Nissan sentra SE-R oil recomendations

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Hey guys, so i'm new to these forums and looking to find some recommendations as to what oil is the best fit for me and my car.

I have a 2004 Nissan Sentra SE-R SpecV edition, I just rebuilt the motor completely and so far only have 400 miles on the new motor. The car has a 6 speed manual transmission so on occasion it does tempt me to push it aggressively. Though, mostly I drive fairly normal and I don't track/race/autocross or anything like that.

My main goal is to keep my motor running strong and healthy with good oil, but not to spend a crazy amount of money on oil changes.

1. What kind of vehicle you have
Nissan Sentra SE-R specV, 2.5L 4 cyl engine

2. What your owner's manual says -- not just viscosity, but certifications (look for acronyms like API SM, ILSAC GF-4, etc.) and change intervals as well
- API Certification Mark *1
- API grade SG/SH, Energy Conserving I
& II or API grade SJ or SL, Energy Conserving*
1
- ILSAC grade GF-I, GF-II & GF-III *1

5w-30, though some people on the forums pertaining to my car say they use 0w-30 oils?

the car takes 6 quarts of oil

3. Where you live

New york, a few summer months, but mainly a colder state.

4. How you drive (easy? hard? fast? slow?)
On occasion I drive aggresively, but overall i'm a regular keep up with traffic driver.

5. What your daily drive is like (short trips? long trips? city? highway?)
I drive highway and local, i'd say 50/50 on both of those, my trips rarely exceed 1hour of driving time.

6. Whether your car has any known problems
No problems what so ever.


In addition to that, i'd like to stick to conventional oil for the first few oil changes and then switch to synthetic if that is a better choice?

For conventional oil i'd like to keep the price of oil changes to a maximum of 30$ per oil change, and be availible locally. I would need 5quart jug, 1 quart single, oil filter. And for synthetic, an equivalent price point.

In order of preference of stores local to me:
1. Advanced auto parts (right up the block)
2. Walmart or autozone (either would be my second choice)
3. napa (too far and out of the way)

Thanks guys
 
Conventional: Either Mobil Super 5000, PYB or VWB... in 5w30
OCI: 5 to 6k......and a Purolator PureOne filter

Synthetic: Either Mobil 1 or PP....5w30
OCI: 7,500k +/-....and a Purolator PureOne or Napa Gold filter.
 
What was the reason for the engine rebuild? How many miles? Was it in any way related to the oil? Were the cylinders rebored? if so, what was the advice of the shop that honed the block? Much of this info should have been provided by the shop IMO. Otherwise, stick with the recommendations in the owners manual and use whatever is on sale that you like. FWIW--Oldtommy
 
Before I used synthetic I would run 5w-30 Havoline, which my engine seemed to like.

But for the past 30k miles I've been running M1 (EP) 5w-30 with great results, although I've been tempted to try M1 0w-40. And just look out for a good sale/rebate, which is
what I do to get the best price.

And how does your QR take 6qts? BSR removal?
 
Originally Posted By: Oregoonian
Conventional: Either Mobil Super 5000, PYB or VWB... in 5w30
OCI: 5 to 6k......and a Purolator PureOne filter

Synthetic: Either Mobil 1 or PP....5w30
OCI: 7,500k +/-....and a Purolator PureOne or Napa Gold filter.


I'm sorry i'm probably a noob nut can you please tell me what PYB, VWB, and PP stand for?

Also, it's okay to go 5k on regular motor oil?


Originally Posted By: 2oldtommy
What was the reason for the engine rebuild? How many miles? Was it in any way related to the oil? Were the cylinders rebored? if so, what was the advice of the shop that honed the block? Much of this info should have been provided by the shop IMO. Otherwise, stick with the recommendations in the owners manual and use whatever is on sale that you like. FWIW--Oldtommy


The reason for the engine rebuild was because of a common failure on this car. It came equipped with two catalytic converters, one being attached to the manifold. The excessive heat would go back into the head and destroy valve seals, obviously leading to oil burning issues which led to a lack of oil in the engine. I purchased it with a blown engine, it has 96k on the vehicle itself, and now 0 miles on the motor. Yes all the cylinders were bored and honed, and I installed new pistons, rings, bearings, ect... what info would a shop provide? I did the rebuild myself, I had the machine work done at a machine shop.


Originally Posted By: Xeno
Before I used synthetic I would run 5w-30 Havoline, which my engine seemed to like.

But for the past 30k miles I've been running M1 (EP) 5w-30 with great results, although I've been tempted to try M1 0w-40. And just look out for a good sale/rebate, which is
what I do to get the best price.

And how does your QR take 6qts? BSR removal?


Havoline, I will look into thanks..

Can you explain what M1 (ep) is?

I gutted the BSR and blocked the oil galley which provided oil to it, increasing the oil pressure and allowing for a little more oil capacity.


Any other good oils?
 
I had an '05 SpecV that I bought new. First thing I did was install a header to get rid of that pre-catalyst. For oil I ran dino 5w30 and an OEM filter.
 
Originally Posted By: Torrid
I had an '05 SpecV that I bought new. First thing I did was install a header to get rid of that pre-catalyst. For oil I ran dino 5w30 and an OEM filter.


May not get away with running headers in NYS.

Torrid, did you get any CEL/codes after the installation?
 
Originally Posted By: Char Baby
Originally Posted By: Torrid
I had an '05 SpecV that I bought new. First thing I did was install a header to get rid of that pre-catalyst. For oil I ran dino 5w30 and an OEM filter.


May not get away with running headers in NYS.

Torrid, did you get any CEL/codes after the installation?


No, I used a drilled out sparkplug antifouler and had it threaded for the O2 sensor to back the second sensor out of the opening enough that it thought it was reading cleaner air. The car would still pass a sniffer test because the second cat was still on the car but the only one Nissan monitors for efficiency is the pre-catalyst. I would check out B15sentra.net if you are interested in a header setup that passes emmissions. I'm sure anyone around there would still remember the antifouler trick, but it has been about 4 years since I was a regular member there.
 
Originally Posted By: slaya786
Apparently Nissan OEM filters are garbage..


Hmm... Didn't know there were any issues. I can't say I used them for long as I traded my SpecV in at 17k miles. My wife had a Versa for a couple of years and I used Bosch Premiums and SuperTechs on it. I've got to say I like the Bosch Premiums for a solid middle of the road filter. I'll probably use them on my GTO when I run out of my Delcos since no one stocks non Ecores around here anymore.

I use STPs on my wife's 4.0 S-Type, but that's the only filter Autozone carries that fits the car.
 
Sounds like i'll stock up on some super-tech filters because they are cheap at less than 3 dollars. Also, i noticed that in comparison to STP and many other filters for this car the super-tech filter is double in length. I can only assume that it would provide better filtration because of this.

As for oil, it seems Havoline fits the bill quite well at being very cheap and providing what seems to be more than adequate performance and protection for this engine. I'll try mobile one next and see how they compare and settle on one of these.

In regards to the headers on these cars in NY, it isn't a problem. I didn't let the old manifold touch my new engine for even a minute. I also put an aftermarket header on it immediately after the rebuild. Note that this car has two catalytic converters not one, so removing the "precat" doesn't actually remove the actual main cat for this vehicle. The spark plug anti-fouler did the trick for me too. I believe it works in that it reads a warmer temperature at the first o2 and compares the temperature reading to the second o2. So in theory by spacing the second o2 away from the hot exhaust flow it will read a cooler temperature than the first o2 which is in the direct flow of the hot exhaust gases. This tricks the computer well enough to not throw a single code, or effect performance at all.

Thanks for the help guys, and if anyone has any other recommendations i'm all ears..
 
Not only that, but for some reason Nissan decided the two catalysts were necessary because supposedly cats aren't efficient until they get up to temperature. The pre-catalyst solved this problem, but was also a ticking time bomb because these cars run so rich from the factory. With the second cat still in place it was more than efficient enough. I never had any soot on the back of my car and the exhaust didn't stink.
 
Originally Posted By: slaya786
Apparently Nissan OEM filters are garbage..


The Japanese ones are built like a tank. The debris you see on the media is from me cutting it open with a hacksaw on my driveway :^P

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Originally Posted By: MrWideTires
I have the same car but fully bolted, after 120k miles I'm using 0w20 and runs perfect with absolutely no oil burning


What brand oil are you using?

Also, what are the benefits of using 0w20 vs 5w30?
 
Originally Posted By: slaya786
Oregoonian said:
Conventional: Either Mobil Super 5000, PYB or VWB... in 5w30
OCI: 5 to 6k......and a Purolator PureOne filter

Synthetic: Either Mobil 1 or PP....5w30
OCI: 7,500k +/-....and a Purolator PureOne or Napa Gold filter.


I'm sorry i'm probably a noob nut can you please tell me what PYB, VWB, and PP stand for?

Also, it's okay to go 5k on regular motor oil?

PYB = Pennzoil Yellow Bottle / Conventional
VWB = Valvoline White Bottle / Conventional
PP = Pennzoil Platiunm / Synthetic
 
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