First Oil Change: Mobile 1 or Castrol Syntec?
 

I’ve had my Z for several months and just hit 1,700 miles today. With that being said, it’s not my primary driver. I’m starting to think about doing its first oil change and I need some opinions on what oil I should go with. I don’t race the car. She only comes out on nice days, so there is no need to go totally berserk and use racing oil. But I don’t plan to cheap out either. In the past I have used Mobile 1 and Castrol Syntec. Which one is the better of the two and why? Do I have any other choices?

Any and all help is always appreciated!

Mobil 1 is better but Castrol Syntec EDGE is pretty good i must admit. Even though you said you dont want a performance oil this is probably the best for our motor because it's and Ester base oil (REDLINE)

Red Line Synthetic Oil - Motor Oil - 5W30 Motor Oil

I have a feeling I know where this threads going to end up.....

And where would that be?

its probably going to be full of posts about wtf ester oils are, castrol is a bad oil or somthing, and everyone loves Mobil 1, then there will be a few people who say its amsoil for me. lol....... basically choose what you'd like any of the three are good especially if you dont drive the car that much good luck man im done with this thread bros

Well that was a real help (rolls his eyes).

there are tons of threads here dealing with this subject! And they all went awry. Ask me about Nissan Ester Oil, lmao. :happydance:

Penzoil Plat.

Don't :stirthepot:

yea dont use conventional oil

If you don't use redline oil the seams of the piston bases will split after a while of use (usually 50k miles or so). The group 5 esters are needed to help keep the rings seated so that the VVEL actuators run smoothly and the car stays on the proper timing.

ok, i'm gonna throw my two cents in on this one. first of all, i realize we have similar but different motors. i started changing my oil after the first 3k miles with mobil 1 synthetic 5w30. i usually changed it every 5k afterwards give or take. due to my trip to ZCON this year in the truck i stretched it a little further and ended up changing my oil right at 60k the last time (right after i got back from Tx), again with mobil 1. recently though, my engine has gotten very rough running. on the cold mornings that i've been getting up for work (below 30*) it has made loud (i can only describe it as) "piston slapping" noises. i became very concerned about it so i called the dealership here in anderson, who i've never had dealings with since i just moved down here in december. long story short they said to bring it in and they would drive it to see if they could come to any conclusions based on the sounds it was making. i was due for a oil change tho because i was at 65k miles now. i took it in this past friday evening and they drove it on saturday morning (go figure it'd be warmer that morning that the entire month of dec and jan so far lol). they couldn't hear anything abnormal. i let them go ahead and just use their regular mobil oil (non-synthetic) and let them do the oil change. i immediately noticed a VAST improvement in NVH and start up noises, even when cold.

long story short: just get the oil changed at the dealership, they will have records of it in case anything happens. the oil they use is spec'd out to work with your engine. they didn't charge me much at all.

HKYStormFront:

I was seriously thinking about doing just that. I have never had a dealership do my oil changes in the past, but with this car I may change my plan of attack.

:wtf2:

Voted other: Motul, Redline or Amsoil... best oils out there in my opinion and after having done oil tests (other cars and 350z VQ35HR) it showed better wear characteristics then others.

As you can see here, I use REDLINE. Just my personal choice. You can run ANY motor oil in your 370Z.

Though, I suggest using synthetic motor oil. It's suggested by some to switch to synthetic after 3000 miles (I did it at 3600 miles)

Hey man. The main reason yours got noisy is because of M1 itself. Many cars are having noise issues and cars using oil more after people switched to M1 since they changed their formulation. If you switched to Penzoil Plat, or Castrol Edge, your engine will be way quieter guaranteed. I also used M1 a while back and moved away due to this too.

M1 is not as good as it use to be. PP is better than them. Welcome

lol, see AK, almost everyone on the forum has posted somthing about oil and ester bases.

Everyone:Redline is a recomended because its an esterbase synthetic and overall runs well, Nissan motors are made to compliment all oils,, esterbase is only recomended;)

Regardless of the ester comments, I think this thread has actually helped me to make a decision: I'm going to have the dealership do it. Easier, cleaner, no oil to dispose of and no warranty worries.

PS: What the hell is ester?

If you go to the dealership, make sure to check things before you leave, like everything is screwed on tightly, no leaks, etc.

yes have the dealership do it if you prefer it that way, but bring your own oil that states some where that its an ester base Catagory 4 or 5, (Redline/Amsoil/LucasOil) and they will use the provided oil

Ester oil is synthetic base oil that has been chemically synthesized. Typically ester oils are used in passenger cars. Esters are one of the classes of synthetics Esters are stable molecules, provide good solvency, and provide very good low temperature and high temperature performance in engine oils.
:tup:

i actually heard Uprev's rep at ZCON talking about this. b settle also recommended switching to castrol instead. but since i don't work at a dealership anymore, don't have my tools down here in SC and nowhere (except B's house) to change my own oil, i'm just gonna let the dealership change the oil for now. think my total was $27 and some change.

OP, the dealership should have ester oil on hand as some infiniti's recommend it. it may cost a little more for the oil change but it's probably worth it. having worked as a mechanic at a dealership i can give this advice: 1) become well aquainted with one service writer, i was a writer for a while as well and i had customers that came back and waited in line to talk to me since i remembered their history and treated them well. 2) if you can, meet the mechanic who changes the oil and note whether or not he does a good job. if so, call back to the dealership (to the writer you got to know) and tell them to let the mechanic know you are thankful he took care of your car and make a note that you want him to continue to work on the car over it's service life so he becomes the only one to ever turn a wrench on it. if he does not do a good job (leaves oil dripping from the draining or screws loose/missing from the engine cover) call and let the service writer know so they can make a note that you don't want so-and-so working on your car again. i did this quite frequently with my customers. it helps build a trusting relationship between the writer, mechanic and customer.

The one that's on sale when you go buy it! Me? Mobil 1, 5W30 weight, but all will do the job.

HKYStormFront:

Thanks for the GREAT advice. I'll be sure to follow it.

When I bought my Z the sales manager noticed I wasn't happy about paying $500 ontop of invoice so he comes up to me and says he will make a deal to cover my first 2 oil changes for free. I laughed at him and he said that if I do oil change myself it will void the warranty. Don't have the retard stealership do your oil change. A great reason, I purchased the finishing touch package (I know it was REALLY stupid of me) but I dropped the car off, waited about 6 hours, 2 hours longer than I expected, adn when I got there my car had 28 EXTRA miles on it and when I started it the oil temp was 178F! Just be aware that the people who you leave your car with are like 16 year old kids and if they are older, they act like 16 year old kids.

And to add, I used Mobile 1 on my RSX for 2 years straight. I raced about twice a month on a 1/8 mile track ad I never had any engine noise or problems during that time frame. There was a post somehwere with the 5 groups of oils and there purpose which is a great read but for your needs, anything synthetic synthetic should be fine. Oil is the same as experience businesses. Some people have good experiences, some people have bad experiences; no matter which one they experience, everyone they know will get an ear full about it.

Other - ENEOS 0W 50 FS at 1500 miles
Castrol conventional 5W - 30 at 600 miles

Dealer oil at 1k, now at 4900 and same oil for the second oil change at 5200

Yep, even Pennzoil's Platinum synth' oil is getting good reviews, lately. So, go more by price, than by renoun and publicity. It DOES seem that the 370 needs the ester compound for extended engine life, whereas 350s do just fine with any synthetic oil. I've stuck with Monil 1 since the early-to-mid 90s on all my vehicles (Maxima, XTerra, Pathfinder and, now, the 350Z) with zero issues. Mobil 1 is the most-often promoted oil (i.e. on sale), so I purchase it by the case(s).

:p
I've run my TT on plain old Pennzoil 10W30 for 18 years and still going strong. If you aren't tracking it, regular oil changes with just about any reputable oil will do fine.

With that said, most of what I have read in recent years is that the synthetics are better & that is what I'll probably use in the new one. You can argue all day (and they have here) about which is best & you will not get a consensus except maybe use a synthetic/ester oil.

:wtf2:

I just spoke to the local dealership Service Manager. He said they use Mobil 1 in the Z. He also said they charge around $80 for the change. I'm sure I can do it myself for a lot cheaper, but it's gonna be a pain in the butt with everything you have to take off to get to the oil pan.

It really isn't that bad. It takes a few minutes to get all of the bolts out if you want to remove the entire tray, but you don't have to.

You can access the oil filter and drain plug by removing the four rearmost bolts. You'll see that the rear quarter of the tray is designed to fold down for access.

You obviously have less space to work with, but if you want to do it quickly you can do it this way. Be advised that the tray will not stay folded down on it's own, so you need some cord to run through the bolt holes and tie it down somewhere.

You could probably just remove the whole thing in the time it takes you to tie it down. :tup:

No one has commented on this yet so I just want to make it known that I was being sarcastic. I am not a moron.

maybe not on THAT subject :stirthepot: lol

pretty sure its only 15 bolts and 4 clips took me about 2 minutes to get it off :)

I have to say, given the amount of noob-drivel that we have to sort through on a near daily basis, I take pride in the fact that I am not a moron!

With good ramps it's a really quick job. Maybe 30 minutes including prep and cleanup. If Rachel Ray can do it, so can you!

rofls.

i did mine by jacking up the passenger side of the car using the factory jack. the floor jack and stands were in storage. it was a tight fit, but doable. took maybe an hour, but i had a hard time getting the stock filter off.

Um, I hate rachel ray. Her mindless drivel is like nails on a chalk board to my ears.

Anyway.........................

I don't have ramps, but I do have a good floor jack and a set of jack stands, so I think I'll be good. Any recommendations on when I should do my first change? The car just hit 1,700 miles.