Oil Change
 

Dealer told me that I should change my oil every 3500 or 3 month, is that true? I don't drive my car hard at all, and I usually do it very 5500 miles 4.5 - 5 month. I aslo add that ZMAX stuff. Whach you think

Rtfm

rtfm

LOL Harsh.

Are you referring to the OP or the dealer? It's worse that the dealer doesn't know the right recommended mileage.

And just say no to Zmax. If you want better lube, pony up for synthetic or ester oil. JMHO

f rtfm. I use sunthetic mobil 1. How often do you guys change your oil? Thanks a bunch who replied except the rtfm part ofcourse

As often as you want to. It varies quite a bit from driver to driver since you have to consider city/highway mileage, how long it's been since you've changed your oil regardless of mileage, temperature gradients, and the like. The only thing you'd be hurting by changing too often is your pocket, I guess.

So, are you saying you would rather ask unknown people who post anonymously on web forums than the engineers who designed your engine? If so, could you explain why? I am sorry, but I just don't get relying on people who are wrong more often than they are right instead of the educated and trained people involved with the product since day one.

But, I guess to each their own. If this is easier for you and you like to take the easy way out rather than learn and make an informed decision for yourself, then you have a fool making decisions for you. Also, if you want to know about oil, you might want to check out oil related forums. But, beware, many of the posters are people technically involved with oil.

In one respect, your are right. Why do I even bother to post here? Good luck.

You always want to take advice from stranger with a grain of salt, but remember that Infiniti IS a business. Their best interest is not for the safety of your car/person or the reliability but about profit. They only care marginally enough to keep you safe enough, keep the car reliable enough so that they will have returning buyers. The rest is about profit.


So yes, the best thing to do IS to always challenge everything you read. Just because it's in the manual doesn't mean it's the absolute truth...doing your own research helps you understand why it might be that way, or why you might be able to do it differently.


And don't forget some of the posters themselves might be engineers as well. We're not all foolish strangers.

broooooooooo i wish i was an aerospace engineer at UT Austin :)

Yes, every business opens its doors to make a profit. But, as someone who is currently working on qualifying a foreign automobile manufacturer's cars for sale in the U.S., and as someone who has worked with manufacturers for over 30 years, I can assure you that meeting safety standards is very important for manufacturers. Even if the big reason is that selling 5 star safety rated cars is easier than selling 4 star safety rated cars, manufacturers do care very much upon satisfying all U.S. requirements and having highly safety rated and highly reliably rated (J.D. Powers, Consumer Reports, etc.) cars is very important, not marginally important, to manufacturers.

P.S. I can't say dealers operate on the same levels as their manufacturers. I can only comment on the manufacturers themselves.

Agreed.


I guess my only point was that the manual was written out with a specific level of standard in mind. For example, a person who regularly tracks his or her car would be changing oil much more often, at a lower mileage, than the average driver.

And then for the real cheapskate who could care less about every inkling of performance of his/her car...could just basically not change the oil at all, or at least for a long period of time. I know of some people, including some relatives, who basically almost never changed their oil, but the car should still be running just fine...at least to their standards. It won't be at the most optimum performance level, which is generally what the owner's manual prefers, but some people are willing to just have an appliance to move from point A to B.

There was a lawsuit about that zmax stuff. It eats the bearings in your engine. Probably best to stop using it.

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2001/02/zmax1.shtm

To put it in one word. DO A OIL CHANGE WHEN YOU THINK YOU ARE READY FOR ONE.

best answer out there =).

How is that one word? And what if someone thinks they're ready at 15,000 miles?

The best answer is "do it when the manufacturer says to". Even if it's a shorter interval than it could be, you won't ever have problems.

well if he thinks he is ready at 15,000 than he is ready at 15,000

i do mine every 3500 to 4000 miles.