Why does Nissan still use 3,750/3 month

Status
Not open for further replies.
Joined
Nov 23, 2003
Messages
2,477
Location
WA
For their severe service still? I own a 07 Altima with the QR25DE. It has a 5 quart sump.

I rented a Yaris this weekend. It has a 1.5L. I took some time to look at the owners manual. It has a 3.9 quart sump. Toyota calls for 5,000/6 month OCI's. With the rev happy 1.5L. This engine probably puts the oil through a lot of stress. Toyota engineers think this OCI works for this car and most other Toyota's.

Why does Nissan still think that their engines with the proper SM rated oil can't go more then 3,750/3 month OCI? Even GM uses their OLM on their Ecotec's. They can go up to 6,000 miles on their 2.2L's.

It's been a little over two months since my last OCI. I have put on about 600 miles so far. I only drive 4.2 miles one-way to work, all city. I do get up to 55mph on part of the drive, this is the speed limit on that certain road I travel. I check my dipstick once a week. I have never noticed foam on it. So it looks like I'm buring off the fuel in the oil. I want to try 6 month OCI's.

I been using Formula Shell oil. I have a whole garage full of it. You can't beat the price at CSK.
 
Comply with the warranty requirements while the car is in warranty. .02.
 
From what I read elsewhere, Nissan uses an alloy that is lower in silicon, while Honda uses an alloy that is higher in silicon. This make Nissan's engine able to sustain more shock but wear out faster gradually, while Honda's engine more reliable in non-abuse environment. Maybe that's why Nissan has a looser clearance and tends to burn more oil, require a shorter OCI.
 
their engines won't last past powertrain warranty if you have oil full of coolant if you do extended oci
grin2.gif
 
Originally Posted By: Finklejag
Even GM uses their OLM on their Ecotec's. They can go up to 6,000 miles on their 2.2L's.


You'd really have to be under some severe conditions for a new Ecotec OLM to call for an OCI at 6Kmi. If I rode my 2007 2.2L OLM to below 10%, I'd easily be to 12Kmi. My new Honda 3.5L doesn't stretch itself as far. I'm just under 3Kmi and the OLM is at 60%. What's the severe service per Nissan? Funny, back when we owned a 1993 Sentra the severe service was 3mo/3750mi.

Joel
 
My sister's 06 Sentra says 3750 for oil changes, but it has a [censored] 2.8 quart sump.
 
Hey, I'd be happy if my truck had a 5qt sump, I own a Frontier with the VQ33E and it has a tiny 3.5qt capacity. That's why i'm looking at a remote filter mounting kit with dual filters to increase the capacity and filtration. Heck even my father's Fronter with the KA24 in it has a larger capacity than my 3.3. That's nice to see Nissan did increase it on the 2.5 4 banger.
 
I've been thinking about the same thing actually. I have a 11 Titan and now work from home so it really doesn't move all that much. My last oil change was in December and I have maybe put 1200 miles on it since then. It is now reached the time limit (which I thought it was 4 months..I will need to look again) so I need to change it to keep Nissan happy for warranty purposes. I have a big stockpile of QSUD and G-Oil that were mostly free after rebate so I am not sweating it too much really. It just seems like a waste since it has a 6.75 quart capacity.
 
My '04 Altima 2.5L and my daughter's '06 Mazda3 2.0L both call for 3750 mile OCIs. My wife's '01 Lexus RX 3.0L calls for 5000 mile OCI(an update from the previous 7500 OCI due to gelling/sludging).

We're at between 4K-5K miles on all vehicles.
 
Originally Posted By: Finklejag
Why does Nissan still think that their engines with the proper SM rated oil can't go more then 3,750/3 month OCI?

Obviously they know something. I run 5K OCI with gp III synthetic oil and 7500 with true synthetics. No sludge or varnish since 1992 on engines i have owned since new.
We see it all the time this company and that one lowering their OCI and reprogramming the OLM.
The extended drain thing has gotten out of hand and they are paying the bill under warranty.

I work on a lot of engines every day i see varnish, sludge, heavy deposits on engines running OLM OCI and dino oils.
I am not convinced these deposits are caught in a UOA and the UOA might give a false sense of security.
 
I strongly believe that all maintenance requirements by the manufactures are a balance between cost of ownership calculation comparison to the competitors vs their potential cost of warranty work. Their goal is not to make your car last forever but where they minimize the repairs they will be responsible for under warranty.
 
There may well be a technical reason why Nissan has decided to keep the 3750/3 mo. OCI, but until someone talks with the engineer that decided that, we may never know. It may help to learn a little Japanese before you begin your journey.

I do not put it past auto manufacturers, American, European, Japanese, whoever, to do something to make their dealers and distributors more money. Make people change something twice as often and you tend to make twice as much money. Lube manufacturers did this for a long time with the 3000 mi./3 mo. OCI and the auto manufacturers were perfectly content to go along with it. You could argue conservatism to get the most life out of the machine that you possibly can, buy that argument only goes so far and for so long.
 
The 3.7L in the 370 (and Infiniti G) is known and proven to be hard on oil....AFAIK its because of the fairly advanced variable valve timing setup. A step motor "attached" to each set of valves, etc.

While my G is under warranty I plan on observing the 3750 mile limit, but I drive it so little that I think I can stretch the time limit to 6 months without issue. Once out of warranty Ill just do it every 6 months regardless of mileage.

I drive so little I probably dont require synthetic, but since I do my own oil changes, and they are so infrequent, I dont feel like Im wasting money by using full synth instead of dino. It costs me maybe 20 or 30 bux extra per year (based on 2 oil changes). In the grand scheme of things I waste more $$$ than that on useless stuff.
 
The 3750 is for severe service. Normal OCI is 7,500.

Its funny how manufacturers can never win. When the OC monitor goes toward 10k mile intervals, BITOGERs freak out and obsessively change early. Nissan calls for a 7,500 OCI and their engines are shoddy.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top