They both use oil???

Sorry I know that I am a noob, but there are some serious myths here about oil and lubrication. As an example I have run regular dino oil in engines tha run at 85% duty cycle all day and night for the equivqlent of 40,000Km's. The reason to change oil every 4-5000 miles is that from a cost benefit perspective it is cheaper than taking regular samples to extend the interval.

Using a high quality filter we all under normal conditions could likely run the oil itself 10's of thousands of mile by only changing the filter, but that would require detailed understanding of the oil properties at any given time, hence cheaper just to chnage the oil.

Sustained viscosity breakdown is typically not caused by heat, that is genrally isolated to the event, but rather it is caused by an external contaminant be it coolant, moisture or by-products of combustion leaking past the rings(normal).

The most significant reason to have your vehicle serviced is to have the filter changed, at all costs the filter must not be allowed to become sufficiently plugged as to go into by-pass. The damage done with no filtration is near instant and is certainly irreversable.

When do you want to change your oil is upto you, synthetic oil changes should not be significantly longer than dino oils, because at the end of the day they have a finite capacity to carry contaminants and I have not seen a study that says they are measurable different.

I could probably ramble all day but will stop there.

all i know is my 97 plymouth neon absolutly loves running some good ole shell oil for 12,000+ miles between changes. The z gets a change every 3,000

You are more well versed in this subject than most in this forum.

Our navy ships have a centrifuge for filtering the oil. If I remember correctly (since retired), the oil is filtered down to pass particles less than 5 microns. The oil is not changed because of the excellent filtration from the centrifuges. Plus, it's just not practical to change the oil when at sea. Oil Temperatures are monitored using thermocouples at all journal bearings. So, like you correctly stated, if you can filter the oil down to an acceptable level, e.g. 5 microns, there is really no need to ever change it. Oil pumped into the journal bearings provides hydrodynamic lubrication resulting in no metal to metal contact between the rotating journal and the babbitt material of the bearing. The greatest bearing wear occurs at startup when there is little lubrication and the oil temperature is at ambient let alone hot! And when the oil is being pumped through the journal bearings, any small particles from engine wear normally pass right through and get filtered or the small particles will embed in the babbitt material which is designed to have a softer material than the hardened journal. In either case, it is expected that no damage will result. Now when components get bent or go out of round, it's not the fault of the oil but rather exceeding the parameters of the engine design e.g. subjecting the engine to excessive loading outside of the engines design parameters.

Someone asked what this had to do with the Z? The principles are the same only on a much, much smaller scale. The oil is filtered down to 30 microns I believe. Still small enough to pass through the journal clearance or embed in the bearing. Exceed the 3.7L engine parameters e.g. overloading and your looking for abnormal wear and hence, premature failure. Keeping your oil clean is more important than oil temperatures running for example a steady 220F and intermittent temperatures in excess of 260F. I'm not the least bit worried with the lub oil system on my Z. Tracking though takes on a whole new meaning.

Oh, almost forget. Stormcrow, the Canadians were in Afghanistan long before the US showed up. So I guess it's the US aiding Canada. Admittedly, you have the bigger guns.

Quote:
Originally Posted by stormcrow http://www.the370z.com/images/buttons/viewpost.gif
Two words - viscosity breakdown. No references needed.


No, he's a douchebag.

get a uoa done, you might find that this is over kill. From what i understand if you want to change that often, a non-synthetic oil will do you just as well.

Get a UOA done, see if the viscocity has dropped by much, see if the TBN numbers ok. You might find you can go for a while longer, and if you can you'll earn the UOA cost back pretty quickly, if not you have the satisfaction of knowing your suspicions were correct =) you win both ways.

Seeing that you're basically using the best oil out there i reckon you'd find that your oils doing fine after 4k... though i don't know your driving style or the areas you drive your z.

I think a lot of the arguements here could be solved with a couple of UOA's...

I know they're not perfect as they only look at dissolved metals, but things like oil breakdown, and second guessing if the oil needs replacing or not would be cleared but somewhat.

If running at 220F is going to f up your oil, then the UOA will show viscosity dropping and other wear factors... If it's not great =) Stop getting into heated battles without data... name calling doesn't make anyone right and complete jerks can be jerks and be factually correct at the same time. They're not inter-dependent traits...

Wait. ester is supposed to be changed at less than 4000 miles. I almost have 10.000 miles.

Dealership said to change it every 10.000 guess they said **** off to nissan's ester oil

The Nissan Voodoo oil is very expensive, i know for a fact that my dealership does not use the ester oil for z's as well. That's why i'm taking my own in for the service.

I took my Z in for a first service at 3200 miles and the service manager said they use, "regular old Shell 5-30--that's they way they come to us from Japan." I don't know if he is correct or ignorant, but I had to request Esther oil (I just did it for a security blanket). It changed the service fee from $39 to $89. I am taking Red Line in to use in subsequent changes.

Do you have any concerns they won't use the oil you give them?

wow man you messed up and please post your VIN so we can put it in the database, :tiphat:

There's a MOBIL 1 formula that lets you go for 10,000k between oil changes. I'm a bit more conservative, so I only stretch it to 7,500k. I only put between 4,500 to 7,000k a year in my Z, anyway.

Without knowing your driving habits I would be concerned about this. If you are running such low mileage becasue you are doing alot of short hauls it is more important to change your oil frequently. It is while your engine is cold the the acid causing, by-products of combustion get into the oil causing break down.

if it just infrequent driving then it is less of a deal.