I do want to spend more. I never use cruise control in my car until few miles WAY WAY down the road, like 5,000 or 8,000 miles, Yes i go to that lenghts so i dont mess with the engine.

In my 350z i used Royal Purple Religiously, now with the ester crap i planned on using it until i was sure i wanted to continue to use Royal Purple.

No where in my plans did formula shell come in. See what i mean? That was never part of my plan. Im the type of guy that i want it the way i WANT IT, and dont mess with that. Obviously i dont want the moon to fit in the palm of my hand but i keep my wants realistic.

Adding this, guess what i only use chevron also, Costs more. The cheap crap gas is allways right near a chevron too, but i dont faulter.

Well said. I'm sure the manual recommends using only nissan brand coolant, but does that mean if you use another equivalent brand that your radiator will corrode? Most likely not.

Using synthetic oil is considered to be better for engines because of high grade of purity for its chemical make up. Think of it this way, not all oil molecules are made equal. In you typical brand of oil, there are variations in the chemical make up of the oil. They have the same chemical formula but not the same properties, also known as isomers. As an oil, it must contain a certain percentage of specifically oriented oil molecules in order to pass quality. Synthetic oil is chemically altered to eliminate isomers and have a higher chemical purity. Isomer oil molecules affect your engine in that their chemical properties such as a reduced heat capacity before breaking down. Synthetic oil is thought to be superior because of it higher chemical purity. The addition of esters is merely a stabilizing compound which is found in many full synthetic brands.

The key to oil in the engine is providing it with a specified oil by the manufacturer and staying consistent with its recommended viscosity rating. Not only does the oil lubricate your engine, but also keeps the seals lubricated as well. its okay to go from a lower to higher viscosity such as 5w-30 to 10w-30; however, going from high to low is asking for leaky seals and oil leaks. Just to clarify, the first Xw refers to the viscosity rating at cold temperatures and the later is the viscosity at operating temperatures. As long as you are using the appropriate weight oil and preferable a full synthetic, the engine should theoretically run fine.

I notice that oil type wars are popular on every car forum

That's about right; at least if you want the dealer to do it.

The 3.7 runs best with an ester based synthetic; it's a Penzoil Platinum product and the dealer price is around $12/qt.

As I understand it, there is a service bulletin out regarding this for the 3.7L engine across the board.

Okay my dealer called me back as promised, and after there "research" they reconize there is a difference between Nissan Ester Oil and Formula Shell.

Before they stated we are not sure there is a difference and its pointless for you to come and get it changed due to that.

So im scheduled for the May 4th, to get Nissan Ester oil in. They are offering to pay for it, i am telling them NO i want to pay for it, so far we are on a stand off on who pays for it, but i may have to toss money at them and run out like a fiend hehe.

I think that's great customer service that they actually did check it out instead of dismissing you. Not to mention they offered to correct the situation free of charge. Sounds a lot better than many dealerships I've worked with in the past.

I buy all my nissans from them. There service deparment can get a little picky but in reality they are just trying to do the best job. They are also rated like #1 with the nissan dealer locator, some nissan dealerships have no rated and a few have the big #1 symbol, this is one of those dealers.

I opted for the "economy" warranty package when I bought the car which gives me free maintenance and oil changes every 3750 miles and (insert number) inspection checks and brake adjustments, etc... I guess I feel I made a good choice then! I think they will do free oil changes/inspections up to 75,000 miles or 5 years, whichever comes first.. doubt i'll even own the car by then.

$120 seems resonable...i guess
cheapest i found the nissan ester oil from a dealer is $11.99+CAtx per quart
so that comes to about $80.00 for 6 quarts
add to that a good quality oil filter(K&N or Mobil) which is about $12.99+CAtax
which is abot $15.00
plus maybe $1.00 for a new gasket

so that adds up to $96.00 an oil change(WOW!!)

so savings of $24.00 plus the satisfaction of knowing you are able to change your own oil and you know it was done right(by you) :D

WTF?

The place where I bought mine charges $18 for an oil change.

Then they're not using the recommended oil that's spelled out in the owner's manual.

I dont think that would matter considering they have to back the warranty anyhow.

I only put about 5 miles per day on in the car anyhow.

Right. I doubt what they're putting in is going to hurt anything (as long as it meets the API requirement). It's just not the recommended stuff is all. Note that I say 'recommended', not 'required'.

Well I'm at my Nissan Dealer getting my 1st oil change @ 1500mi. Sure enough the service rep had no idea about the Nissan Ester. They wanted to put regular oil in the car until I pointed out that the 370z required the Nissan Ester which of course they had no clue of. (Thanks to semtex for the pic which I printed out and put in my back pocket just in case.) I asked them if they sold the Nissan oil and sure enough, a knowledgeable parts rep brings out 5 quarts from the back room. They quoted me about $95 for the complete oil/filter change. Fortunately, my first service is free. ;)

The 370 is now in the back getting the correct oil changed out. Thanks to this forum and all the great input you guys provide.

PS. I also expressed my concern regarding the high oil temp while in traffic (240F). I don't expect them to find anything, but at least they'll have a record of my concern.

Nissan Ester Oil (1qt) 5w30 - $12.99
Motul 300V (2L or 2.1qts) 5w30 - $31.95 (was recommended replacement per the parts rep after the first few oil changes)

OK, please do not make this worse than it is. NO WHERE does ANYTHING say Nissan Ester is required. I'm simply recommended. They also recommend inspecting brakes and hoses every 7,500 miles or whatever. It's a performance car and they know that unsuspecting owners will buy into whatever it is.

At the end of the day, it's probably no different than a quality synthetic. If you want peace of mind, then go with the Nissan Ester, but by no means is it required. They will not void your warranty for not using it, etc.

Our Toyota dealer says they recommend "Toyota Motor Oil" in all Toyota's. It's just conventional oil; the only reason they recommend it is it's more cash in their pockets.