The 350Z is my wife's summer vehicle. Bought new in 2006 and she has put 11,373 miles on it. I usually change the oil before it is stored for the winter in my pole barn which has a concrete floor. Oil used since the initial change has been Amsoil ASL 5W-30 along with an Ea filter. Do to knee surgery back in May she only put on 1,109.3 miles for the year. Mileage is rural driving. Based on the low mileage on the oil will it be ok to store until next spring? I will change the oil before the spring driving season starts around April 2011.
2006 Nissan 350Z
- Thread starter Jim_Beverlin
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Save yourself a lot of money on motor oil and switch to something like Pennzoil conventional or Motorcraft semi-syn for the low mileage it's getting. Synthetic is a waste on this car. It's already costing a lot to just sit there, why pay even more for oil that isn't even being used?
The flip side is that those engines are known to be very hard on oil, possibly due to the way they are driven. I would keep the good stuff in there even with low miles.
Originally Posted By: CBR.worm
The flip side is that those engines are known to be very hard on oil, possibly due to the way they are driven. I would keep the good stuff in there even with low miles.
At 1,100, or even 5,000 miles a year, any oil that meets the manufacturer's recommendation will hold up 100% fine, no matter how "hard on oil" any engine is, and especially if the car has an OLM that keeps track of these things. Above and beyond that is just flushing money down the toilet.
Here on BITOG, there are lots of people with too much time on their hands, and who just like flushing money down the toilet for no technically sound reason. Much advice here, while probably well-intentioned, consists of irrational, faith-based guesswork grounded in nothing but speculation, hypochondria, neuroticism, "conventional wisdom," and marketing horse puckey. Over-wrought maintenance rituals and expensive maintenance practices have not proven any gains over manufacturer-recommended routines, to the best of my knowledge, so why not stick with what's less expensive and drop the money you save in the vacation fund or a worthwhile charity?
The flip side is that those engines are known to be very hard on oil, possibly due to the way they are driven. I would keep the good stuff in there even with low miles.
At 1,100, or even 5,000 miles a year, any oil that meets the manufacturer's recommendation will hold up 100% fine, no matter how "hard on oil" any engine is, and especially if the car has an OLM that keeps track of these things. Above and beyond that is just flushing money down the toilet.
Here on BITOG, there are lots of people with too much time on their hands, and who just like flushing money down the toilet for no technically sound reason. Much advice here, while probably well-intentioned, consists of irrational, faith-based guesswork grounded in nothing but speculation, hypochondria, neuroticism, "conventional wisdom," and marketing horse puckey. Over-wrought maintenance rituals and expensive maintenance practices have not proven any gains over manufacturer-recommended routines, to the best of my knowledge, so why not stick with what's less expensive and drop the money you save in the vacation fund or a worthwhile charity?
Thanks to all for your comments. I have used synthetic since the late 70's (started with M1) and use it on all vehicles including tractors and motors on trash pumps. I did run it hard before I put it in storage and put Stabil in it. Got to think about the switch away from synthetic for a low mileage vehicle. For what she paid for it the extra in oil does not seem significant but I probably will move away from $$$ Ea filters and use Purolator Pure One.
I do as you do on my diesel truck.It goes two years on Amsoil and gets acout 3k put on it.The Amsoil is piece of mind for me.Love their products.
Stick with Amsoil delivered to your door.
But honestly I would switch up to:
Amsoil HDD 5W-30 Sure, it's a few more dollars, but after all my years with Amsoil and not even using the HDD at first, this one is my top 5W-30 pick for most all gasoline cars more than a couple years old. You could leave this in for two plus years at those miles because of the high TBN HDEO rating, but if changing once a year is good with you, go with that.
But honestly I would switch up to:
Amsoil HDD 5W-30 Sure, it's a few more dollars, but after all my years with Amsoil and not even using the HDD at first, this one is my top 5W-30 pick for most all gasoline cars more than a couple years old. You could leave this in for two plus years at those miles because of the high TBN HDEO rating, but if changing once a year is good with you, go with that.
Originally Posted By: Jim_Beverlin
I probably will move away from $$$ Ea filters and use Purolator Pure One.
If I'm not mistaken, the spec'd filter is a "shorty" PL14612 equivalent. If you've got the room, use the slightly longer PL14610 which provides more filtering media. Like many others have done, I recently cut one open (see here) and the quality/construction is top-notch.
I probably will move away from $$$ Ea filters and use Purolator Pure One.
If I'm not mistaken, the spec'd filter is a "shorty" PL14612 equivalent. If you've got the room, use the slightly longer PL14610 which provides more filtering media. Like many others have done, I recently cut one open (see here) and the quality/construction is top-notch.
Excellent suggestion. The Z is no joy to change oil on thanks to very low ground clearance and a bottom plastic cover that has to be removed and is held on by 18 sheet metal screws. Just getting it up on ramps designed for low ground clearance vehicles is an adventure.
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