Mobil 1 Synthetic oil for a 1996 Nissan Maxima?

Question

I have a 9 maxima with around 102k miles on it. The previous owner used regular oil at the jiffy lube. However i would like to change the oil myself using mobil 1 Synthetic oil. I hear that it keeps the engine clean and running smoothly.

I just want to know is it okay to change now? Any feedback?

Answer 1

Please keep the oil as it was. Mobil One synthetic has smaller molecules that may leak past engine seals and the motor has come 102 thousand miles on bulk oil just use a good quality Pennzoil or Quaker State petroleum based oil. The most important thing is to change oil every 3 to 4 thousand miles and use Nissan Oil Filters. With the correct weight oil in the owners hand book. In Texas we like to use 10 wt x 40 wt up in Maine they might want to use 5wt x 30 wt.

Answer 2

10w-30 Mobil 1 would be a good choice for oil. It's highly recommended by the guys at maxima.org whether it's full synthetic or not.

Don't buy any c**p about your engine having "quite a bit of wear" that thing has hardly any miles on it seeing as it's a VQ30DE, it and the previous VG30 engine are known to last 200K miles or more before a rebuild and often over 300K. There is no reason not to change aside from price. Which is why my 94 gets regular Mobil 1 which is partially synthetic from what I hear.

Answer 3

It is ok to use synthetic in that. It used to be in the old days you couldn't switch from conventional to synthetic and vise versa. With that many miles I would suggest using 10w 30. You may want to even consider a synthetic blend since synthetic is so expensive and you really aren't going to benefit that much.

Answer 4

I wouldn't switch.  Your engine has quite a bit of wear.  Synthetic oil is thinner than regular oil, and will be more likely to get by the rings, causing your older engine to burn oil.  Just change it regularly with a good regular oil.

The switch to synthetic should be made between 10k and 40k miles, IMO.