Synthetic Oil - When??

I have a Nissan Altima that is not fully broken in. The owner's manual states that the break in period for my car is 1000 miles.

Does synthetic oil have any advantages over using standard oil that is changed every three months?

What is the best time (mileage) to change to synthetic oil?

My owner's manual states that the oil should be changed every 3 months or every 6 months depending on the driving conditions. I assume that even with synthetic oil that the oil would have to be changed every 6 months to meet the manufacture's requirements for proper maintenance.

Should the first oil change be before the first recommended change at 3000 miles?

Thanks for your information,

Wildey Johnson Lerona, West Virginia

I've always changed oil for the first time at about 200 mi., then again at 1000. After that, I begin to use normal intervals. A new engine does most of its 'wearing-in' during the first few hundred. You'll be surprised at the amount of metal that comes out in the oil at that first drain. Looks kinda like metalflake bronze paint. FWIW, even the most sophisticated synthetic oil gets DIRTY as you drive, never mind its film strength, ability to withstand heat, etc. Most daily-drivers don't stress their engines enough to require those properties of a synthetic. The main purpose of changine the oil is to remove combustion by-products, metal particles, condensed acids, etc. that accumulate. I won't leave oil in the crankcase of anything I own and depend on for 6,000 miles at a time, let alone the 15,000 some recommend. Having driven and maintained several vehicles, well into the second hundred-thousand without measurable oil usage, convinces me that I'm not entirely wrong. Just my 2 cents' worth.

Generaly with full synthetics, you can go to the maximum milage (in your case 6000) miles.

Yes, if you live in a cold climate synthetic oil flows faster than standard oil, minimizing wear at startup when most wear occurs. Also, synthetics supposedly adhere to engine components better, in theory leaving a better film of oil at critical points during startup.

That depends on how you drive the car. For a normal mix of highway and city driving I change every 5000 miles, which is probably overkill since even regular mineral oils are usually still fine at this mileage.

-> I have a Nissan Altima that is not fully broken in. The owner's manu -> states that the break in period for my car is 1000 miles. -> -> Does synthetic oil have any advantages over using standard oil that i -> changed every three months?

Howdy. I work at a Nissan dealership, so I do have some insight into what you're asking. (I fix em, but I've never read an owners manual).

In my twenty years of working on cars, I've found that if you use a good name brand oil, and change it regularly, then you shouldn't need to go to a synthetic oil. But if you want to spend the extra money, and think it will help, then by all means use it.

Todays engines are more forgiving than they were even a few years ago. For example, I recently had a Subaru Forester come into our shop that had 25k miles on it. The oil had *never* been changed, the engine sounded just fine, the only reason I even bothered to look at the oil was it was a no start condition, and I wanted to see if the engine had seized or if the starter had died. The oil level was so low it wouldn't hit the dipstick. (BTW- the customer didn't even want to change the oil at this point...'I lease it, I don't care if it blows up'

Thank you too, I respect a person that actually reads the owners manual!

Guys like this kill me. As if theres some correlation between 1500 mile changes (waste) and a 200,000 mile engine. Guess what? Many people change with Synthetic every 20,000, and get 200,000 miles, so whats your point? And you forgot to mention one thing below regarding all the particles, contamination etc thats accumulated. THE OIL FILTER CATCHES THIS! BMW, Mercedes, and Porcshe now recommend Synthetic motoro oils, with oil changes averaging 12,000 miles to 15,000 miles. BMW has been recommending this interval for years via their Service Indicator lights, probably going back to 1985 and 1986, and I think we can all attest to the number of mid-80's BMW's on the road running strong, blowing no smoke....Back in the 70's before oil was modernized and before engines were efficient, you could change your old oil every 1000 miles, and the engine would STILL need a rebuild after 6 or 7 years. Thats back when odometers didnt even have that 6th digit, because cars rarely made it to 100,000 miles. These days, cars that have been ABUSED make it to 100,000 miles. Get a grip, quit falling for this Jiffy Lube mentality of 3,000 mile oil changes. It only makes them money.

Rick

1992 Maxima, 215,000 miles. Mobil 1 5w-30 every 15,000 miles. Nissan Filter every 10,000 miles.

And the above makes no sense to me...

Are you saying you change the filter every 10,000 miles and the Oil every 15,000 miles? That makes no sense. I see no reason to make seperate oil and filter changes when it makes more sense (at least to me) to change them at the same time. Less mess too...

Origin: The Wild Wild West * 503-623-0185

(who, you may notice, is not actually on aol)

Sounds to me like *somebody's* in the business of selling rebuilt engines...

Horse hockey.

Even in the mid 70s through mid 80s nadir of the American automobile industry (exact years of faceplant and recovery depend on the company), most decently cared-for engines were still chugging along well above 100,000 miles. Some of the tinfoil-and-spit transmissions and overly baroque smog controlled induction systems on American cars during those years were another matter entirely, but we aren't talking about that.

During the 50s and 60s my father's cars

If I remember right, When I first seen Mobil 1 on the market, they used to advertise it as a 10,000 mile oil, But I think they dropped that because of the conflicts with vehicle warranties...

I believe it was actually 25,000 miles, but it was a long time ago.