Oil Grade

I used the rolleyes as I know this has been asked a million times before, but what grade oil would you recommend for these cold mornings to put in my 1995 M Plate K11 (78,000 miles)?

I normallly buy Castrol brand btw.

cheers.
 

Craig

Unofficial Member (Gold)
Club Member
10w40 is thinner at higer temperature. This is what the Haynes/Niassan reccommend IIRC
 
S

Slim

Guest
yes, its a good isea to flush the old oil, pop to halfords or your local factors and get a can of Wynn's flush, pour it in and let it tick over for 1/2 hour.

I'd go to your local big discount places and get some good 10/40 semi synthetic, round me theres places that do it for about £9. Alternitavly, get some halfords 10/40 semi synthetic in, in the green tub.

SOmetimes, halfords have their 5/40 half price, and thats very good oil.

Just rerember one thing - the oil IS the engine. The better you put in, the better the engine will last
 

Retepetsir

King of Subsonic
RE: RE: Oil Grade

Craig said:
10w40 is thinner at higer temperature. This is what the Haynes/Niassan reccommend IIRC

Isnt it at lower temperature? Then when its warmed up, it has the same viscosity rating as the other oils?

Or have I got that the wrong way round? :blush:
 
N

Nismo HK11

Guest
I think Nissan are generally flexible when it comes to oil grades for the cg13de, they provide a graph of various grades depending on temperature. But I have read in some Nissan manuals that 10w30 is recommended for the CG13DE or 5w30 as an alternative for cold climates. As long as an oil is API SL rated you can't go wrong. Put in as thin an oil as you can, you get more power, mpg and better flow on startup, better than pumping thick honey on a cold morning especially with chain driven engines. Using thick oil and cheap oil filters will leave the engine sounding like a tractor before pressure builds up.

If the engine has done a load of miles don't bung in a whole can of wynns flush it is a strong solvent which will loosen huge lumps of crud clogging the oilways up. Better method is fill engine with cheap oil and new oil filter add a quarter of the can of flush and drive around for 300-400 miles then drain out, you will be surprised how much gunk wil be shifted over a longer period rather. When you put the new oil in it will be a lot cleaner for longer.
 
blimey nismo hk11, never thought of doing that.

You know you say "Put in as thin an oil as you can, you get more power, mpg and better flow on startup", well is 10w40 thinner than 15w40 for e.g? I have no idea whether the oil filters i use are cheap or not :( They cost me £6 from my local motor store and they have some kind of brand but I forget which one :S

I will only put a little of the wynns flush in then? that sound ok?
 
N

Nismo HK11

Guest
Use wynnes when engine is hot, yes using it in smaller amounts over over a few oil changes will work better, remember the micra only has around 3 litres of oil, the wynns flush can treat cars with 5-6 litres of oil. I have taken off cam covers before and after 15 min treatment of wynns in a corolla and it didn't clean up the sludge (this engine very heavily sludged) but to be more effective in 15 minutes it would need to be so stong it would dissolve the oil seals. Don't expect miracles but as a oil change service cleanup it is fine.

Approx thinest oil first:
0w20
5w20
0w30
5w30
0w40 - 10w30 similar depending on manufacturer
5w40
10w40
15w40

10w40 is slightly thinner than 15w40, don't use 15w40 unless the car has done way over 100,000 miles and has probelms. 15w40 type oil are usually used in old minis metros and other old fashioned cars. On a sound modern Nissan 16v engine runs best on 30 weight oil, but in this country 10w40 is more available, 5w30 is common now cos it's used a lot in ford zetecs.

On your next oil change get one of these filters. All motor factors and parts stores deal with Blueprint parts, these are for japanese imports and really good quality. Ask for a ADN12110 they are usually around £5-6 but are way better than champion and nissan filters. When I put a Nissan filter it was made in spain and seemed poor, i noticed a lslight tick on startup for 1-2 seconds, with the Blueprint filter it had gone it's cos of the orange silicone anti drain valve this is essential on our CG chain driven engines.

bpfilter1.JPG

bpfilter2.JPG

bpfilter3.JPG
 
N

Nismo HK11

Guest
RE: RE: RE: Oil Grade

Retepetsir said:
Craig said:
10w40 is thinner at higer temperature. This is what the Haynes/Niassan reccommend IIRC

Isnt it at lower temperature? Then when its warmed up, it has the same viscosity rating as the other oils?

Or have I got that the wrong way round? :blush:

Yes that's right first number denotes the viscosity at low temps and 2nd is for operating temp. When they are both up to temp the 10w40 will be slightly thinner (still within same grade). At 0 degrees the 10w40 will be a lot thinner than 15w40.
 
Cheers! Again, more quality posting from Nismo HK11, I'm going for 10w40 synthetic and a Castrol brand if I can find it of that spec.

Not sure where I can get the Blueprint filter from, I think the one I've been buying is Champion actually :S
 

Retepetsir

King of Subsonic
I've just read in my K11 Haynes manual.......

Engine Oil: Multigrade Engine Oil, Viscosity SAE 15W/40, to API SG or SH

So they recommend 15W/40....
 
N

Nismo HK11

Guest
As mentioned on cisco's site too Haynes Manuals are sponsored by Duckhams and can often recommend the "wrong" oils - This is due them recommending only oils that are in Duckhams range.
They recommend to use Dexron IIE or II for the CVT gearbox, i'm surprised they got away with printing that as CVT fluid has totally different properties. Duckhams only offering Dexron type automatic fluid is the cause of this. They have also the "far from ideal" recommendations for Mazda and Honda oils.
 

SplanK

Site Supporter
i would personaly NOT flush the oil system unless you have done it from day 1...

bits of dirt have clogged up in places here and there which can be stopping oil from leaking... run the flush through and u dislodge this stuff - causing it to float around ur engine which could block oil galleries...

best bet is to drain oil and fill it with cheap stuff.... pref the same grade as what you are about to put in for your decent oil... go and give your car a GOOD 30-40 mile thrash, drain oil, remove and replace filter and stick decent stuff in...

im running my primera 1.6 on 0w40 mobil1 fully synth stuff with a nissan filter... nissan filters also encorporate the anti-drain back valve

generaly - as long as you keep on top of the oil changes, and its roughly around the right stuff (most of the SR20 guys on NPOC are running 10w40. 0w40...), i would go for fully synth cos it "lasts" longer and also protects the engine better by properly clinging to the engine when switched off then you cant go far wrong
 
Cheers Splank, what I still don't understand is the grade and the sythetic business... I hear that 5w40 could be the best, but also I hear 10w40 being mentioned. Can you get fully synthetic and part synthetic oil of both of these grades? Also what is the difference between fully synth and part synth?

I have a feeling i'm going to have to give it a good drain maybe in the way you suggest Splank, as I used 10w40 Mineral Castrol last time under recomendation from a friend :|

edit : "best bet is to drain oil and fill it with cheap stuff...."

Do you mean drain *with* drainer aid stuff then or without?
 
N

Nismo HK11

Guest
In this application 5w40 would be better than 10w40. Most 10w40's here are non synthetic, I have only seen fully synth 10w40 in USA.
0w40 and 5w40 oils will tend be fully synthetic. They flow better at low temps. Mobil 0w40 is a good oil.
The best readily available oil in the UK for extended drains is Castrol SLX 0w30, been nicknamed "GC" German Castrol in the USA as people have carried out used oil analysis and the wear is nearly non existant - better war numbers than Mobil1 and Amsoil. Works great in Nissan Sentra GA16DE engines in USA, a bigger brother of the micra engine.
 
right, for some reason i have a niggling at the back of my head that the lower the first number (i.e. the 5 in 5w40), the riskier it is to use? I don't know why...I think maybe I was told in the past that too thin an oil would hurt my engine, and if I remember correctly 5w40 is thinner than 10w40.

I'll look for a Fully Synthetic good brand (castrol, mobil 1 etc) of 5w40 then?
 

SplanK

Site Supporter
i thionk the lower the first number, the thinner it is when cols (which in winter is what u want really...) the higher the second number - the thcoker it is when warm...

so 0w30 compared to 5w40.... the first one will be thinner when cold and also thinner when hot compared to the second oil...
I think Castrol recommended list say 0w30 for my and micra engines (K11) - see if u can find out what was put in last time and go off that - but ive had 0w30 and 0w40 in my engine with no ill effects... only reason ive gone for 0w40 this time is cos most people on NPOC are using it and it fell within the range in the book
 
Hi all,

Just come back from the shop with this, they didn't have any 5w40, but she said this was the best brand semi synthetic they had :

magnatec.jpg


What do you think? It was £22.50 btw.
 
M

MTB

Guest
Yes m8 thats the good stuff, thats what i put in my car, i wouldent have went to halfords though as they are terribly expensive for most things, i get my castrol for £11.50 from my local cash and carry hehe:].
 
I didn't I went to my local car parts store Cheadle Motor Parts. I took a quick look in motor world to see where would be cheaper for the same oil but they didn't have prices on it or any available staff to ask! :eek:
 

Retepetsir

King of Subsonic
RE: RE: Oil Grade

stokefan said:
Hi all,

Just come back from the shop with this, they didn't have any 5w40, but she said this was the best brand semi synthetic they had :

magnatec.jpg


What do you think? It was £22.50 btw.

That's the stuff I got last time - and will do so again this time :)

I have a feeling it may be fully synth too :)

Unlucky having to pay that price, I was in Halfrauds today and those Magnatec containers had "Now only £17.59" written on them :eek:
 

SplanK

Site Supporter
all magnatec is is semi synthectic with additives that make the oil seem like its fully synthetic... all oils should leave some sort of film on the engine when it switches off and drains otherwise there would be MASSIVE engine ware...
 
N

Nismo HK11

Guest
That's a good oil, it's A3 rated by European ACEA so is a "high performance" class oil. CG13's like clean oil, just make sure you change it within 6 months or sooner if mileage is over average.
 
cool guys - seems like I picked a winner :) anyway I changed it today, seems sweet so far yay!!

My uncle was with me and he also told me how to clean my spark plugs from a tiny bit of white deposit that had built up on them!! coool!
 
N

Nismo HK11

Guest
Yeah I need to clean my plugs, do you know the best way? Is there stuff you spray on them?
 
well what I did was get a wire brush and the white carbon deposit comes off pretty easily when you give them a good scrub.

Then I measured the gap to the recommended guidelines and tapped the top of it on a hard surface until the gap was at the recommended distance.
 
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