I recently bought a Nissan Maxima. The manual says it takes 0-20 oil. I went to a quick lube and the guy was like oil is oil so I was like heck no. I took it to the dealership because that’s where the previous person got it changed at everytime and figured they would know and there was no people to talk to. I got my paperwork back and it says 5 q 202 oil. Wtf is that?

Sounds like a dyslexic mistake typing it into the computer...probably meant to type 020

This. 5 quarts of 0-20.

Typed with dyslexia.

0W20 Is very thin viscosity oil, newer cars tend to use this. I like to switch to 5W20 oil after a 25k miles then i'll switch to 5W30 over 70K

I worked in a shop and we always followed manufacturer recommendations because if you use the wrong oil type as a habit it will eventually have negative effects on your engine (increased residue or parts wear, decreased fuel efficiency, etc.). If you do it once though it's not going to make that much of a difference TBH.

Yeah I’ve been reading up on it. The 0-20 is good in colder weather but if says I can use 5w30 too. I just like to stick with what the manual says. I messed up taking my impala to valvoline and meineke before. Valvoline puts blended crap in your coolant and their oil always burned out of my car. Tried to get a rack put in at meineke and they destroyed my pump, put in a faulty rack and now it leaks oil bad.

If it's leaking, it has oil in it.

That’s my impala and how I looked at it. I’d add a quart every so many miles but it’s spraying oil now so bad that it’s knocking the headlights off and

oil is oil tard

Use what the manual says

And who the fuk takes their car to some lube shop?

When you take your car to a quick lube, u fuked up real bad

I cant even trust a dealer to change my oil I do it myself.

But im also a tradie and have a place to get rid of the used stuff + own a garage full of tools.

0-20 is synthetic oil. Once you go with synthetic you are supposed to use that type for the lifetime of the vehicle. While it will not kill your engine immediately, it will have some type of effect on the engine.

Torn down and rebuilt more Nissan motors than I can count - it’s the valve train. You need the lower viscosity oil to get through the galleries and lubricate the valve stems on startup otherwise the cylinder head chews itself to bits.

This is especially the case for any of the heads that have those pneumatic devices that actuate the valves directly (ie not the rocker setup)

TLDR: use the oil it says in the manual

PS if it starts ticking on cold startup stop driving it and replace the liftersThat’s just the viscosity rating. Could be synthetic, semi-synthetic or mineral



As for which is better, Depends on driving conditions

If you have a high-rpm turbo motor (many Nissans are) then full synthetic no question, for higher shear resistance and high-temp stability

If you live in an area with big temperature variations and your car is parked outside etc I’d go for a semi synthetic