Reducing noise in a Nissan VQ35HR

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I have an '07 G35S with 116k miles. The previous owner had the dealer do all maintenance, and they used Mobil Special 5w30 until I bought the car at 104k. Since then, I've used Pennzoil Platinum 5w30, and most recently, Castrol Edge 5w40. The issue I was having with the PP is that in warmer ambient temperatures, it would have a bit of valvetrain tic. The noise wasn't present in cold weather. I figured a 5w40 would help, but now it's slightly worse and a bit louder at all temperatures.

I know there's no magic bullet here, but some oils seem to be quieter than others. Any recommendations for a good 5w30 or 5w40 for these engines? Valvoline Maxlife is on sale right now, and I was thinking of giving that a shot.
 
I believe that the HR motors have molybdenum coated cylinders. So, if that car were mine I would try some Quaker State Ultimate Durability that has over 200 parts per million of moly. It is the cheapest and most molybdenum in a oil that available. It is Dexos approved, and HTO-06 approved as well. This would likely help out with this noise. IF I am correct about this...

Another possibility is using a oil that is ester based or has a fair amount of ester in it. That would likely mean Redline 5w30. The 3.7 HR motors may have "diamond" coated cylinder walls which did better with the ester based oils. Thus leading to Redline or Motul as being two options. Mobil Special.... That's Exxon Mobil's very base conventional oil entry. Wow. Nothing wrong with Mobil Special in general terms. But I would have thought the Nissan dealership would have at least offered or had Mobil Super with the option for the full synthetic of Mobil 1 if one desired to do that.
 
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Try a few different brands of 5w30. Also one of my friends has near 200k miles on his 350z being fed 5w20 its whole life. It doesn't much much valvetrain noise.
 
Engine noise of either fuel injectors clicking or cam/lifter tic are normal and will increase as the mileage increases.
The VQ engines are known for their durability and are very well built.

It is nothing to worry about, but I am guessing you really want to minimize it.
So.... try the oil that is on sale and see.

The best solution to reduce engine clicking is a cat back exhaust
smile.gif
 
I really think a high molybdenum oil would be helpful with this VQ 3.5HR motor. I am just about sure that motor has moly coated cylinders. I would suggest that the Quaker State Ultimate Durability 5w30 would be a very good oil to run. In my car the Quaker State Ultimate Durability did run very well. I have the "regular" 3.5 VQ in my car. So, it is not the same motor as yours. But if I had the HR motor I would run a high molybdenum oil in it due to what Nissan used in the cylinders.

But hey... If you try the Valvoline Maxlife and it does really good then.. that's very good to learn too.
 
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Originally Posted By: The_Eric
Secondary timing chain guides? They are somewhat noted for that.

That would be my first concern as well.
 
True. However, if the noise is from the timing chain guides it would be rather loud and distinctive. The OP said that this noise wasn't present at colder temps. Seems strange to me but OK. I don't think the timing chain noise would be temperature dependent. It would be present at all temperatures. But hey, I could be wrong about that.

I have seen videos of the timing chain noise and it is rather distinctive in nature. It has a clacking type of pitch that is hard to miss. If the Op's vehicle isn't doing this then I think he could rule out this has being the cause of the noise. I want to say that the generation of VQs 3.5s prior the the 07s were more prone to the timing chain problems then the motors from 07-2012. I could be wrong about that but that's what I think may well have been the case.
 
What oil filter is on there? the Chinese Nissan filters are engine exploders and the Gonhers are variable.

Use the Armada Nissan filter or the fram in my signature. Magnetec is quiet, QSGB and UD used to be quiet, OTW run just mobil clean 10w40. Most mineral refined Grp III are noisy and exhibit poor solubility like a PAO - without the extraordinary cold weather PAO bene'
Molyin the oil is NOT a plus with moly coated pistons. Like eats like. But bet all the moly is eroded from the high load areas by now.

QSGB with big boron and short moly may do well.
 
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Thanks for the feedback. As bbhero said, I think the timing chain issue is more of a problem with the DE engines, and no so much the HR. The HR can blow internal timing chain seals, but that seems to throw a couple of codes. I don't have any of that going on. This is fairly quiet, and I can only really hear it while driving if I'm next to something tall, or in the garage with the engine warm. The noise isn't present on startup.

I'm also not 100% sure that the cylinders are molybdenum-coated. The DE is, but I can't find anything online about the HR. It could be though. All I could find was DLC on the lifters.

I've been curious about the Nissan ester oil, but haven't read glowing reviews. The car doesn't get driven all that much (~6k/year), so I do annual oil changes. With that being the case, I'd be willing to shell out the $13/quart or whatever, but it doesn't seem worth it. Motul 8100 5w30 is pretty inexpensive, so maybe that's worth trying.

I'm using a Wix XP filter. It's a tiny little thing. I've used Fram Extra Guard or a regular Wix in the past.

I had an oil analysis done about 10k ago, and everything looked good.
 
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Just to let you know.... Last time Quaker State green bottle 5w30 was tested by PQIA it had 171 ppm of molybdenum and 100 ppm of boron. So, it still has a lot of molybdenum.

Yeah I thought that the 3.5 HR motor got the molybdenum coated cylinders and that the 3.5 VQ De didn't. And I think that the 3.7 motors got the "diamond" coated cylinders. I have to double check but hey, may well be wrong. Been known to happen on occasion. That, and I'm usually asleep at this time of am.
 
I know that with my VQ40DE V6 in my 2012 Pathfinder M1 0W40 seems to run the smoothest and make the leased engine noise. Second would be Castrol GTX Magnatec 5w30 and I will prob stick with the Mag if my next UOA looks good the price is right. I say try some Castrol Mag and see how it runs.
 
If I had one of those I'd try a good synthetic 10W30 like PP. Still a spec 30 but a slightly thicker base oil.
 
You can try M1 or Castrol 0W40. My VQ35 was very smooth with the M1, which contains good doses of moly & boron.
 
Originally Posted By: Headgasket
Thanks for the feedback.

I'm using a Wix XP filter. It's a tiny little thing. I've used Fram Extra Guard or a regular Wix in the past.

I had an oil analysis done about 10k ago, and everything looked good.
Oil analysis doesn't show major wear - thats in you filter. That filter is too small. wix is good but the large, quality base end bypass valve takes up too much space in this " fuel filter" sized oil filter.

Do you have room for the Honda pcx-004 s2000 filter. It was the best on my 2.5L.
I'm finding Most all "unusual" engine noise is filter related if the oil is premium and in grade. My Nissan has noisy fuel injectors.
 
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Originally Posted By: IndyIan
Originally Posted By: The_Eric
Secondary timing chain guides? They are somewhat noted for that.

That would be my first concern as well.

Thrice.
 
I've read that M1 0w40 seems to work well in these, so that might be worth a shot as well. I use Amsoil gear oil with success, so what about their XL 5w30?

When it comes to the filter, I have thought about a slightly larger filter (there's plenty of room), but what holds me back is that there was likely some reason why Nissan specced the filter size that they did. Any insight there? The other side is that I doubt a larger filter will hurt anything.
 
Many guys on here use the Fram 7317, Mobil 1 M1-110 or the Wix 57356 without any problems. I have the up sized Royal Purple filter on my car. Go back and look at the previous generation of 3.5 VQs... They all specd the larger filter back then. So, you will be fine e doing this.
 
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