Originally Posted by Darwins Child

You know, I wasn't sure what Nissan's official "regular service" interval was, so last night I checked the maintenance manual in the glove box and, sure, enough, 8K km (5K miles), or 6 months, whichever comes first.

For a summer-only, low-km vehicle, this is patently ridiculous for some very good reasons.

In Edmonton the winter's are normally at least 6 months long, and for summer-only Z drivers this means that the vehicle will not be operated for 6 months or more.

With the above in mind, let's say the owner attempts to not exceed the Nissan-mandated 6-month oil-change interval. So the owner changes the oil in say mid April and, in our case, after driving 3K km or so, 6 months later in mid October. Sounds very reasonable, right?

But what happens next April, after the car has been sitting all 6 months of winter? Just to satisfy Nissan's requirement, am I actually supposed to go out to buy (and get a dated receipt for) a new filter and new oil, then drain the "old" new oil out of the vehicle, trash the "old" new oil filter, then screw on the new new oil filter and pour in some more new new oil?

Again, for summer-only Z drivers, and there must be millions of them, Nissan's requirement is ridiculous and should be fought. IMO, the oil change requirements for mileage might remain the same, but the time interval must be changed to 1 year. That is, 8K km (5K miles) or 12 months, whichever comes first.

I'll be heading to the local Nissan dealer to buy an oil filter in the next day or two. I'll discuss the matter with the service manager and report back what he has to say. I can't believe that he's going to stand there with a straight face and tell me that it is necessary for Edmonton's summer-only, low-km Z owners to go through that ridiculous, wasteful procedure.