oil changes...
 

okay... now i am so lost...
so i went to a nissan dealer to get an oil change...
dealer says "your not suppose to do an oil change yet, these cars come with special oils and your suppose to change your oil every 7000 miles and its gonna run you about $120."

So i was like okay... and now some ppl are saying that not all 370z comes with an ester oil...

So i called nissan and they didnt know whether it came with ester oil or not...
so... today i called 3 different dealership...

first dealership: it comes with ester oil and u should change ur oil every 6000 miles...
second dealership: it comes with ester oil and you should change ur oil every 7500 miles...
third dealership: it should be the same... and it prob doesnt come with ester oil... and u should change every 3750...

whats right?!

WTF??!?!?! when did u guys get ur first oil change? and did ur car come with an ester oil? or wtf?! lol help!!!

I don't see what the big deal is whether it comes from factory with ester or not. Just change it every 3,000 miles like most people do, conventional or synthetic.

You'd think by now that someone from Nissan would read these forums and realize just how pathetic their Regional Service Managers are. The variance in knowledge (or lack of) on oil issues from dealers is astounding. :mad:

They are morons, they don't care about you.

Your 370Z should have come with a separate "Service and Maintenance Guide" that shows all the recommended oil changes. The first one is at 3750 miles; the second at 7500 miles.

Do service and regional managers have to take a class on "Making s*** up" or do you think it just comes naturally?

I went to arbitration with them with my 350, they are just dicks

The service and maintenance guide should be the first stop for any owner.

You can change it anytime you want. Don't listen to those idiot dealership.


I would do the full synthetic oil with ester based oil change.

I just got mine changed yesterday at 1,250 miles. My first oil change from Nissan. They didnt say anything about it and it cost me $66.88 total with full synthetic...

****!!! I am going right now!!

So i just called... they are all booked today... so 2morra i mma do an ester oil change...

I presume that the initial oil change still needs to be done at the engine break-in mileage?

For clarification, if I may, the first oil change can also be at 7500 miles. Also, the OM also states that it is not necessary to change the oil prior to the first recommended service interval.

Just out of curiousity, precisely at what mileage is "engine break-in mileage" and how did you determine this mileage?

The answer to your question is that the initial oil change can be done at 3750 - 7500 miles, depending on your driving conditions (your driving conditions dictate the oil change service interval). Seriously, read the Owners Manual (sections 8 and 9) - it's well worth the time. :)

As per the Owners manual - max of 4000rpm for the first 1400 miles.

for the first 1200 miles. but id like see anyone really keep it under 4,000 rpms for that long lol. i couldnt wait that long...

No one does that. There is no way... Remember all engines are now also somewhat broken in at factory which makes them much more tolerant than in the past. I would say that technically speaking you can go to 7000 RPM from day one as long as you don't do it all the time.

i waited, only hit redline once every 100 miles. of course my car had exactly 1000 miles when i started autoxing it, 5100 for track

I thought the 1st oil change was 1000 miles. My dealer changed the 1st one for free with Ester and I change every 3000-3500 miles. The car salesman told me it should be every 7500.

Read the owner's manual. It's your friend.

Personally i'm changing it at 1400. I'd rather spend £100 and be safe TBH.

I know what they recommend. But thats what i go by. It's not in the manual by the way.

With that logic, change it at 700 and be safer. Or, be the safest you can be and change the oil after every time you drive it. The owner's manual states the recommended or the "safe" intervals for scheduled maintenance. But hey, it's your money.

I changed my oil shortly after the break-in period (@1,315 miles) and out of curiosity had an oil analysis done. The comments of the report showed this:

"This is the first oil change ever in your Nismo and these metals are perfectly normal for an engine going through the wear-in process. Silicon is from factory sealants used to put everything together. If left in place too long, the accumulated metals can make the oil abrasive so we're glad that you dumped this oil early. We suggest keeping the oil changes around 3,000 miles until wear-in passes."

Take it with a grain of salt, or none at all. I think this thread is more a discussion of biases though rather than one of facts.

I don't think he means change it every 1400 miles. He means the first oil change which makes sense.

Precisely. Don't really like the thought of all the break-in oil and shavings being pumped about until the recommended oil change.

Each to their own though I guess!

:iagree: Each to their own but I will add the following.

The oil filter will take care of the shavings/filings. Any shavings that pass through the oil filter are too small to worry about and will be recirculated or embedded in the bearing babbitt material - just like the nano-particles on bearing surfaces. Remember, these are minute shavings. I once bought a new '81 iirc 200SX. The OM recommended a break-in oil change at 1000 miles to replace the break-in oil. Fast forward to 2009 and there is no mention of break-in oil or changing it at 1000 miles. The OM says to leave the factory fill in until the first recommended service interval be it 3750 or up to 7500 miles. Technology has advanced so that break-in oil changes at 1000 miles are no longer required. Also, factory fill synthetic oil would have been taboo 30 years ago. Now it's common on high performance cars. Again, advances in technology. I'm surprised there are so many folks that can't let go of the past and resist change. If Nissan had concerns about metal filings floating around in suspension they would recommend a break-in oil change at 1000 miles like they did in the past. It's just not that way anymore. Me, the money saved on oil changes = a nice out with the significant other. And, my engine will easily last over 100000 miles with 7500 mile M1 oil change intervals.:tiphat:

Just to clear things up!!!

It is recommended that you do your oil change 3750 especially if your z is your day2day car.

its 3750, its not no 1000 or 2000 or 3000... its around the area of 3750. Its not a bad idea to get it sooner, but thats wasting money in my opinion.

Does the first oil change (3750 miles) have to be changed at the Dealership?

I do remember that when I got new 240Z, that the oil change HAD to be done at the dealership, and it had to be done at 500 miles. I fully understand the advancement in oils since then, but I will not Wait that long before changing my oil.......no way !!!

Anyone here want to guess the sticker price on the 240Z ?

3750 sound about right. My dealer told me the same thing.

no it definitely does NOT have to be done at the dealer, none of your service is required to be. I'm sure they did it back then because the break in contaminated the oil so they wanted to be sure it was changed out. I'm going to guess a sticker of around 5,000?

The sticker price was $4,300.00 and you could not get factory air conditioning...that was the only extra available....and it cost $499.00 extra......I got the air conditioning...a dealer add on But remember.......that was a lot more money then than $40,000.00 is now.
It was a great "Top End" car....but was so slow of the line and so cheap inside the cabin that my friends made fun of it. I had just sold a 1967 ( 427 4 Speed ) because I was going to graduate school, and most of my friends had GTOs and Vettes. While in graduate school in Atlanta, I was fortunate to find the BRE Racing Datsun dealership North of Atlanta and have them modify my car, they were just getting started on what turned out to be a very long and successful career in racing. Of course Nissan was then called "DATSUN" and no one had every seen a Z car before. I cut the "DATSUN" emblems in half..and mounted them backward.....making them read "SUNDAT" nobody knew what the hell a Z car was then anway ! lol

:rofl2:

Well, not really. According to an inflation calculator "What cost $4300 in 1970 would cost $23494.85 in 2009.". If you include the air conditioning in the price, then "What cost $4799 in 1970 would cost $26221.34 in 2009.".

A vette fully loaded was $8,500.00 (Big Block too) and gas was under 30 cents a gallon........and Minimum wage was around $1.85 an hour...

Did you mean "inflation" ?

Yep, my bad.

According to the same inflation calculator:

"What cost $8500 in 1970 would cost $46443.30 in 2009."
"What cost $.28 in 1970 would cost $1.53 in 2009."
"What cost $1.85 in 1970 would cost $10.11 in 2009."

So Vettes, gas, and minimum wage are a worse deal today than in 1970.

Well...the vette I am talking about would compair to the ZR1 and they are about 100 grand...arent they ?

That's what I mean - it's a worse deal today (the ZR1 should cost $46K). Although the technology in the ZR1 (aluminum frame, racing engine technology) is much better today compared to the old days where they pretty much just stuffed more displacement under the hood (and yeah, I know they also sometimes put in aluminum heads too, but basically the diff between a "base" vette and the hotter models was a larger engine).

I just did a 4000 mile oil change and requested the Ester Oil. Price was about $120. Interestingly, the dealership at first tried to talk me out of the Ester because of the cost. I have been going to this NJ Dealership since 1998 and generally they are spot on. They suggested just using the Mobile 1 synthetic at about $90. So for small price difference I said…What the hell do the Ester. Motor does seem smoother.