The Nissan Path

I thought I would give you my oil thoughts and what I use in my R51 V6 Pathfinder. I am sure many of you will not agree with me and have different ideas and that's fine.

For the summer towing season I was looking for a (Stout) stay in grade 5 or 10 W 30 weight oil. In the summer the first number 0,5 or 10 means little since you don't have to worry about cold starting and at operating temp a 0w30 and a 10w30 are the same viscosity (if the brand and type of oil is the same). At first I decided to run Chevron Dello XLE simi synthetic 10w30 diesel oil this oil is real solid under high heat, stress and difficult situations. There is nothing wrong with running a diesel oil in a gas engine but that's a topic for another time.

Let's talk Mobil 1 0w40... M1 European Formula 0w40 is a real high quality oil it starts great in winter since it has a (0) rating and does great in high heat high stress environments. Now before you all go crazy with this oil being a 40 weight and my 4.0 V6 recommending a 30 weight oil let me explain. Without getting to technical M1 Ow40 is on the real low scale of a 40 weight as a matter of fact it's so borderline it's really like a heavy 30 weight oil. Also within a few thousand miles of towing it shears down to a 30 weight but that is one of the advantages of running it instead of a 30 weight oil shearing down to a 20 weight I would much rather a 40 that sheers down to a 30 weight oil. Also I will add this oil has a real solid add pack and a real high starting TBN (active additives) of around 12+ so it's a real stout oil.

I will add that my 4.0 V6 seems to run great on this oil the motor seems quieter and I notice no difference in millage and it is not sluggish at all running the 40 weight oil.

I plan to run this oil hard this summer say 6 to 7,000 miles and then have it tested I will post the results.

I've been using Supertech full synthetic 5W30 in several vehicles for the last decade or so. It was made by Royal-Shell, the makers of Rotella, but, Walmart being Walmart, it's hard to say if it still is. For $17.50 for a 5-quart jug, the price is hard to beat. Most oils sold today that are API certified will do a good job, regardless of whether they are conventional or synthetic. An interesting note, Blackstone Labs, a company that does oil testing, states that their employees all use conventional oil.
I had my oil tested when my 06 Pathy hit 150,000 miles at which point the Supertech oil had 7500 miles on it and a Nissan oil filter was used. The results came back great! As you can see on the report, they mention silicone being a bit on the high side. I checked after I got the results and discovered that the rubber air connector on the air intake had dry rot splits in it, which would explain where dirt got sucked in and likely created those high silicone levels. Here is the test results: