Hi,

I was just wondering about the oil changes. Here is my scenario:

1) Purchased car Oct 2008
2) Schedule 1 Maintenance with filter and ester oil change: June 20th 2009 Miles 2,882
3) Current Miles: 5,000 1 year and 1 month later...

What are my options?

Should I...

1) Perform Schedule 2 7,500miles or 6 months but only replace engine oil and request they don't change filter or rotate the tire until I'm at 7,500? Which will probably be next year....

Can I also switch from ester to normal dealership oil?

Will they void my warranty since the oil change isn't every 6 months even though my miles are so low? ie since I have the car for 2 years now I technically should have had 4 oil changes but only 1 so far..

The service adviser also told me once you switch to ester you can't go back to normal oil..

Any mainteance strategy or advice would be greatly appreciated. I drive about 2500 miles per year and usually spirited city driving

 

I would get a regular oil and filter change, plus have the tires rotated, since you do mostly city driving.
Your SA is feeding you BS about not being able to switch oils, after you put in Ester type oil. Ask him to show you that statement in writing.

It is possible that they could deny warranty repairs if your engine were to fail and you haven't changed the oil according to the service schedule, BUT how many engine failures have you read about on the G forums.
I haven't read of any.
Your chances of having an engine failure are pretty slim, unless you are really abusing the engine.

 

Thanks for the feedback,

Moving forward should I keep changing the oil/filter every 6 months if I'm only doing <1300miles per year?

 

Personally I wouldn't. I always go by mileage and not time. Although now I drive more like 12-15K a year so that doesn't matter much.

But I wouldn't go more than a year without changing the oil. I'd probably also want to use a better oil for that kind of time period. Not necessarily the ultra-expensive ester oil (which is overpriced and not really that great), but some synthetic brand in the middle. But maybe that's not even necessary, just erring slightly on the side of caution there.

As movinon said before they can only void your warranty if you have a failure due to some lubrication problem. But if you are changing the oil in less than 3750 miles (I don't think the number of months really means much) then this isn't going to happen.

And yes, that's total BS about not being able to switch from ester to regular oil. My feeling is these guys all spread these rumors around among themselves while on the job and actually believe all of them. If any of them bothered to do a little research they'd know they were just feeding you a line.

You can switch from dino to synthetic to ester and back at every oil change if you want.

 

^ I disagree.

Maintenance schedules have both mileage and time requirements to maintain warranty coverage. Even though you may not need an oil change after 6 months the Infiniti schedule calls for it and due to the complexity of this engine the cost of the oil change is worth it.

While there are manufacturers that allow for up to 12 months between oil changes under theur service schedules Infiniti isn't one of them. Again this is more of a question of warranty coverage. Once the warranty is you can probably get by with a top quality synthetic every 12 months but that's not what dealers use.

 

I see, thanks I will book my appointment asap then... sigh

 

I tend to go by a combo of mileage and time, although I wouldnt go longer than a year. Im on schedule 2 and I put about 8k miles a year on my car, so I go roughly every 6 months, which is 4000-5000 miles.

If you go longer than a year, I would pay for a UOA. Therefore, if there are any problems with your engine that the dealer tries to pin on your infrequent changes, you can show them the UOA's in your defense.


A dealer will not just VOID your warranty for no reason because you go over their maintenance schedules. They need to prove that what you did DIRECTLY caused the failure of a part to deny warranty coverage, and the ENTIRE warranty wont be denied, just your claim on a particular part.

For example, say your radio fails. The dealer wont void your warranty claim because you went 1 year between oil changed.

And say you have engine failure and went a year between oil changes. The dealer might deny your warranty claim on the engine, but they wont void the warranty on your entire car. Say your radio goes bad a week later, they will still fix it under warranty.

 

No one is saying the entire car's warranty will be void - this topic is clearly discussing powertrain maintenance. Failing to follow the minimum recommended service schedule for your engine will lead to problems getting warranty support should you have problems related to lubrication. This is nothing new and all manufacturers have this position.

This is a complex engine - the VVEL system requires proper lubrication and most non-synthetic oils will break down over time. If you prefer to take the chance then fine, but a $50 dollar oil change every 6 months is not an unreasonable maintenance schedule requirement.

From the Warranty Information Booklet:

MAINTENANCE AND RECORDS

As a condition of this warranty, you are responsible
for properly using, maintaining and caring for your
vehicle as outlined in your Owner’s Manual, and of
maintaining copies of all maintenance records &
receipts for review by Nissan. Failure to do so is

likely to result in the denial of warranty.

 

Right, but you aren't going to have lubrication problems by not changing the oil when you only drove 1300 miles.

 

I wanted to add a little more because I know some people read threads and think "OMG if I do 3800 miles instead of my 3750 the dealer will tear up my entire warranty"... which isnt true.

And I agree with you that an oil change every 6 months really isnt that big of a deal.

But here were a few statements that people could take the wrong way:

This implies that if you go beyond your mileage or time requirements, that you warranty will be void, which isnt the case.

I wanted to point out that someone would need a failure and the dealer would need to be able to prove that the failure was a direct result of people not following the correct maintenance schedule.

And I wanted to also add that just because you have denial of a warranty claim for an engine part, doesnt mean the rest of your car's warranty is ripped up. Its still valid for other parts of the car.

I wasnt disagreeing with you, just adding additional info to your post.

 

cool, I also got the same information from reading the manual, I just wanted to see how strict their policy is and learn from others real world experience.

Cheers

 

Right. They can say what they want in the manual, but their actual policies can't usurp the law.

 

You're missing the point about time vs. mileage. Time does play a factor, maybe not in viscosity breakdown but in chemical changes. Those changes can cause the oil to etch or otherwise impact intenal parts/seals/etc. That's why when you have a car primarily as a summer car and not driven in the winter it's recommended that you perform the oil change before storing it vs. in the Spring when you take it out. The oil, even with 1800 miles on it, is worse for the engine over the winter just sitting there than having fresh oil.

So while time is not as critical as mileage in the breakdown of the oil it does play a role in the maintenance of the engine.

 

OK, gotcha there. But it seems like if time is a factor the length of time requirement should then be fairly consistent across car models and more dependent on the type or brand of oil used.

 

^ i agree to a point with skymg37x.

I think it depends on how the car is driven and how long the oil is sitting in the car.

The OP said he puts 2400 miles a year on his car. Which is 200 miles every month, or 50 miles a week. If he is indeed driving ~50 miles a week, or even ~200 per month, then I highly doubt you are going to see any ill effects going a year between oil changes. Especially if you are using at least a semi-synthetic oil.

However, if he is putting all his miles on the car in the summer and letting the car sit for 4+ months during the winter time, then you might have an argument.

But while under warranty, I agree with your earlier post that just doing an oil change every 6 months isnt that big of a deal. It gives the dealership no grounds to stand on incase there ever is a problem with the car.

However once you are out of warranty, if you use a group 3 or 4 synthetic oil in your car, as long as the car isnt sitting idle for 4 months during the year, I dont think you would have any problems going a year between oil changes.