Recommendations for 2000 Maxima

[DGorilla]

I'm looking for oil/filter/OCI suggestions for a 2000 Maxima GXE with 175k that I recently bought. I live near Nashville and have an average to easy driving style, relatively slow driving speeds for better gas mileage. This car is my daily driver with a commute of 70 miles round trip, mostly highway driving with occasional stop/go traffic due to accidents and such. The manual suggests 5w30 SG/SH for all temps and 10w30/10w40 for temps above 0 degrees F. The car runs and sounds fantastic. I don't think it burns oil but don't know what has been used in it previously.

My main goal is to maximize engine life and reliability, as I hope to drive this for 2-4 years with minimal repairs. As info, I also have a 2001 Escape with 208k and 2002 Silverado with 173k. For the past few years, I have used Max Life 5w30 and P1 filters in both of these with spring/fall OC's. It would be great to find something that's a good fit for all three, but may be difficult with the different engine types. Thanks!

 

[bourne]

Why not use maxlife 5w30 in the maxima as well ? Great oil , pretty shear stable and awesome add pack. Use maxlife for 5-7k oci with a P1 filter and that engine will never have an oil related problem. Vwb is a good option for a 5 k or less oci too.

 

[GumbyJarvis]

QS Defy or QSGB w/ P1 filter for 5-7.5k?

OR Mobil Super?

 

[DGorilla]

So I should stick with 5w30? From some of the info here, I thought a 0w30 might be better at startup.

Do the MaxLife additives compare well with other HM brands?

For MaxLife, does it matter whether dino, NextGen or synthetic?

Same with Mobil Super: 5000, HM or synthetic?

 

[Maxima97]

Use PU couple of times to clean the varnish 1st. They use Valvoline Maxlife 5W30.

 

[jjcom]

Maxlife is one of the best high mileage oils out there IMO. I've had good luck using Mobil HM in some cars too, so I would use it as well without loss of sleep. Maxlife 5-30 should work great across the board for your cars. Considering it's all highway miles on this car, you could also consider running something like PU, PP, M1, etc full time in that one. That should let you extend your oil changes out a little farther than what you could with just Maxlife.

 

[SLCraig]

The VQ will last forever with anything.
I ran GC 0w30 in my folks VQ30 for about 5-6 years straight. The car runs amazingly well still.

 

[Phishin]

Originally Posted By: SLCraig
The VQ will last forever with anything.
I ran GC 0w30 in my folks VQ30 for about 5-6 years straight. The car runs amazingly well still.


Any oil is fine. Don't go so synthetic and long OCI's. Better to go short and save your money and go dino. I put VWB in mine.

 

[bourne]

GC 0W30 works great in a VQ. It is however hard to find , expensive and not required in your climate. There are just so many really good SN rated syn and syn blend oils available in the market that would work just as well for how you use your vehicle.

If you would like to run synthetic , I recommend PP 5W30. Freely available and for $24.99 or less for a 5 qt jug at your closest Wal-Mart. Strong detergent based addpack and excellent tbn retention. VQs also run smooth and quiet on Ashland products, especially Synpower.

 

[DGorilla]

Please help me understand the cost-benefit decision process here. As I see the discussion, dino is low cost and low risk as long as OCI is within 5k or so. Synthetic is higher cost and may not offer a huge benefit over dino, besides longer OCI. MaxLife and other HM brands may have added benefits over dino and synthetic due to additives to keep seals, etc. in good condition. Do I have this more or less correct?

Am I downgrading in effect by trying a full synthetic that does not have the HM additives?

How does M1 AFE compare with PU or GC? It's available at local WMart for $25/5qt.

Thanks for the feedback!

 

[jjcom]

Depends on if you actually need a HM oil. I don't run high mileage oil in any of my cars, but I have no major oil leaks. High mileage oils generally help slow down leaks but aren't always needed.

Since your driving is very easy going, you could probably use a good synthetic and do 10k mile oil changes. Mobil AFE product is a good oil, and could be fine for extended drains. Not to knock the AFE oil, but you may not need to run toward the thin side of an oil grade. I say that because the car also is ok with 10-40 oil.

Now the other option could be if you do need a HM oil and you want to go extended drain, then Mobil 1 has a HM oil line up that you could use. To be sure you're ok doing say 10k oil changes, you'll need to perform a UOA to be sure you're on the right track.

If there's no need for HM oil, then PP, PU, Mobil 1, Quaker State UD, etc could all be good choices. The QAUD is also about 20 bucks for a 5 quart jug at Walmart. One more option would be, seeing the ok for a 10-40 oil, Rotella T6. It's a 5-40 diesel oil that has shown good results around here. That could work well at slowing oil consumption if you're having trouble with that.

 

[DGorilla]

My very limited understanding is that, with the 0w30, the "0" simply means that the oil is closer to desired viscosity at start-up (75F) and that the "30" still gives the required viscosity at operating temp (212F). Is this an oversimplification?

While I am not determined to try 0-30 at any cost, I am intrigued by the possibility of better mpg and protection at start-up. Would a short OCI and UOA give me useful feedback without causing damage to the engine?

BTW jjcom, I run the T6 5-40 in my Ninja 250. It is strongly preferred in the Ninjette community. I am consuming some oil in the '02 Silverado even with 5-30 MaxLife, so maybe I should try the T6 5-40 in it next OC.

 

[CharBaby]

Well, with a 12 year old/175K mile new to you vehicle, I would first try some oil/filters on sale and run them in the near 5K mile OCI.

If your using some oil between OCI's, then change to something else(can't define something else). Maybe some of the suggestions mentioned above, so you pick!

This Maxima engine will easily make it to 250K miles with just about any oil and the MPG will be what it is(give or take). Easy driving as you mentioned, and CC will help maximize MPG!

 

[Mark_S]

My son has a 2000 Maxima. I buy M1 HM 10W30 at Walmart for about $27 and a Pure One filter at Advance for about $5. I change it between 7,000 and 8,000 miles. When you consider the quality of oil for the money, and the peace of mind, I find it hard to beat.

 

[jjcom]

Please disregard my comment on the AFE...for some reason I was thinking 0-20 not 0-30. You should be fine to try out the 0-30 and see how it does. I would run it for a couple oil changes then perform a UOA so the previous oil won't skew the results. I bet it'll work fine.