Originally Posted By: 1999nick
Originally Posted By: kbohip72
Originally Posted By: MolaKule
You will void a warranty if you run anything thicker than a 30 weight in VVT engines, especially the GM 5.3L engines.
Wrong. My Nissan Maxima owner's manual specifically states 10W-40 is acceptable in temps above 0F. Maxima's have had VVt since 1992. They used this same basic engine design all the way back to the 1987 300ZX. After that many years in production, I'd say Nissan must be comfortable recommending 10W-40 in their VVT equipped engines.
As a matter of fact I'm going to switch over to that weight at the next oil change as my engine burns a quart of 5w30 every 1k miles. I'm hoping I can get away with running a 10W-40 synthetic and not experience the oil loss. This could be a whole new thread. What's better? 5w30 conventional or synthetic 10W-40?
Last time I checked, a Nissan Maxima did not have a GM engine. Further, I was unaware of Nissan having VVT in any engine until sometime past 2000. I certainly was not aware that my 99 model Maxima had VVT. That was not because I failed to rev it high enough for the VVT to activate, either. It saw 6400 many times as I had to enter a busy street going uphill as I was leaving my subdivision. Saying this, I stand to be corrected by someone in the know. Can some one tell us when VVT began to be used in Nissan V-6's.
You said "You will void a warranty if you run anything thicker than a 30 weight in VVT engines." I simply responded that you are wrong on this, which you are. You never specified GM VVT engine, you just said "especially the GM 5.3l engines."
As for Nissan V6's having VVT? The VE30DE engine was the first engine to have VVT in the Maxima SE model in 1992. In that car there was a noticeable change in power at 3,500 rpm when the VVT started working it's magic. On 95 and up Maximas all models had the same 190hp VVT equipped engine but there was no sudden feel of power at 3,500rpm that my '92 had. The VVT design gave the Nissan V6 in the Maxima SE a 30hp increase over the standard 160hp VG30 V6 that was in all 89-91 Maxima's as well as the 92-94 GXE model Maximas.
This info was in every major car magazine in the early nineties as I used to read them all back then. I've also owned 4 Maximas over the last 15 years so I know a bit about them and their configurations. As for proof, these cars have gotten so old there's not much info on them anymore, but I did find this in Wiki:
The VE30DE engine, which was purpose-built for, and exclusively offered on the 1992-1994 Maxima SE, featured variable intake manifold (5-speed model only) and with variable timing cams, plus a limited-slip differential, became standard on the SE models in 1992.
The variable timing cams as they were called by Nissan back then were prone to failure. I bought a used '92 Maxima back in '95 that VTC's were already out on with only 30k miles. Got them repaired under warranty and got another 110k trouble free miles out of that car.
