Should I change my oil?
 

My 09 has 8,000 miles on it, I had the first oil change last year at around 4,000 miles. I realize the Nissan synthetic oil lasts for 10,000 miles but, the oil in it now is over a year old. What do you guys think?

Year old oil? Change it..

I have 10k miles on mine and already gone through 3 oil changes:
2k: changed factory oil for Nissan Ester Oil
5k: changed Ester oil for Redline Synthetic
10k: redline synthetic again.

I wouldn't trust the Nissan oil for anything close to 10,000 miles, it is not a full synthetic as best that I can determine.

The general consensus is to change your oil at least once a year in low mileage vehicles. If most of your miles are from short trips I would be changing the oil every 3000-5000 miles depending on the oil.

I'm debating on when to change the oil on my new purchase. It's an 09, bought at less than 5K miles (now at 6K) and unfortunately I don't have an oil change history so I'm flying blind at this point. Should I just go in now for a change and what should I put in? Hopefully this post is not thread-jacking but I didn't want to start a new thread.

dirty = change it!

easy

I'd change it.

I'm debating on whether to change it myself or take it in to the nissan dealer or a generic place like Midas.... Thoughts?

Generic places are out of the question.

I've heard horror stories, several on this board, about dealership not using crush washers, or not tightening the drain plug causing oil leaks and even engine failure that led to engine replacement. I'd say do it yourself if you know how to.

For DIY - What about tracking the oil change history? Is it good enough just to have a receipt of the oil you bought or what?

10k on nissan's oil? Not sure if serious.


I wouldn't even run 4k on it.

Changed mine at 2k for Amsoil SS0 0w-30. The oil that was in it did look pretty clean though, so I was happy not to be looking at a bunch of metal particles in there.

Next up i'm going to change the tranny fluid... just something I usually do around 2-3k miles on a new car... even if it's not really needed.

Changed EVERY fluid in my car when I bought it (besides PS, coolant, and brake). Better to start fresh and not wonder.

Good call. I did oil at 2 and 5k, then diff and trans at 6k

Wow... I must be doing overkill. Car has 2500 miles already doing my 2nd oil change this weekend. Car is almost a year old. I change oil 2x a year (amsoil) regardless of mileage.

Time is also a needed reason to change.

The VQ also wears very poorly during the first 5-6K miles, and pretty rough all the way up to 15k or so. I try to change my oil as frequently as I can early on.