Oil recommendation for 2010 Nissan Altima 4cyl

[blahbqdc]

Hi, I put a good bit of miles on my car, about 2000-2500 per month and I am looking for a good recommendation on oil. I've been taking it in for service at Walmart every 3000-4000 miles (owners manual calls for 3,750 miles). They have been putting in conventional 5W30 (per owners manual) and a FRAM filter.

I'd like to start doing these changes myself with a better oil and a better filter (thinking of WIX).

In trying to share as much information as per the sticky in this topic:

1. 2010 Nissan Altima 4cyl
2. What your owner's manual says -- API SAE 5W30, every 3,750 miles
3. Northern Arizona (pine trees and snow), gets down to the single digits and sometimes lower in the winter. Gets up to 90 or so in the summer, I make frequent trips to Phoenix where it can get in excess of 120. Most, but not all, of my Phoenix trips are in the winter.
4. How you drive (easy? hard? fast? slow?) - I think I drive fairly easy, but maybe hard at times. Fast on highway.
5. What your daily drive is like (short trips? long trips? city? highway?) - Long trips to work (55 miles each way) M-F. Almost all highway, speeds of 65-80 MPH.
6. Whether your car has any known problems - No known problems, has been running great.

I'd like to extend the life of my engine and hope for improved gas mileage. I'd like to not have to change the oil every 45 days. If possible, I'd like to change the oil and filter only twice a year to save time, money, and reduce oil usage. I don't mind paying a higher price for the oil.

I am thinking of AMSOil, but was wondering if the Rotella's would work, or if Mobile 1 or Penzoil Platinum would be a better fit.

Also, with the extended drain interval, would I also be able to keep the same filter until the next oil change?

Thanks.

 

[randomhero439]

Amsoil 0w-30 would work great for all year driving! Since your almost all highway, maybe do 7500 miles then sample the oil before going any further. I suspect you could go 10k+

For "walmart" oils: Mobil 1 0w-30 or Pennzoil Platinum 5w-30 or Pennzoil Ultra 5w-30 would be my choices.

I would not recommend the Rotella oils simply because they are thicker than average, plus we can only get 5w-40 in synthetic. HOWEVER, Rotella T5 10w-30 synthetic blend could be a good choice in summer when you take your 120*F trips

As for the filter, pick a good long distance one: Bosch Distance+, Purolator Synthetic, Fram Ultra, Royal Purple, Mobil 1, or K&N will all be great. Personally i would change the filter every oil change. (I match my filter based on my expected OCI, so i wont buy a extended performance filter if its not gonna be on very long).

 

[MrOctober44]

He`s not goin save any money change them high price FILTER every oil change!!! Those can go 15000 mile? And would run the Oil a litte longs!!!

 

[Rolla07]

M1 filter and M1 5W30 EP. the extended protection should be good. change oil twice a year.

 

[Rolla07]

considering you are all hwy miles, it shouldnt be too bad on the oil. why dont you pick a syn oil and filter and drive it 6 months than do a UOA on it and see what it looks like?

 

[asand1]

Something OT you should consider is an exhaust header. Some of the Nissan four bangers have an issue with the precat in the manifold coming apart and getting back into the cylinders to trash the engine.

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

If I were you I would run Pennzoil Ultra/Platinum 5w-30 or Mobil 1 5w-30 for a 10k miles oil change and do a UOA to see if it works for you. That should give you 4 months of time at 2500 miles/ month and 3 oil changes per year.

And for the sake of experiment, I would try either Rotella T6 5w-40 or Mobil 1 0w-40 during the warmer months to see if you like it. You live in a warmer climate and Nissans tend to like thicker oil. I'm not sure how a 40 weight would affect your gas mileage though.

If you want to keep the filter on there for two drains I think you should get something like a Fram Ultra, Bosch Distance Plus, or Mobil 1. I don't know how hard it is to reach the filter, but if it's like other Nissan's I've seen, it shouldn't be too hard to reach and change. A regular filter (i.e. Purolator PureOne, Wix, Napa Gold,etc) at every oil change shouldn't be too hard.

My 2¢

 

[asiancivicmaniac]

Originally Posted By: asand1
Something OT you should consider is an exhaust header. Some of the Nissan four bangers have an issue with the precat in the manifold coming apart and getting back into the cylinders to trash the engine.


They redesigned the egr of the QR25DE in the mid-2000s so the OP's car shouldn't have the problem.

 

[HTSS_TR]

According to Nissan owner manual(www.nissanusa.com/pdf/techpubs/2010/2010_N_SMG.pdf), 3,750 miles is for severe operating conditions, 7,500 miles is for normal operating conditions.

Your driving conditions, round trip of 110 mostly highway miles 5 days a week, is clearly normal conditions. I would extend OCI to 7,000-7,500 miles with dino, or 10-12k miles with syn. Since your yearly mileage is 24,000-30,000 miles, your engine is a good candidate for using Amsoil SS series with warranty to 25k miles or 1 year.

 

[Mustang2008Z]

I talked with a Service Advisor at a Nissan Dealership, and he told me in 2010, that Nissan has been having some problems regarding their vehicles, primarily the engine designs, and that they were trying to get a handle on the problems. He told me that my 2.4 motor was the best engine built by Nissan, and the most reliable. If your automobile is under warranty keep it under warranty by changing the oil/filter on a regular basis. After the warranty expires from Nissan, then you can do as you wish in my opinion.

I have since moved back close to the dealer that sold my truck to me as a new vehicle, and they have gone from Valvoline to Mobil products. I am using the full synthetic now and have extended my oil changes beyond the recommended 3750 mile oil change. So far I have not seen any bad effects from the extension of time and miles on the motor.

The last time I used Mobil 1, it made the engine sound horrible, however, this time it is running very quietly and smoothly.

 

[REDDOG]

Hi,

I have a QR25DE in a 2008 Rogue. Its at 105,000 miles and has been a great engine so far.

I have done many UOAs and I would advise you that my engine has great looking UOAs, but is very hard on the TBN. Mobil 5000 was limited to 3k because the TBN would be down to where there was no reserve left. Schaeffer's, which I run for some pretty extreme OCIs in other applications would go about 5k unless it was all highway miles, like yours sound like.

My point is this: don't go beyond what you're doing without a UOA. If I wanted to go 6 months I would choose only the stout, like Amsoil, Mobil 1 EP, or PP and get a UOA!

6 months on the filter would also be possible but the filter on this unit is very small so I would go with a quality unit like Amsoil, Mobil 1 or Bosch.

 

[CharBaby]

Originally Posted By: asiancivicmaniac
Originally Posted By: asand1
Something OT you should consider is an exhaust header. Some of the Nissan four bangers have an issue with the precat in the manifold coming apart and getting back into the cylinders to trash the engine.


They redesigned the egr of the QR25DE in the mid-2000s so the OP's car shouldn't have the problem.


Agreed! The '02-'06 model 2.5L were the ones with the Pre-Cat failures but, Nissan may have gotten the issue fixed by '04, no one knows for sure

 

[KrisZ]

Sounds like a perfect candidate for M1 EP and their guaranteed 15k OCIs. But even with their guarantee I would not do it without getting few UOAs done first.