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Nissan oil

Postby Boosted_162 » Sun Aug 05, 2007 3:59 pm

Well i thought id ask here, hopefully someone knows. Couldnt be bothered signing up to a nissan forum for one question...

Car is a 97 Primera, with a SR18DE and its time for a service. Last time i used Castrol Protec (10W-40) and a repco filter, but it makes a little noise on cold start up. Im going to use a genuine filter this time (i know they do have the anti-drain valve). But im not sure on what oil/thickness to use in it (first nissan). Car has done 45000km, ive owned it since 33000km and its pretty damn clean under the cap for an SR.

Quick search on the net came up with mobil 1 fully synthetic, or castrol (the fully synthetic one). Correct? And which thickness?
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Postby Lloyd » Sun Aug 05, 2007 4:21 pm

They'll all make a bit of noise until you get some oil pressure up. 10W40 or 15W40 should be fine. Try Penzoil 10W40, pretty sure it was a Semi-Synthetic and a reasonable price. Being an SR just make sure you keep the servicing up to date
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Postby Boosted_162 » Sun Aug 05, 2007 4:27 pm

HRT wrote:They'll all make a bit of noise until you get some oil pressure up. 10W40 or 15W40 should be fine. Try Penzoil 10W40, pretty sure it was a Semi-Synthetic and a reasonable price. Being an SR just make sure you keep the servicing up to date


So as long as the noise is only a tap and not a knock its ok? Only happens for about 2 seconds. Cheers ill try that penzoil one this time.

I try to service it every 5000km with filter, along with my GT4. I get worried at times like this when im overdue on it (even if its only a few 100 km!)
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Postby sergei » Sun Aug 05, 2007 4:40 pm

All SR do that on startup - it just chain rattling.
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Postby Boosted_162 » Sun Aug 05, 2007 4:58 pm

sergei wrote:All SR do that on startup - it just chain rattling.


Ahhh thank god for that...least i can sorta stop worrying about it now.

Cheers Sergei and HRT :)
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Postby AceSniper » Sun Aug 05, 2007 6:05 pm

still wouldnt touch a repco filter, only ever used one and it must of had a shit valve? dono but start up oil light would stay on an sounded nasty
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Postby Cahuna » Sun Aug 05, 2007 6:41 pm

I always used to run Penzoil synthetic (from memory, 15W40) in the Sentra and that was mint.I also used Fuchs (which was good) and Mobil 1 (which it seemed to burn). These days I just run Magnatec as it is cheaper than synthetic and half of it leaks out anyway, but then again the car is just about to click over 318,000km... I also get the rattle on start-up (probably/hopefully the timing chain), it is usually more prevalent as the car nears its service interval. I've always used the Nissan oil filters, at $20 or so each it isn't worth skimping on.

Being a little more scientific about things however, the Sentra owners manual has the following info (for the SR20, SR18 should be the same):
* For cold and warm areas: 10W-30 is preferable for ambient temperaturs above -20 degrees celcius
* For hot areas: 20W-40 and 20W-50 are suitable
And the accompanying diagram indicates that for NZ conditions anything between 10W-30 and 15W-50 will be fine
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Postby Boosted_162 » Sun Aug 05, 2007 7:02 pm

Yeah, im starting to go away from their filters now, will get a genuine one for this, and run a TRD one on the 3SGTE. Cos now you mention it my oil light does flicker for a second or two.

Id be annoyed if mine wasnt just timing chain, cos it has such low k's! But by the sounds of it thats all it is. Ill try a 10-30 semi/full synthetic and see if it quietens a bit.
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Postby gepsk8 » Sun Aug 05, 2007 7:11 pm

my 2 cens
sr18/20 are motor with should be serviced regulaly, every 4/5000k's as the heads are got small oil drains which block up with gunk in shit very easierly.
slowing down oil flow to sump, etc, have seen few broken cam shafts, and hydraulicing regularly(crank shit out on car until oil pressure is high enough for valves.)
only fix is remove head clean, put back together, may make oil drains bigger.
try flush with next oil change. try servicing every 5000ks.
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Postby Boosted_162 » Sun Aug 05, 2007 7:19 pm

gepsk8 wrote:my 2 cens
sr18/20 are motor with should be serviced regulaly, every 4/5000k's as the heads are got small oil drains which block up with gunk in sh*t very easierly.
slowing down oil flow to sump, etc, have seen few broken cam shafts, and hydraulicing regularly(crank sh*t out on car until oil pressure is high enough for valves.)
only fix is remove head clean, put back together, may make oil drains bigger.
try flush with next oil change. try servicing every 5000ks.


I do service mine every 5000kms, always do filter at same time. Luckily my car is at the point before it happens, because even if it had never been service before i got it, its only done a max of 30000km. Altho it looks like its been done, had a sticker saying air filter was replaced, so oil would have been done. And i checked under the cap before buying it, and theres absolutely no gunk whatsoever.
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Postby gepsk8 » Sun Aug 05, 2007 8:25 pm

im guessing it japan import? which have probably been sitting in traffic for hours, i would do flush and keep up ur regular servies.
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Postby Lloyd » Sun Aug 05, 2007 8:29 pm

Its not so much drain from the head that blocks up, there are rails that run across the top of each camshaft with holes in then that allow oil to lubricate the cam lobes. With people not servicing them they tend to clog up and the cam lobes run dry and basically start eating themselves. Local Nissan wrecker here has SR cams, rails etc already packed up and ready to sell for exactly this situation.

The chain rattle can sometimes be fixed by fitting an aftermarket chain tensioner. It has finer teeth on the ratchet bit that pops out to pretension the chain until oil pressure comes up. Wouldn't worry about it though, damn near every one of them rattles on start up anyway
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Postby sergei » Mon Aug 06, 2007 12:09 am

Let me clarify - if it is more random rattle (like bolts in a tin can) then it is chain, if it is more "tack-tack-tack" noise it would be cams.
Best way to tell open the oil cap and look inside with a small torch, if you see any dark brown plastic like build-up inside then you have a typical no service jap import. I've seen these fail even at 30000kms.
Your engine at its kms should be light brown inside, with clean metal clearly visible through oil, if it is clean inside then you should not worry - just service it regularly and it will last you almost forever (even up to 500000kms).
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Postby Simon K » Mon Aug 06, 2007 9:01 pm

My SR16 has just ticked over 218K(bought at 55K) using Fuchs 10w30 synthetic and it's been sweet. I do get a brief clatter at startup but once chain tension is reached it's all gravy :wink:

Good oil changed regularly FTW(I do 10K service routine)
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