Nissan Ester Oil - good news! see inside
 

So, after getting my first oil changed at Nissan under the Maintenance Program (for 75000 miles all oil changes, tire rotations and fluids topped off are covered, price $1052ish to car), I discovered that they did NOT use the recommended, and very expensive, Nissan Ester Oil.

I went back to the service manager and discussed that the ester oil is recommended in the owners manual and that I absolutely wanted the recommended oil put into the car. He checked the oil change history and confirmed that I had the maintenance program and said, no problem, just remind us whenever you bring the car in for an oil change and we'll use the Ester Oil. They swapped it out in about 35 min and had it right back to me.

I also got a printout confirming the Ester oil (specifically) install under maintenance program/warranty.

Apparently, Nissan Corp did not use to allow dealers to use Ester oil under the maintenance program but recently changed their minds about it. Hence, my 20 oil changes now include the pricy Ester oil at no extra charge, and I still have the tire rotations and fluid maintenance for the life of the car.

:happydance:

SUMMARY: Maintenance program is probably worth it on these cars. I checked under the hood too and they did a great job, no spillage, new filter is on and the fluid level is perfect.

Yes, Ester Oil is covered under the maintenance program for the 370Z, G37, and Maxima as long as you request it. Kind of shady that it works that way, but that is the way it is.

I just recently got my first oil change, with ester oil. It was 80$, I didn't request ester he just automatically put it in.

You might want to ask them how they managed to rotate the tires.

They can rotate side to side as the tires are not unidirectional per my understanding, but not front to back because they are different diameters.

The tires on the Sport Package most certainly are directional. The only way that they could possible rotate them would be to de-mount them and remount them for the other side, which I guarantee didn't happen. Hopefully they didn't tell you they rotated the tires.

AZ Roadster

Wow.....(not in a good way), but if it's worth it to you, then congrats....

Two things. One, they way overcharged you. Mine was like $400 and they threw it in after some haggling and two, I am not so sure Ester based CONVENTIONAL oil is as good as a synthetic to begin with.

I know Nissan recommends it, but I have never seen any tests done to show that it performs all that great and in fact the opposite seems to be the case. I wonder if it isn't more that they have a vested interest.

I put my trust in the folks over at Bob Is The Oil Guy site. They are saying synthetic...and I tend to agree.

I'll probably just bring my own M1 or PP to them when they do the change unless they have it there at a reasonable cost.

BTW, here are a few links talking about Nissan Ester oil over at BITOG:
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums...Number=1905308
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums...Number=1850328
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums...Number=1902356
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums...Number=1848105

Pay particular attention to the last two. This oil doesn't seem to be doing all that great of a job as far as engine protection goes. In short, I would not recommend this oil if your goal is engine longevity. It MAY do what they designed it to do...increase fuel mileage and lower emissions though.

good post, darrinps! +rep

If you look at the Bridgestones, you'll actually see that they are NOT directional. You can swap left and right, just not front and rear. The confusion is that they ARE asymmetrical meaning the tire has to be mounted on the rim with the correct side 'out'. Once an asymmetric tire is correctly mounted on the rim, it doesn't matter which side of the car you put it on.

Ester oil is just a gimmick. Absolutely no need for it.

Are you sure about this? You are correct the tire has to be mounted on the rim with the correct side 'out'. However when I took my Z (touring / sport) in to Discount Tires (who I consider to be top notch in their business niche) to rotate them (rear to rear; front to front) they said the tires should not be swapped to the other side because the tread pattern for channeling water becomes reversed which affects the tire handling on water surfaces.

Though I have switched from Ester to Full Synth I don't believe that the Ester is just a gimmick.

Ester oil has certain molecular characteristics absent in mineral and synth oils that:

1. Stays bonded better to the engine internals when the engine is started in very cold temperatures, paerticularlly the winter weather.

2. Maintains exacting tolerances between parts to a greater degree.

Great information

I searched all over BITOG when I was deciding if I should go with the ester.

To make a long story short I did not. I have Agip full synthetic in my Z. And my gf is running mobil 1 in her G37. Car runs much better than it did with the oil from the factory. Couldn't be happier!

It's not a gimmick. I know because since they swapped it out, the engine is much quieter, especially the valvetrain. Cold starts have no more chatter noise from the valvetrain that used to be there.

I'm pretty sure that even if Ester oil is not the most advanced stuff out there, Nissan would not have produced it if it did not do anything and wore your engine out faster.

:iagree: Like.... wtf?

I'm not saying it wears your engine faster/damages it. I'm just saying it's a waste of $ and any perceivable benefits are far outweighed by the cost.

Ok after my first oil change I was a bit shocked at the price and then the dealer told me about the special oil they have to use in the 370.
I use to have a 350 and that was never the case, so I bought a quart of this new and improved oil and had it analized by a friend who researhes oils and greases for the industry.
His words to me were there is nothing in the Nissan oil that is any different from Mobil 1.
Do I still use the NIssan oil yes because I don't want them to tell me I have voided the warranty but I do believe this is just another rip off

They can't void your warranty because you don't use their Ester oil. So don't worry about that. In the user manual it even states that their Ester oil is only "recommended" and not required.

If you can find an arrow that shows a unidirectional rotation, please post it for me to see too. I've looked and the Bridgestone site doesn't list them as directional.

Like I mentioned though, with the Maintenance program its covered for all oil changes to 75k. I might switch off afterwards, but I'm definately not minding that it's not costing me extra.

Regarding the maintenance program price, its up to 25 oil changes I believe (max) by 75k miles, or an oil change every 3k. With tire rotation and the oil change 25 times over 75000 miles, at $1042 total, I'm paying $41.68 each time to get the tires rotated and the Ester oil changed. Even if it only has a minor valvetrain noise benefit, its costing me less than a normal oil change and tire rotation costs together so who cares. Of course you have to add interest normally but I am paying off that portion of the principal this month and then some so it wont matter.

I'll be using the Ester oil, you decide for your car.

See... Esther is a gimmick. It's a waste of $.

Nissan cannot void your warranty if you don't use their voodoo grease.

Any name-brand off-the-shelf oil will be fine if you plan on following the "every 3750 miles" schedule.

Well.... it's your money (and engine... valve train to be specific).

As someone mentioned earlier... I'll be using oil with that spec. (Amsoil to name names).

Good Luck!

"His words to me were there is nothing in the Nissan oil that is any different from Mobil 1."

Your crack(head) oil expert said there is no difference between a synthetic oil and a dino oil?

I use Motul Power Racing 300v, I love it thus far. Even on a cold start the car settles in very fast, its ester based, and for at least the first run with Motul I got a great deal off a forum member. I think I'm going to keep using it, might as well go with the best.

And one other issue - the oil filter. The Nissan dealer is installing a Nissan oil filter, which looks pretty crappy to me (there are other threads here that discuss this). If the OP is going to have the dealer change his oil, he should purchase a high quality filter (Purolator, Wix, NAPA, K&N, etc.) and tell the dealer to install it instead of the Nissan oil filter.

Every time you mention you're getting your tires rotated along with your oil changes, a kitten, somewhere, is dying.

From all of my research, it's yet to be proven that Nissan's retail-packaged Ester oil is not a synthetic oil. The filed patents all say that the additive package is designed for either synthetic or conventional. People are going off a few statements that only hint at the Nissan oil not being synthetic-based.

Until somebody actually analyzes a bottle of the stuff, it's all assumptions.

i thought the stock bridgestones were directional, but there is no rotation arrow. They are indeed assymetric, but from what i can see, they aren't directional.

Mobil analyzed Nissan Ester Oil. Mobil 1 is part or full synthetic.

Ester Oil and Nissan Engines

It says that their "analysis" (AKA document research, phone calls) indicates that it is full or partial synthetic. While this is probably true, the statement from Mobil 1 is too wishy-washy to mean anything.

die oil thread! dyyeee!!!..haha

Valvoline vs. NEO
 

We have 2 2009 370's in our family which we purchased from 2 different dealers. One dealers service department uses NEO exclusively in one 370 while the other uses a Valvoline oil in all their oil changes. The Z using NEO is much quieter at startup while the car running Valvoline ocassionally has a tapping noise at startup and on hard acceleration you ocassionally hear what sounds like ticking between 4-5K rpms. While this is not a controlled study I personally am convinced the NEO is better for the Z. On the next oil change I will convert the Valvoline car to NEO and see if this makes a difference.

When comparing conventional oils, I'm sure this is true, but a true Group IV PAO oil is definitely better for your engine overall than Nissan Ester Oil unless it is also a full synthetic.

In theory, the Nissan oil has a higher affinity at the mollecular level to the DLC coated valve train -- in theory.

Supposedly, this is why Nissan recommends it and why it allegedly keeps the valve train running more smoothly.

However, whether or not that holds true is not well established, nor is it known whether any other similar ester oil (or a non-ester based synthetic) would work just as well.

I picked up the German 0-W30 -- looking forward to seeing how she runs with that.

All good synthetics have additives that are designed to hydrogen or oxygen bond to metal components or the oil itself possesses an affinity for metal surfaces (like Red Line, Motul). I'm honestly not buying the Nissan claims... all good oils are capable of lubricating within a very, very fine film, even on a slick surface. I think what Ester oil may provide is enhanced lubrication of DLC-coated surfaces during startup and possibly shut down right as the valvetrain settles (spring tension).