What oil are vq37 owners using?

[Japanese]

Head over to your local Walmart and pick out any name brand SQ,GF-7 5w-30 synthetic and it will serve you fine change out every 5 thousand miles and good filter

I would say:
Head over to your local Walmart and pick out any name brand A3/B4 5W-30 synthetic.

 

[Hall]

I've heard good things About magnatec. We used gtx for a bit on the first gen Highlander but went mobil1 high mileage which cut back on the oil burning there

Magnatec is no longer offered by Castrol. Thought is they simply renamed it to the "GTX Full Synthetic" you're seeing. I buy my oil at Walmart and it seemed like GTX just swapped space with Magnatec.

 

[Hall]

I would say:
Head over to your local Walmart and pick out any name brand A3/B4 5W-30 synthetic.

Either are fine. The VQ engine design is rock-solid reliable and almost 25 years old. Real-world has proven it's not picky about oil.

 

[kschachn]

I would say:
Head over to your local Walmart and pick out any name brand A3/B4 5W-30 synthetic.

With it being A3/B4 there’s no reason it needs to be a 30-grade. I’d just buy the least expensive one you find which is likely to be a 40-grade.

And wouldn’t worry about the winter rating either.

 

[droid]

Either are fine. The VQ engine design is rock-solid reliable and almost 25 years old. Real-world has proven it's not picky about oil.

I have heard Ester based oils quiet it down a bit but it's minor and not a reliability concern from my understanding

 

[kschachn]

I have heard Ester based oils quiet it down a bit but it's minor and not a reliability concern from my understanding

There aren’t any ester based automotive engine oils.

 

[scrllock]

M1 0w40 FS. Cheap, widely available, high quality. VQ engines aren't picky but it's the factory fill for the VR38.

 

[droid]

There aren’t any ester based automotive engine oils.

Thought the group v stuff was ester based. Nissan sells a ester oil but I hear it's exaggerated

 

[GR_CoB]

My VQ35 and VK56 have been pretty happy with 5W-50 in NC. This time it's Amalie Elixir 5W-50, but I use plenty of other 40/50 grade oils. SuperTech Synthetic 15W-40 is my favorite.

 

[kschachn]

Thought the group v stuff was ester based. Nissan sells a ester oil but I hear it's exaggerated

Some oils utilize small amounts of various esters in the formulation but there are no ester based automotive engine oils.

And just so you know, Group V base stocks are anything that doesn’t fall into Group I-IV, so it’s not just an ester compound.

 

[scrllock]

Thought the group v stuff was ester based. Nissan sells a ester oil but I hear it's exaggerated

It's mostly Group III. Which is fine. But the ester thing is mostly marketing. I wouldn't pay the double motul/nissan markup for it.