I have had a 300ZX since 2001 (UK Twin Turbo), now has 142,000 miles on the clock, took it in for service and MOT but at the same time asked garage to look at issues with Turbos, service and MOT fine (I think) but couldn't sort out Turbo problem but they recommended a tuning company that could. Taking the car home I noticed the car now sounds like a sewing machine, always had slightly noisy lifters but now awful. Took car to tuning company and now they and original garage are having an oil argument.

 

Synthetic oil - 10w30 was used for the service but tuning company reckon they should have used semi synthetic, I have looked back on my service records and can see in 2006 synthetic was used - 10w40, later services do not go into sufficient detail. To be honest I am not sure what oil should be used but garage now want to drain it down and send it away for analysis.

 

Have I got a problem or is tuning company getting carried away?

Welcome to the Club! How much oil (quantity) was put in? The 10w-30 is light (the 30 bit) for a 142K mile engine

and could contribute to noisy lifters. I have used Mobil 1 5w-40 and now 0w-40 synthetic for many years in my UK

spec without problem. Others members have used semi synthetic successfully.

 

Info from the FSM:

 

Thanks for the reply and advice - it was a full oil change but I will check how much was used, the tuning company seem to think it could have caused some damage to the engine but I think they may have gone over the top. Hopefully it is OK, my fundamental problem is the lack of boost on the turbos and finding someone local to me who is able to work on a 300ZX, I used the garage to service the car as I noticed initially a couple of Supras on their forecourt and when I approached them they seemed to be OK and have a good reputation. They could not find the fault with the turbos although they confirmed the turbos themselves are fine, so that is why they suggested the tuning company.

Welcome to the club J51 and hope you get sorted. We have an oil trader on the forum if you need more info. https://www.300zx.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?34815-Oil-Advice-and-Recommendations

Hello and welcome.....!

 

As Andrew says above, a "30" grade of oil is going to be too thin for a twin turbo engine; once up to temperature. You'll need a minimum of a "40" grade.....

 

Regarding the semi vs fully synthetic argument, Nissan did specify 10w40 semi originally; so nothing wrong with doing that. Some people have said fully synth is at best an unnecessary extra cost; or at worst, could give rise to leaking seals. Personally, I think that if fully synth had been more widely used in 1990, then Nissan would have specified that instead - so as it is a more advance oil, then why not upgrade?

 

Always use a decent, quality brand - for semi synth, something like Castrol Magnatec 10w40. And for fully synth, Castrol Edge Titanium 5w40, Shell Helix Ultra 5w40... You get the idea - no cheap rubbish... :wink:

Thanks for that, I have contacted the garage who will drain down oil and start again.

As other`s have said above 10w 40 semi synthetic is the way forward and a new genuine Nissan filter too, the engine was designed around easily available oil at the time and fully synthetic is just too thin, of course some owner`s run it and seems ok, it is a long life specification oil that modern cars use so manufactures can boast their model of car has reduced service intervals.

 

Consider oil and filter changes on your zed as money in the bank, max 5k changes and less if used around town a lot, save that expensive failure and change it regularly, this should be a £60 job (approx ) at a garage or £40 ish if you do it yourself.

 

Jeff