370Z comes with full synthetic?

k.alexander

Amen.
Didn't mean to hichjack the tread (although it's somewhat on point). I'll know more tomorrow. If they don't come through, not only will I make it known, but I will take further action.

ScooterN2

Not so sure what to think about synthetic oil. The following in posted on the Mobil 1 website. If synthetic is necessary for proper break-in, I doubt if it would be used standard in these vehicles.


Myth: You should break in your engine with conventional oil, then switch to a synthetic oil like Mobil 1.
Reality:
You can start using Mobil 1 in new vehicles at any time, even in brand new vehicles. In fact, Mobil 1 is original equipment (it is installed at the factory) in:
Acura RDX

Aston Martin

All Bentley Vehicles

All Cadillac Vehicles

Chevrolet Corvette C6 and Z06

Chevrolet TrailBlazer SS

Chrysler 300C SRT-8

Cobalt SS S/C Coupe

Dodge Caliber SRT-4, Charger SRT-8, and Magnum SRT-8

Jeep Cherokee SRT-8

Mercedes-Benz AMG Vehicles

Mercedes SLR

Mitsubishi Evolution

Pontiac Solstice GXP

All Porsche Vehicles

Saturn Ion Red Line and Saturn Sky Red Line

Viper SRT-10

One of the myths surrounding synthetic oils is that new engines require a break-in period with conventional oil. The fact is, current engine manufacturing technology does not require this break-in period. As indicated by the decisions of the engineers who design the high-performance cars listed above, Mobil 1 can be used starting the day you drive the car off the showroom floor. Watch our answer to this myth.

par4bmw

Just dealer BS.

Crash

Sometimes, the people that do write-ups at the repair centers for dealerships don't know what they're talking about at all. It's as if they don't know anything about their products at all, and aren't required to know to have their job. Service writers are the worst.

I had one tell me that my Trans Am was supposed to making a "pinging" sound. Another tried to get me to buy a new engine. I finally got fed up with being fed BS when one told me that I needed new trans fluid when I'd just replaced it myself a couple week before.

Seriously, I wish it was legal to kick someone in the nuts when they lie to you.

__________________
2002 Corvette Z06 - Totaled
2003 Corvette Z06 50th Anniversary

semtex

I went to my dealer back in Dec and asked them when the 370 would be hitting the showroom. Their response was that the 370 wouldn't be coming until 2010, but hey, they've got some great deals on the 350! Yeah, I bet, freakin idiots. And this was coming from the sales manager. Lying straight through his teeth in the hopes of getting rid of a 350 is what that was.

As for dealer service departments, I hate to say this, but unless it's something like a recall, I won't use them, at least not for diagnosis. I just don't trust them. But I'm lucky enough to have a friend who is a very good mechanic. He'll take things apart to tell me what's what, and if it's minor, I'll have him fix it. If it's major, he'll put everything back together and actually go with me to the service department and tell them exactly what the problem is and what needs to be written up, and I get no argument from the dealership at that point. Like I said, I'm lucky. I know not everyone has friends who are mechanics. If it weren't for this friend of mine, I'm not sure what I'd do. I guess I'd have to deal with a lot more BS.

Oh but I do want to mention that it sometimes pays to do your own research. I had an S2000 with an intermittent power window problem (it'd only go halfway down and then stop). Well, the dealership could never replicate the problem (go figure) so they kept telling me that nothing's wrong. They also told me they've never heard of such a problem and they can't find anything in their databases describing this behavior. Finally, I found a Honda TSB on the net describing this exact issue. So I printed it off and pretty much shoved it in their faces, all the while wondering aloud as to why they were unable to find this TSB in their own database when I was able to find it off a link on Progressive's website of all places! They replaced the entire window motor that day.

__________________
"There are no small accidents on this circuit." -- Ayrton Senna
316.8whp & 248 ft/lbs (Dyno Dynamics) | 319whp & 256 ft/lbs (DynoJet) (04/23/10)
Stillen G3 CAI, CBE, Pulley / F.I. LTH / GTSpec Ladder Brace / Setrab Oil Cooler / UpRev-tuned by Forged Perf.

Phil Wallace

Nissan recommends Genuine Nissan ESTER Engine oil 5w-30.*
It is NOT regular oil, and it is not the same price as regular oil.
*nissan 370Z owners manual section 9-2 sub section *3.
So your local dealership was not misleading you or trying to screw you.

NIZMOZ

Actually it came with a blend not a full synthetic. This was tested by Blackstone labs a while back.

__________________
SOLD: 2007 NISMO 350Z #0044 Silver Alloy
New DD: 2010 Titan Pro4X CC

k.alexander

I considered switching to synthetic when I first got my Prelude, years ago. Remind me again on the benefits, of switching to synthetic, for someone who basically uses the car as a daily driver and then occasionally does some autocross events...???

molamann

So who can I trust to diagnose my 1st generation 370Z other than my dealership? Other Nissan service center an option?

semtex

Or maybe even a dedicated transmission shop, like Aamco.

__________________
"There are no small accidents on this circuit." -- Ayrton Senna
316.8whp & 248 ft/lbs (Dyno Dynamics) | 319whp & 256 ft/lbs (DynoJet) (04/23/10)
Stillen G3 CAI, CBE, Pulley / F.I. LTH / GTSpec Ladder Brace / Setrab Oil Cooler / UpRev-tuned by Forged Perf.

semtex

Here's an idea. Return to the dealership with a friend. Tell them your friend is interested in getting one too, he's so impressed with yours. They'll be thinking -- cool, we're getting a referral sale! Of course, he'll need to take a test drive. See if the one he takes out does the same thing. Ideally they'd let you go with your friend on his test drive. If not, you'll have to rely on him to report back to you. If it does the same thing, you'll know that this is just the way it is. If it doesn't, you can now march over to the service dept. and tell them that you're not going to let them blow you off, not when you now know for a fact that your car's transmission is behaving differently than the one that you just test drove. Is this a little deceptive? Yes. Do these jerks deserve it? I think so.

__________________
"There are no small accidents on this circuit." -- Ayrton Senna
316.8whp & 248 ft/lbs (Dyno Dynamics) | 319whp & 256 ft/lbs (DynoJet) (04/23/10)
Stillen G3 CAI, CBE, Pulley / F.I. LTH / GTSpec Ladder Brace / Setrab Oil Cooler / UpRev-tuned by Forged Perf.

Phil Wallace

No dealership can turn down warranty work. Look for an Owners First Nissan dealership in your area and try to book a ride with the Nissan Certified Master Mechanic there. Most dealers have a trained 350/370z, GT-R certified tech specifically for these cars. That is the girl/guy you want diagnosing your vehicle.

Pushing_Tin

I was at the dealer today to have them install my front license plate bracket (see other thread) and asked them about the oil. They refered me to the above and talked about the ester oil. They charge $15 a quart and $11 to change it, so to me that's perfectly reasonable. Obviously you can run whatever you want in there, but I am fine with paying an extra $100 or so a year for the good stuff. After all I just bought a $40k car.

I found this thread over at myg37 if anybody is interested.

Any one know any thing about the Infiniti Ester motor oil? - Page 3 - MyG37

Pushing_Tin

More info:

History of Engine Oil

SYNTHETICS IN THE USA. @1996 rewrite ~2000©

In the USA there are a few different types of synthetic base stocks used in engine oils. We will just touch on two in this technical / sales paper.
The word Synthetic is confusing; it describes a process, not a material. For example, White sand is synthesized into glass, but glass is never called "synthetic sand". Most people think that all synthetic oils are made of the same base, This is wrong! For most of the USA, there are mainly two types of synthetic oils (or as we like to say, synthetics are designer oils).

The most common is a PAO, short for poly-alpha-olefine, or easier to understand, it is synthesized petroleum oil. It is refined in a special process, or in simple words "synthesized". It still starts out by being pumped out of the ground. PAO’s are better than regular petroleum oil for handling heat, oxidation, low temperature startups and higher film strength. Drawback: PAO and petroleum are dynamic types of oil, you have to build up oil pressure and have rotation before a film is produced. Better said, you have to hydroplane the engine parts like you hydroplane a car in the rain, to create a film (or in the case of water-skiing, you have to build speed for the skier to get up and plane on the water). PAO’s are not very expensive because they are made from crude oil and produced in large quantities. You can usually tell when PAO’s are the main ingredient used as the cost of the 100% synthetic oil is less than $7.00 per quart.

The other main type of synthetics are synthetic esters, (diester, polyolesters, polyesters and complex esters). Motul® uses esters in its products. Esters are mostly made of vegetables, minerals, and animal fatty acids. Motul’s® esters contain a lot of coconut derivatives. Esters are much more expensive because the ingredients all have to be collected from natural resources and synthesized (a very expensive process) in smaller quantities. Esters have all the advantages of a PAO but more of them. Esters can handle heat better than PAO’s and when burned, esters leave far less coking deposits. Esters are static types of oils and are attracted to metal parts with an electro-chemical bond. This means no more metal to metal start ups. This also means that a film is there before the oil pressure light goes out preventing premature wear of high-stressed parts like cam lobes. The film created is up to 5 times stronger then petroleum oil.

The number one reason to run an ester synthetic oil is bond. The electro-chemical bond is made because the ester molecule is polar. Sort of like a refrigerator magnet. It is attracted to metal and sticks.The PAO molecules are neutral and act like a piece of plastic placed on the fridge. They just fall off. All commercial jet plane flying, use an ester synthetic of some type and not a PAO. You need to run an ester of some sort for maximum protection.
There are some companies calling level 3 petroleum base stocks synthetic. This oil is a good Petro oil. But it is not what we call a synthetic. The end result is that some oils are labeled incorrectly and are very inexpensive.
Let’s explain why handling higher running temps is important.With petroleum oils there is a much better risk of failure from volatility problems than with synthetics. Why?

Have you ever burned butter while cooking? Yes, everybody has burned butter! The running temp or maximum temp is low. When butter reaches its maximum running temp it starts to evaporate (volatility) then it carbonizes and then it sticks to the metal pan. Now compare butter to vegetable oil in which you deep fry french fries. The only way to heat vegetable oil so hot as to make it carbonize, you would almost need a direct flame.

Petroleum oil is like butter as far as handling heat! Synthetics are like vegetable oil - synthetics won’t burn up and stick to your engine parts or go out the breather as fast as petroleum oils will. Remember esthers leave almost no deposits if they do burn this is the second reason to run a synthetic oil. Because you’re not supposed to have extreme heat problems everyday.

molamann

I just talked to another dealer's service manager and he told me they have a 370z certified mechanic so I'm gonna be bringing in my car to him tomorrow. Hopefully he won't give to screw with me.

@Phil Wallace

I was told dealers usually like to avoid doing warranty work since they get paid a bit less than compared to charging customers without warranty.