Changing the oil
 

Hello all! I've been lurking for the past month and have finally decided to post. This is my first Z and I'm loving it. So...

I plan on using synthetic oil and the time has come for the first oil change. Just spoke with the dealership service dept. and they said I have 2 options, free oil change with reg oil or $49 for synthetic. I know most dealerships offer the free first oil change thing. Should I take advantage of the free offer and then use synthetic going forward? I like the idea of a free oil change, but no sense in doing something for free if it's not a good thing.

Thanks in advance and I know this is a basic question - still learning :)

The manual specifically states ester oil, so that is what they should be putting in. So if it's free I say take it, the dealership of all places should not be putting anything in besides what Nissan says to use so if they offered free oil then that's what it should be. Although that doesn't mean that's what they had in mind so if your not sure I would definitely call them out on it, and when they give you that look point it out in the manual... not that you should have to :facepalm:

Otherwise I'm sure there are people on here running probably every other various synthetic out there. I think ester oil is supposed to be extremely light weight oil, but I don't know how much thicker everything else really is. I sure you would be fine with any good name brand oil if that's the direction you decide to go.

49$ for synthetic is a great deal. Do it.

im pretty certain the dealership isnt going to use Ester oil in its Free changes...i would just go ahead and get the free dino oil change...go synthetic on you subsequent changes after that..

your probably right, I doubt they were planning on it. But we all know the dealership will be the first ones to tell you you need to use ester oil becuase it's recommended by nissan, and that you shouldn't be using anything else. So they shouldn't be putting anything else in either. I would just ask them about the ester oil the manual says I am supposed to be using. When they give you that confused look I would remind them the manual clearly states that is what they should be using and ask if they were going to.
I was pleasantly surprised to see my dealer ship actually knew what it was and didn't even second guess me on putting it in. I don't know if they would have if I hadn't said anything but after I did there were no questions asked and I saw them put it in.

Ester is "recommended", not required. Basically the Ester is snake oil. Mobil 1 contains esters and is a heck of a lot cheaper. There are also others with esters in them. I did one Nissan Ester change and it cost me $92. Last time, I took my 5 liter bottle of Mobil 1 ($34) and they charge me $18 to put it in.

Yeah it's recommended, and shouldn't the dealership be adhering to Nissan's recommendations? Especially in a high performance car.
I don't know if i would classify it as snake oil but we all know any good oil will be fine, all I'm saying is the Nissan dealership should be following Nissan recommendations. If their not I would be wondering where else they are cutting corners when their servicing my car.
But I don't trust anybody working on my cars so what do I know, I've been burned before.
Anyway if I wasn't getting free oil changes from the dealer (with the proper ester oil) and yes I'm sure they love me watching every step, I would just do it my self if they would let me :rofl2:
I would probably be running royal purple, or perhaps some other high end synthetic. The biggest factor is how long between changes you intend to go, the conditions you drive in, and how you drive the car.