filter

F

fishhuntsaluda

Joined
Apr 22, 2024
Messages
8
Location
South Carolina
Longtime BITOG reader, first time poster.

Currently have 192k and some change on a 2012 xterra with a vq40de 4.0 V6. Owners manual calls for 5W-30 in most climates with a change interval of 3750mi. I change my oil and filter every 3k. Along with commuting ~30mi round trip I use this vehicle for towing boats and pretty frequent offroad use in a variety of terrain. Summer temps are hot 100+ and during duck season in the winter we get temps in the mid teens.

For the first few years of this vehicle’s life I used castrol GTX conventional, then at about 60k switched to basic synthetics (I.e. Mobil 1, Valvoline, Pennzoil, rotella gas truck). Variety of filters used mostly Purolator, K&N, Fleetguard, and Wix. The last few years has been a mix of Valvoline full synthetic high mileage, Pennzoil platinum high mileage, and rotella T6 multi-vehicle along with either a Wix XP or regular Wix/NAPA Gold. I also experimented with Schaeffer 132 Moly EP and Liqui Moly MoS2 additives over the years, but came to the conclusion I would rather use a fully formulated quality oil in the right viscosity than try to outsmart the engineers.

After doing my valve cover gaskets 2 weeks ago I am using Valvoline maxlife blend 5W-30 and a quart of Pennzoil high mileage syn blend with a Wix 57356 filter. Cams looked great when I had the valve covers off.

Is the current synthetic blend and regular Wix a solid choice for the temperatures, usage, and OCI I described? Will the blend hold up ok in my V6 for hot summer weather as well as winter use during duck season? If I went back to synthetic I would probably go with Valvoline extended protection high mileage as I like the VI and HTHS, as well as the boosted zinc and phosphorus vs regular maxlife. Admittedly I am a Valvoline fanboy but not opposed to Pennzoil. Not really interested in boutique oils they are too expensive for how often I change my oil, but I do use Amsoil severe gear 75w-140 in the rear diff!

Basically I’m trying to decide if I should stick with the syn blend and regular Wix, or if I should go back to full synthetic and Wix xp. Other recommendations are welcome but keep in mind I’m partial to Valvoline and Pennzoil with a wix or Fleetguard filter. Unfortunately stratapore is not available for my application.
 
Syn blend isn't cheap enough to be worth buying imo but it's ok to use. A full syn starts at $19 but a euro oil starts at $23. If it was my engine I'd be using quaker state euro 5w-40 and change it every 7-8k or so. For the filter i'd be using the fram endurance for 2-3 runs. Shell owns pennzoil and quaker state and they're very similar and the fram endurance is metal cap wire backed and as good if not better quality than either wix or fleetguard. But you can use the wix xp all day.
 
Today's price difference between blends and full synthetics is not significant enough to favor blends for 3,000 mile OCIs. I'd stick to your choice of full synthetic but use your oil filter for two 4,000 mile intervals. That's just me. Using a new extended life filter every 3-4K miles makes little sense to me, especially in that small 6607 filter size.
 
Valvoline in either full synthetic or full synthetic high mileage or blend 5w30 in that VQ would be a continued very good choice.

Has for the filter… Wix is ok too.

Though I would think you could get a Carquest Premium 84356 made by Premium Guard for $7.99 vs a Wix which is $12.99… And that Carquest Premium filter is 99 percent at 20 microns which is very good filtration.

The Wix XP is only around 60 percent at 20 microns and if you want high efficiency that is not the way to go there.

I had a VQ 3.5 cousin motor to your 4.0 VQ and I ran 30 different oils in it for 326,000 miles. It stayed very very clean and ran great too.

Your 4.0 VQ will do the same given how well you are taking care of it.
 
bbhero said:
Valvoline in either full synthetic or full synthetic high mileage or blend 5w30 in that VQ would be a continued very good choice.

Has for the filter… Wix is ok too.

Though I would think you could get a Carquest Premium 84356 made by Premium Guard for $7.99 vs a Wix which is $12.99… And that Carquest Premium filter is 99 percent at 20 microns which is very good filtration.

The Wix XP is only around 60 percent at 20 microns and if you want high efficiency that is not the way to go there.

I had a VQ 3.5 cousin motor to your 4.0 VQ and I ran 30 different oils in it for 326,000 miles. It stayed very very clean and ran great too.

Your 4.0 VQ will do the same given how well you are taking care of it.
Click to expand...
Good to know about carquest premium, I always thought of carquest as a cheap jobber filter. Glad to know that’s not necessarily the case. I’m a big fan of Wix for most applications, I used them while servicing 4-stroke outboards when an OE filter (usually Denso) wasn’t available. Have half a case of 57356 filters in the garage thanks to a bulk order from my tech days.

I actually switched to the XP on purpose when I was experimenting with Schaeffer moly EP which is pretty thick stuff, not as bad as gorilla snot Lucas though. In my mind the synthetic media and slightly downgraded efficiency of that filter might equate to better flow with thicker oil, not sure if there’s any truth to that though since the flow rate and bypass settings are the same for the reg and xp filter for my application. For 5W-30 oil I have the utmost confidence in the cellulose media 57356 to give me the filtration I need, but it is interesting that Wix specifically recommends the XP for synthetic oils and for towing. I assume that is for longer OCI’s with greater particulates produced and you would need the higher capacity in the media. Unless someone gives me a great reason to go back to the XP I’ll probably stick with ol reliable Wix cellulose.
 
Those engines, at least the 3.x variety, are extremely solid. Looks like you've tried almost a dozen variations of oil + additives with no ill-effect. Just keep using quality oil and it will be fine. A lot of VQ people like 40-weight oils in theirs. I've got a Euro 5W-40 in my 3.5L currently. I've used various filters from Fram XG to TG to Wix and so on. Almost put a Honda filter on it but our Honda ended up needing changed first.
 
thunderous1335 said:
Havoline Pro-DS. Gets the job done and has the amount needed for max capacity (dipstick reads short on the VQ40 if you put in less than 6 qts)

Do 5w30 for winter time, switch to 0w40 for summer
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Wouldn’t 0W-40 be a better choice for year round since it theoretically flows better cold, and also has higher viscosity when hot?

I know oils have come a long way even in the last 30 years but I am still skeptical of oils that have such a wide viscosity spread, would they not have to use a ton of VII to achieve that? That opens the concern of it shearing out of grade and all that fun stuff. These days those issues may have been solved by using higher quality base oils (GRP III/II+, GTL, ester/PAO content).

Is there a high mileage 0W-40 available at a reasonable price with good VOA/UOA to back it up?
 
SC Maintenance said:
In a few years, I’ll show you under the valve covers of my frontier VQ40 which I am running full synthetic at 5K OCI. In the meantime you can view my xterra which has always had either conventional or semi syn at 3750 OCI.

https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/t...vers-395-000-miles-nissan-xterra-vq40.376175/
Click to expand...
I’ve read your xterra thread, good stuff man. Glad to see the syn blend and conventional on a shorter OCI was working for you. Can I ask what your usage is/was for that vehicle?

I like how smooth it is with synthetic blend but I don’t want to have any issues when summer comes and it gets real hot outside, real quick. Also in the winter I don’t want to hear valve train noise on a cold start.

With full synthetics I had good performance for about the first 2500 miles after a change, then cold starts would sometimes be noisy at first. That’s what prompted me to try the additives (moly EP and MoS2) to see if I could quiet that down. It worked for that purpose but I didn’t like having such a high percentage of my oil being additive vs fully formulated oil.
 
JavierH19 said:
Syn blend isn't cheap enough to be worth buying imo but it's ok to use. A full syn starts at $19 but a euro oil starts at $23. If it was my engine I'd be using quaker state euro 5w-40 and change it every 7-8k or so. For the filter i'd be using the fram endurance for 2-3 runs. Shell owns pennzoil and quaker state and they're very similar and the fram endurance is metal cap wire backed and as good if not better quality than either wix or fleetguard. But you can use the wix xp all day.
Click to expand...
I would argue Wix and Fleetguard to be equal or better quality than most fram filters. Fram has improved a lot of things especially with fram ultra but I still don’t use them on my vehicles. My father built GM and Mopar race engines and always told me no matter what not to use the orange can. He was a big Wix guy as well when his shop was in business.

Take a good look at Wix and Fleetguard the next time you’re filter shopping. Quality materials and filtration with both brands, especially Fleetguard stratapore. Not to say that fram is bad (don’t know because I’ve never used one!), but all of the Wix filters I’ve had are made in USA with metal caps, and the XP’s are wire backed synthetic media. Regular Wix is cellulose but I’ve never heard of one failing in my own experience working on customer’s boats
 
fishhuntsaluda said:
Wouldn’t 0W-40 be a better choice for year round since it theoretically flows better cold, and also has higher viscosity when hot?

I know oils have come a long way even in the last 30 years but I am still skeptical of oils that have such a wide viscosity spread, would they not have to use a ton of VII to achieve that? That opens the concern of it shearing out of grade and all that fun stuff. These days those issues may have been solved by using higher quality base oils (GRP III/II+, GTL, ester/PAO content).

Is there a high mileage 0W-40 available at a reasonable price with good VOA/UOA to back it up?
Click to expand...
High mileage 0w-40 doesn't exist, unless you want to homebrew it (say for example, 5 qts M1 0w40 and a bottle of Liquimoly oil saver)
 
fishhuntsaluda said:
What exactly is LM oil saver, is it a seal conditioner or a viscosity modifier (or both?)

And I assume it comes in a 300mL can just like MoS2?
Click to expand...
Description from LM's site:

"Maintains and regenerates rubber and plastic seals in the engine oil circuit of gas and diesel engines. Oil consumption due to aged and hardened valve stem seals is reduced. No more blue exhaust smoke, improved emissions. External leaks are minimized or even eliminated. Dampens engine noise and reduces repair costs. Reduces pollution and improves the environment."
 
fishhuntsaluda said:
I would argue Wix and Fleetguard to be equal or better quality than most fram filters. Fram has improved a lot of things especially with fram ultra but I still don’t use them on my vehicles. My father built GM and Mopar race engines and always told me no matter what not to use the orange can. He was a big Wix guy as well when his shop was in business.

Take a good look at Wix and Fleetguard the next time you’re filter shopping. Quality materials and filtration with both brands, especially Fleetguard stratapore. Not to say that fram is bad (don’t know because I’ve never used one!), but all of the Wix filters I’ve had are made in USA with metal caps, and the XP’s are wire backed synthetic media. Regular Wix is cellulose but I’ve never heard of one failing in my own experience working on customer’s boats
Click to expand...
wix filters are not what they used to be. now a M+H product. fram had the best filter on the market in the OG Fram XG’s but have cheapened them up. the best filter on the market at the moment is the champion built Fram Endurance, Royal Purple or Amsoil EA filters. WIX XP was so bad in efficiency it isn’t even on this graph posted by Andrew at Ascent filtration.

IMG_5375.webp
 
fishhuntsaluda said:
Wouldn’t 0W-40 be a better choice for year round since it theoretically flows better cold, and also has higher viscosity when hot?
Click to expand...
Check what temperatures 0W and 5W apply to. You'll probably be surprised.

fishhuntsaluda said:
Also in the winter I don’t want to hear valve train noise on a cold start.
Click to expand...
How cold do you get there ? 0W and 5W are beneficial in sub-freezing temperatures and I doubt you're dealing with that. My VQ35 is quieter with some oils vs others. Castrol Edge 0W-40 is noisy but Castrol Magnatec 5W-30 is quiet. QS Euro 5W-40 is quiet.
 
I think the best bet is go to wall mart ,get some name brand 5w-30 synthetic, like Pennzoil platinum, Castrol edge,Vavoline EP ,or what ever,and Fram ultra filter,and run for 5k,,you will be fine, a high milage oil if you feel its needed,all will perform well in your climate. dont add any additives as this can (and does) upset the carefully formulated oil.
 
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