First Oil Change, change to synthetic?

MarkGideon

I did my first change just at 1200 miles to Penzoil Ultra and a Purolator PL14610 PureONE filter. This will be the routine every 5,000 miles starting when I get to 5,000 on the odometer. (I am just under 2,500 now.) As a plus, the same filter will work on my Altima, so I ordered half a dozen for now. I may even switch the Altima from Mobil 1 to the Penzoil too, just to keep it simple. I guess the cost of ownership, at least for oil changes, will be the same for the Z as my Altima.

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2012 370Z Base Gun Metallic--2015 Altima 2.5SV Gun Metallic--2020 Chevy Silverado RST--1965 Chevy C10 Stepside Shortbed

nmjaxx9

Wow compared to CT thats dirt cheap, here I was charged 150!

Good thing I learned to do oil changes myself.

JungleZ

Was I supposed to change at 1200 miles?

Looks like I'm gonna end up going to dealer and paying alot, I can't do it myself and don't trust autozone or jiffy lube

MarkGideon

You did not NEED to change at 1200 miles. Just something us obsessive types do.

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2012 370Z Base Gun Metallic--2015 Altima 2.5SV Gun Metallic--2020 Chevy Silverado RST--1965 Chevy C10 Stepside Shortbed

DLSTR

5000 on synthetic is nothing. I just did 8000 on Mobil1 5-30 and they said(Blackstone), 9000 was no problem. This on the Autobahn, high revs, mountains, city traffic and daily driver as well. I hate down time and 5000 changes are a waste of synthetic. The standard over here is 15000km or just over 9000miles(9320) at the Nissan dealer who uses Castrol 5-30 synth.

Frankly the cost of ownership shouldnt be much more considering the car is low maint. The tires are different story. Its just a car.

VCuomo

I do exactly the same - same oil, filter, and service interval.

And to the OP: You do know that many cars come with synthetic in them from the factory, right? Oh, and AFAIK Nissan has never really confirmed what their factory fill is...

UNKNOWN_370

Running the same thing with nismo oil filter. Royal works awesome. Oil stays cooler from my experience. May switch to redline @ 30k miles

nmjaxx9

Yeah I only do it for convenience, no other store in my town sells redline, I would have to order it online, where as royal purple is available within 1 mile of my house at Napa.

Volk Z

I'm doing first oil change at 1300-1500 miles to wash out all the metal shavings and stuff from the break in then doing one regular Nissan stock oil and then switching to Amsoil best synthetic oil out there... It was the first and is still the best.
I use it in all my cars and all transmissions and differentials as well. It made my 350z transmission and my Jaguar clunky feeling tranny feel smoother then they ever felt.

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81DAWG

I too am about to do my first oil chnge after reaching my break in mileage of 1200 miles. I use Mobil 1 Extended Performance in both of my other vehicles and will do so in the Z. A past experience with Mobil 1 convinced me that you can't go wrong with this oil. I am embarressed about what I did, but I'll share my experience.

I have a 2004 Ford F150 FX4 truck. I put alot of miles on this truck and have used Mobil 1 in it since the first oil change. I change the oil every 3000-5000 miles depending how much towing I have been doing. At about 180K miles I changed the oil as normal prior to going down to my hunting camp on a Friday afternoon. I hooked up my trailer to haul the ATV and went on my way. About 4 miles after leaving the house, I noticed in my rear view mirror there was smoke coming from under my truck. Since I hasn't far from home, I decided to turn around and go back home and check it out. I kept checking the oil pressure guage and it read normal, so i continued on. When I approached my driveway, what I saw gave me a sick feeling...there was a trail of oil from the driveway out into the street. I parked the truck and quickly crawled underneath. The underside of the truck from the engine back was covered in oil. The exhaust was smoking. I determined the oil was coming from the oil filter. I removed the filter, and as many of you have probably already guessed, there was no rubber gasket on the filter. I know it was on the filter when I started the oil change because I coated it with fresh oil prior to installation. Upon further inspection I found the missing gasket on laying in my oil drain pan. I must have placed the filter, gasket side down, on the drain pan, when I layed down prior to installing it on the truck. when I checked the oil in the truck, I had only about a quart left in the truck. This truck holds 7 quarts of oil. So, basically I had driven the truck about 10 miles with very little oil. I figured I ruined the engine or at the very least significantly shortened it's life. like I said, this happened when I had about 180K miles on the truck. I now have 224K miles on it without any decreased performance. I had the oil pressure guage checked and the dealer said it was OK. I still don't know I did not get a low pressure indication.

I am 54 years old and have been doing my own oil changes since I was 16 years old; I have never once paid for an oil change. I guess I used to be on "cruise control" doing oil changes because they are so routine for me. Not anymore. This experience taught me to always check to make sure the gasket is in place before I install the filter. I am sure there are other quality oils that are just as good as Mobil 1, but I will never use anything but Mobil 1 Extended.

Jsolo

^^I would of guessed you double gasketed the filter rather than no gasket at all. Back in HS, a student got an ear full of all sorts of choice words from the instructor when doing this. Ironically, the instructor had touched on this topic in a previous lecture.

Anyways, my method of preventing any gasket issues is to make sure the new filter is always right side up. From the time it comes out of the box to the time it gets installed.

As for mobil1, ymmv. I had a bad experience with it in my camaro. By 80K miles, the car had excessive oil consumption (1qt/400-500miles). A friend running this in his dodge truck also noticed considerably higher consumption at 60-70K miles. Engine defects, perhaps, but it left a bad taste for the oil

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81DAWG

Strange how different people have different results with the same oil. I have 224K on the F150 FX4 using only Mobil 1, and burn zero oil.

Youngwolf34

Anyone ever use Chevron full synthetic oil for our 370's? My mechanic swears by the stuff, but I can't seem to locate any reviews on how the z does on it.

VCuomo

Why wouldn't the Z do fine with any brand of full synthetic oil that's API certified?

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GSS138

Buy whatever synthetic Pep Boys has on sale that month Castrol Edge, Mobil 1, etc.

They usually have a monthly special 5 qts/$35.00 + free oil filter. I use that for GF's truck and her daughter's car. For mine I use Motul/Torco but that is only needed for track abuse.

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