Nissan Ester Oil is part or full synthetic
 

I hate to throw another log into the fire. Someone asked in Mobil 1 FAQ if Nissan Ester Oil was synthetic oil. Mobil did a analysis and determined Nissan Ester Oil was "part or full synthetic oil". Has anyone sent a Nissan Ester Oil to Blackstone yet?


Question:
Ester Oil and Nissan Engines
I've just purchased a Nissan 2009 370Z, which has a 3.7 liter engine that produces 332 HP @ 7500 RPM's, and has a compression ratio of 11 to 1. I've been advised by the Service Manager at Cronic Nissan to run Ester Oil in the engine rather than a good grade of oil, like a 5W-30W. He said that Nissan recommends it. Well, I've researched everything I can find regarding the use of Ester Oil in my Nissan 2009 370Z, and I've been unable to find anything that alludes to the use of Ester Oil in the 370Z engine! What's up with the Ester Oil thing? The only use for Ester Oil that I'm familiar with is for air conditioner compressors and other types of compressors!
-- Larry Young, Tyrone, GA

Answer:
We have not been able to get much information on the Nissan Ester Oil but our analysis indicates that it is part or full synthetic oil. Many synthetic oils, including Mobil 1, contain a variety of synthetic fluids, and usually this includes esters. We would recommend Mobil 1 5W-30 or Mobil 1 Extended Performance 5W-30 for these applications.

Ester Oil and Nissan Engines

Ask Mobil 1 Archive - Nissan

I'll post my Blackstone analysis when I get it back. It'll show me how well Nissan Ester did in my engine.

Everytime I get my oil change done, Nissan always tells me it is a full synthetic, but they could just be BS'ing me too :ugh2:

as long as you follow the Nissan recommended OCI for your driving style, you'll be fine using the Ester oil..the general consensus seems to be thats it a mineral base with Ester added..semi-synthetic oil..it'll work fine.

imo its not worth $10 a qt...especially when i change my oil at 5k intervals..seems like money down the drain if you ask me..and this goes for ALL expensive synthetics..I'll stick to my gallon jug of mobil 1 from walmart..haha.

Mobil 1 is probably a good choice plus it contains ester. Make sure the specific Mobil 1 formula you use use is a ILSAC GF-4 product. Not all Mobil 1 formulas are.

Motor Oil for a Nissan 370Z

Lots of bashing on Mobil 1 over the years but its not a bad oil imo...ive been running it for years with good results...PAO base stock with Ester..thats good enough for me.

Yes -- please do. Over at BITOG, a few UOA's suggested high iron wear... :ugh:

Oh, how many miles on your motor -- are all the break-in wear particles flushed out?

I'll say exactly what I said in the other thread where this was posted:

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.

And besides, this comment is coming from a company that markets partially synthetic Group III-based oil as "Fully Synthetic." We can thank the US Government and their infinite wisdom for allowing that nonsense... ugh.

BTW, this is old info, and was long since disregarded as conjecture on Mobil's behalf on BITOG.

You'll usually see elevated iron wear for several thousand miles on a new engine. Eventually (think 10k+ miles) it stabilizes. This doesn't mean the engine is not effectively broken in, of course.

These oil threads come in waves every few months. Have you guys searched all the old threads to avoid reinventing the wheel for 9th time?

Oil debates are never-ending, but I've read all there is to read on the Ester Oil and there is still no solid conclusion on A.) its formulation/composition B.) its overall wear protection adequacy and C.) its specifications relevant to high load/high performance conditions (HTHS, viscosities, etc.).

It's Nissan's 'special sauce'.

After all the discussion that's been had, I'd suffice to say that NEO is just not worth the price. If it was $7-8/qt, I might consider using it still. For $10/qt...well, Nissan can keep it.

The thing that makes me laugh the most though: When the Z came out, the Nissan techs were putting Valvoline in the cars and everyone had to twist the dealerships' arms to get them to fill with NEO. Now, Nissan discourages using anything but NEO. If NEO was so important, the manual would mandate its use and all the new Zs would come with a huge sticker on the hood saying "Warning, ONLY use Nissan Ester Oil".

Hmmm...coulda' sworn from the info in the past bunch of threads on this topic that the Nissan ester oil was at best a partial synthetic... Sure wish Nissan would end the debate and tell their consumers exactly what it is they're getting when they buy the Nissan ester oil.

That link to the Mobil website was a question I submitted a year ago - didnt know it took them that long to make it to the FAQ list.

I was pretty sure it wasn't a synthetic. Weird how Nissan recommends an oil change at every 3750 even if it really is a synthetic.

Nissan also recommends oil changes at 7500 mile intervals. A close read of the differences between schedule 1 and schedule 2 maintenance intervals should be in order to understand whether or not more frequent oil changes are required.

This is true. If you want to save money, go with the 7500 interval anyway. But not with the Nissan magic oil, only with a known-good synthetic.

Dino is fine also.

Yeah, if you want to push the envelope... :ugh2: I hate to know what TBN looks like on a sample of regular old Pennzoil after 7500 miles on a 332 bhp 3.7 high-strung V6.

From the Z service manual:

"FOR NORTH AMERICA : Engine Oil Recommendation:
NISSAN recommends the use of an energy conserving oil in order to improve fuel economy.
Select only engine oils that meet the American Petroleum Institute (API) certification and International Lubricant
Standardization and Approval Committee (ILSAC) certification and SAE viscosity standard. These oils
have the API certification mark on the front of the container. Oils which do not have the specified quality label
should not be used as they could cause engine damage."

I highly doubt Nissan engineers would recommend a schedule 2 maintenance interval that would push the envelope under normal driving using dino oil.

Sure they would. You'll long be out of warranty before the accelerated wear on your engine starts to matter.

It's just dumb to run cheap dino oil on a sports car anyway - try to argue that all you want, I doubt you'll have anybody agree with you.

I'll be sure to switch to Wal-Mart brand conventional next oil change and run it for 7500 miles. After all, Nissan says it should be OK.

If memory serves the 7.5 interval is only for folks who do 99% highway driving.

Everyone else is recommended to change at 3750. Notwithstanding what one's own UOA data might specifcally suggest, that OCI is probably fine with either dino or synthetic for most people.

Really? I didn't specify the oil for the Z so there's no argument from me. However, you should contact the Nissan engineers and let them know their specs are incorrect or at least that dino oil should not be used on a sports car.

Schedule 2 is far from 99% highway driving. In fact, it's probably what most non daily drivers should be considering and following if not tracking the car.

Engine warranty is 60K miles, there is a reason why most banks wont give you loans on cars over 70K miles.....

Seeing how easily this oil shears out of grade to a 20 weight within the first 3K miles on various Blackstone UOAs, I'm not surprised that Nissan wouldn't recommend OCIs longer than 3750 mi. Personally, I wouldn't push this oil past 3K miles unless I was doing only low-speed driving where oil temps never got above 220 deg F.

Seeing how high the flashpoint is, about 230 deg C, I would suspect that the base stock oil is probably a PAO with very little, if any, conventional oil in it.

this one has got to be a record haha, 8.5 yrs bump

Most of the Blackstone UOAs I've seen on this oil in a VQ37VHR engine look okay at the 3K to 4K mile mark, except for a consistent hot viscosity breakdown from a midline 30 weight to an upper 20 weight. I'm running NEO in my Z but will not push it past the 3K mark if I'm planning on doing any kind of spirited driving.
I do believe Nissan's claim that this particular oil reduces engine friction significantly, as I get 32 to 33 mpg in 6th gear at about 60mph on a level highway. My combined highway/city mileage is about 18mpg - I often late shift and run at higher revs than necessary. My good highway mileage was a surprise to me as I was not expecting highway mileage numbers that good in this car, a Prius it is not.

So Mobil 1 recommends using Mobil 1 oil... interesting.
By saying it's "part or full synthetic", I think that they are trying to suggest that Nissan's oil might not be full synthetic, even if they know it really is. "full synthetic" falls into the category of "part OR full synthetic." I have no idea whether or not Nissan's oil is full synthetic. I don't understand how a company like Mobil 1 can't determine that. Their "analysis" smells like BS to me.

According to the Nissan dealer I used to buy my NEO from, it is not a full synthetic oil. It is simply a dino-based oil with a certain percentage of ester oil and other secret additives. It was designed to mainly quiet down the VVEL in our cars so people would stop going to the dealer to complain about engine noise. Logic dictates that if it was truly a full synthetic oil, it would state so on the bottle. The only reason Nissan kept it off the bottle is because it legally cannot claim it is synthetic when it is not.

Nissan Ester is actually formulated by Motul

There are a huge number of oil threads here - all of which are full of probably well-meaning but ultimately un or partly informed "expertise".

I’ve been hearing this for a while but could never find any proof. Neither Nissan or Motul will confirm it. Doesn’t explain why NISSAN would leave the “100% synthetic” designation off the bottles though.



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As for Nissan I don’t see why they are recommending going 3750+ on OCI’s on anything more than normal conditions when the oil analysis I have seen are showing not going past 3K miles is a good idea using NEO regardless of being synthetic or dino based.

Here's what's on the Red Line container.