Originally Posted by Artem
The OP's mentality is flawed. Running it until it's a quart low and then deciding that since he just added a quart of fresh oil, this means you can add 4,000 miles to the OCI is silly.
It's very clear that the oil still has active additives in it due to the top off oil but that doesn't change the fact that the engine has excessive wear from something.
You can keep topping off and keep on running the oil for 20,000 miles with TBN to spare probably but would that be smart, based on these wear numbers?
If the engine runs good overall, I vote for an experiment! Keep truckin' @ 12k OCIs and see how long it will last. I wouldn't be surprised if the block keeps spinning happily until 300k miles, even with the elevated metals on the oil.
You analogy about me adding a quart and then running it for 4,000 miles is not correct. This is the longest OCI I have ever ran on this car. And I really just took a risk just because I felt I was adding fresh fluid and using oil and filter that can go for 10,000 miles with no problem.
Well, talking about the car and the mileage. I honestly never thought I would keep this car till now. I am the first owner and I bought it brand new with 45 miles on it in 2008. The car has served me well for over 10 years now. I was going to get rid of it once.
The only reason I kept this car is a few years back when I went to buy my suv and wanted to trade this car in and was just shocked that dealership wanted to give me I think about $600 when the car had I think 170,000 miles on it. I was shocked because I was thinking I would get like $1,000 to $1,500. You know I turned down their offer since I knew my car still had life to take me from point A to point B. Well, as I bought my suv and left the dealership, I decided I would drive this car till it becomes irrational to pay to get it fixed. I say I will drive this car till death do us part. Well, till it dies, not me, lol.
Since then you see the car has gotten me to 240,000 miles. Today it is at 241,500 and still going. I know for sure that the car will get to 250,000 miles. As much as I would not be truly sad if the car dies any day from today, I still am glad it got this far, so I am not planning to neglect it. I will continue keeping up with maintenance and hope it runs until atleast 300,000 miles. Everything on this car is stock and I have a thread that is very detailed about all what I have done on this car.
Here is the link again...
My 2008 Nissan Maxima complete maintenance records since new...
Overall, the engine still runs good. I mean, the car is not perfect but the engine truly does a decent job. I travel often with it on road trips that are 700 miles or less round trip. If higher, I use my suv. My Maxima still got it. On the freeway it cruises very well and if I ask it for 100mph or 120mph, it gives it to me without any hiccup.