This Oil Filter is HUGE

[Ekona]

No probs. Yeah, peanuts = cheap, worth getting one anyway as they're universal so no matter what car you have, you'll be fine.

[glrnet]

Did you try it yourself?

[roscopervis]

Just want to say that 3k oil changes are a waste of oil! If the car was a highly stressed turbo engine maybe, but the zed engine isn't. It's not only a false economy, but too many oil changes were shown from analysis of used oil over on sxoc that too many oil changes may strip the linings of pipes. Recently changed low mileage oil had much higher silicon levels than brand new oil which could only come from the engine. 9k miles on a good synthetic oil would be no problem.

 

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[350zedd]

Ahhhh.....have you been looking through the hole??

 

That filter may look small on the outside but is like THE TARDIS inside

 

Millions of little scrotes scrubbing your oil to make it nice and clean for its next trip around your engine

 

If you could climb in through the hole, there'd be enough room to dance around in there!

 

Thats modern technology for yer !!!

[Chromatic]

Did you try it yourself?

 

Noper.. not "yet". I'm bringing it in first thing Tues Morning to this guy.. and if for whatever reason he can't get to it tomorrow.. I'll be grabbing some extensions, breaker bar, and other such to prepare myself to do it myself if the bolts actually break free for me.. Who knows they might actually break free first try for me .. you never know.. it's possible (knock on wood)

 

I did spray the two bolts I could see from the top of the engine (which I assume are the main two bolts that are such a pain to break free) with PB Blaster 2 days ago.. So they at least have some Penetrating oil from PB Blaster thoroughly soaked in.. I'll probably go spray them again in a bit as I didn't even have to jack up the car.. just put an extension on the PB Blaster sprayer and could cover them fairly easily. I have some "liquid wrench" as well.. which is probably the same stuff.. but I will add that in the mix as well.. Giving this guy/mechanic a better shot of them coming free easier than if I didn't put any penetrating product on them.

 

He told me last week he would put me in for "Tuesday" .. and I told him I could only get a ride for Monday but not Tuesday, so I'd have to stand around Tuesday while he did it.. I said I'd help him with it if he wanted.. (an extra set of hands never hurts).. and it helps me keep a good eye on what's being done.

 

All in all it's 12 bolts total,.. with 2 more bolts on the flanges that give additional support from the car underbody to the Cats (the Berk's were designed with additional CNC machined welded on brackets to fit those support brackets as well..) -- So it's really straight forward in what to do.. the time is all on how easy or difficult the forward 6 bolts are to remove. The rear bolts (from Cats to my new exhaust) will come off first time as I just put that on.. brand new hardware etc.

 

If the forward bolts come off pretty easily.. then this is about an hour job .. thus $60.. which is more than fair to me. If they give some trouble it's 2-3 hours.. Probably closer to 2 hours.. $120 which is still fair to me,.. passing 3 hours is where I would become a little irrate with him. As he's been doing custom exhaust work for as long as I've been alive.. So he should know the "Torch trick" to use if the bolts won't break free.. To heat and thus allow the expansion to let the bolt come free.. usually (if done right) rather easily.

 

This car has never seen Salted roads, etc.. So the rust is minimal and just from rain on the roads rusting bolts that aren't stainless .. It's 27k miles now as well, so if there was an 'easier' 2008 350 to work with , this would be it theoretically.. the cat-back certainly leaned that direction.. bolts all came off with zero difficulty.

 

I'm not sure why the manufacturer doesn't use some higher quality finished bolts for this type of stuff that wouldn't rust at all.. I guess they don't care about people removing Exhaust components though.. that's not in their "interests" I suppose thus cheaper bolts = money saved.

[Chromatic]

Just want to say that 3k oil changes are a waste of oil! If the car was a highly stressed turbo engine maybe, but the zed engine isn't. It's not only a false economy, but too many oil changes were shown from analysis of used oil over on sxoc that too many oil changes may strip the linings of pipes. Recently changed low mileage oil had much higher silicon levels than brand new oil which could only come from the engine. 9k miles on a good synthetic oil would be no problem.

 

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Did about an Hour of reading/research on this comment.. and you are right. It is, of course, a highly debated topic whether oil changes actually cause considerable (or any) damage to an engine if done too "frequently".. ie: every 3k miles.

 

But, it is very , very much accepted by those in the know (which , sadly, aren't most people because most people don't know much about mechanics, engines, cars, etc.. and those who know a bit about cars.. even less know about oil HOA's. )..that Oil changes can go MUCH longer than the vast majority of your oil change/service centers and ever dealership recommends with their stickers placed on the window. Which here in the US is 3,000 miles/3months -- UK I'm not sure what those types of places place in Km.. but I imagine it's a similar "problem" where they give much too early change intervals that people follow not knowing any better -- And figuring changing it "too often" = better than not often enough.

 

And.. the latter logic still applies technically. I would say changing oil ever 3,000 miles is better than changing it every 30,000 miles for example.. (More damage would occur at going with 30,000 mile intervals than the too "frequent" 3,000 mile intervals) ..

 

Anyhow.. Here's a decent, non technical read:

http://www.edmunds.com/car-care/stop-changing-your-oil.html

 

And.. I'm glad you brought this up because I've been wondering about this myself. I also was wondering about the "Shelf life" so to speak, of oil. As I tend to put 6-7k miles or so on my car a year.. half or less the typical mileage average per year.

 

So.. With this Mobil 1 Full Synthetic 5w-30, with "high Performance" K&N oil filter -- I think I'm going to put my oil intervals at 7500 Miles/1 Year. Whichever comes first. I was wondering if 1 year was too long to keep oil before changing,.. but I've since talked with Blackstone and they essentially told me Oil has no shelf life.. and said I could have the oil in the car for 3 years if necessary.. that I should only rate my oil usage by Miles (Km's), or in the case of other engines "hours", etc..

 

I plan on doing at least one Sample for an HOA -- I may take this oil that is a Synthetic Blend done at Nissan that the prev. owner had done every 3k at Nissan and send it off just for a 'baseline'.. but I won't be changing this oil out for another year likely.. but will certainly do an HOA at that point. Or, if I get antsy I may change it at 5k miles and get an HOA done just to see how the Mobil 1 full synthetic performed and the wear characteristics of the engine to feel 100% comfortable with longer mileage changes.

 

When you change the oil, esp. oil type -- in an engine.. you don't get ALL of the oil out of course in an oil change. Some is going to remain in the engine (thankfully) .. and the new oil will mix with it.. though I'm sure it's just 1-2 percent at best of the "old" oil type.. So 1-2 cycles/changes would be needed to have the oil completely shifted out. Though thankfully there is no issue with Dino, Blend, or Synthetic all being mixed with one another. You could technically make your own oil Blend with say some 5w-30 Dino, 5w-30 Synthetic.. and mix them at a 50/50 ratio (or whatever you wanted).. But, with the low mileage I put on this 350.. I'm more than willing to pay the $40 for 6 quarts of the Full Synthetic instead of trying to save a few pennies mixing it up That's just a "theory" anyways..

 

I'm curious at our Oil filter life/efficiency over time. I am running a better than OEM filter -- or if being conservative at least as good as the Nissan OEM filter with this K&N High. Perf. Oil Filter: K&N HP-1008

 

That stats for it are : Oil Filter Style Canister Height (in) 2.910 in. Outside Diameter (in) 2.656 in. Filter Bypass Relief Valve Yes Relief Valve Open (psi) 11-17 psi Anti-Drainback Valve Yes Smallest Particle Filtered 10 microns Maximum Burst Pressure (psi) 550 psi Quantity Sold individually. Thread Size 20mm x 1.5 Height 2.91in Outside Diameter 2.656in

 

Anyone know much about Oil "filters" and their life? - I have a hunch the Synthetic Oil will outperform the filter? Is the filter safe for 7.5k Miles (not km's).. 10k miles? less , more?

 

Thanks,

[Ekona]

With zero technical knowledge, but years of practical experience, I do the following:

 

Road car: 10k miles or 12mths, oil and filter

Road & track car: 5k/6mth miles for oil, 10k/12mth for oil & filter

 

For my own 90% track car, I'll do an oil change every three track days. If it looks okay and I'm not burning it excessively, then I'll push that to five track days and do the filter then too.

 

 

Porsche recommend oil & filter every 20k/24mth. For me, that's miles too long, and I stick with 10k/12mth.

 

[Chromatic]

Finally got around to doing my first Oil change on this Zed... (had it 3 months almost).. Switched it from whatever "Blend" Nissan was using to full Mobil 1 Synthetic 5w-30 (from all the research and arguments/hoa discussions I read that seemed like the best Synthetic oil that people agreed on wasn't BAD... )

 

Anyhow.. Got the oil changed in 20 minutes.. Prepping goes a long way (right tools, ramps, etc).. Never expected the oil and filter change to be difficult on the car.. but really the Zed is about the easiest car to change oil on I've owned.

 

At first I thought, sheesh that undercover is going to make this a pain, but I've been building my tool collection over the past 3-4 months,.. and among that are impact wrenches, and some Dewalt 20v (XR) Brushless motor Driver and Impact Gun (Found a set of the "latest" Dewalt had of contractor grade for under $299.. so I went for it.) -- Love them. ANYWAY..

 

The (didn't count) Dozen or so bolts that hold that undercover on came off in about 20 seconds for me using one of my Dewalt guns,.. Think I grabbed the impact gun because I had a battery in it and it's variable so I wasn't worried about "unbolting" with it.. Man, that's so great going zip zip zip zip.. done (like a put crew or something).. Instead of spending 5mins or more depending on how slow you go manually ratcheting them off. (I'm not saying you need a $150 gun to pull them.. manually ratcheting, or even using a phillips head would be fine..) But If you have the tools why not save yourself the effort and time? My wrist is broken right now, so I have been really buying solid quality (easy on the wrists) power tools.. such as that Dewalt set. Without it I don't know if I would have been able to do this simple oil change due to the Broken Wrist.. (It's healing, but very slowly.. ).

 

Yes.. with the cover off.. I immediately (after pulling the drain plug ) -- Start wiping the backside (that you can't see) down with a rag.. Sigh.. Then found one of the bolts was just hanging there not holding the cover with any force.. And fixed the clip that had broken off that the bolt screwed into.

 

I as looking for new washers for the drain plug I came across this:

 

Has a washer on it.. $8.. (Nissan wanted a few bucks for a washer..) so I said why not. Plus I like the anodized crimson color and well the magnetic part.. meh.. I'm sure it will have some iron on it next change, but I didn't buy it to 'save my engine'

 

The oil filter, well.. was the reason this thread was started.. I bought this super cool universal tool that is impossible to describe but fits all filters and is solidly german made.. And I go up to pull the Oil filter (Nissan OEM -- Prev. owner had everything done at Nissan (yay) ).. And I was hrmm.. Might as well try with my hand first right.. but what are the odds nissan torqued this on proper? Well, it twisted right off with my hand.. so "sorry" Tool.. I guess it may get some use on other cars I work on.

 

The Rhino ramps are perfect (the low profile ones) for the Zed,.. No scraping of bumper.. came with rear wheel chucks, and I drove up on them first time, no slipping around like I've read some people complain about.

 

Then poured a little in the New filter, and rubbed some around the rim/gasket and hand tightened it.. went up top and poured in 5 quarts of the Mobil 1 Synthetic,.. While I was doing so a neighbor down the street stopped (in his sweet Mercedes AMG) and is obviously a car guy.. and chatted me up. Said he used to have a Zed, and had a mesh/Chrome type piece he ordered for $200 to go on his (goes where the grill is) that he'd sell to me cheap if I wanted it (he has since sold his Zed).. So bonus, I'm going to go look at it tomorrow.. but I'm not really looking for anything to put to replace my grill.. I rather like my factory '08 grill.

 

Anyhow -- Main reason I posted here wasn't so much to talk about a boring oil change.. but How do you like these Cling Oil reminder notices (same material the shops use).. I made in photoshop?

 

 

It's grainy, took it with my phone that doesn't do well in low light.. but you get the idea -- The main part I did was the Z logo.. I like it. If you are going to keep one up in the corner (I don't mind).. might as well have it look unique , no? I got 50 of these made for a few bucks.. So essentially I have more than I need.. if any of you want some let me know.

 

Oh.. and can the car gain Horsepower putting in Synthetic oil? The car feels much better (It's not just the "wash you car" placebo effect lol..) -- Engine is quieter, and it has a bit more noticeable power for some reason. The oil I pulled was fairly dark as well (though I've since read that is what you want!.. as clean oil hasn't really been doing it's job.. or something like that.. Shrug). Previous oil had about 3800 miles on it.. Or am I literally just imagining it? I know the engine is quieter,.. that isn't placebo

 

Well.. you see my sticker, I'm running the Synthetic 7500 miles or 12 months (whichever comes first).. seems like a solid number to me.

[Ekona]

Great idea on the sticker mate, looks brilliant

 

Car wouldn't gain horsepower, but you could feel like you have due to less crap in the block so less frictional losses. Same effect as lightweight flywheel.

[Chromatic]

Great idea on the sticker mate, looks brilliant

 

Car wouldn't gain horsepower, but you could feel like you have due to less crap in the block so less frictional losses. Same effect as lightweight flywheel.

 

TLDR Below

 

Thanks,.. I thought it turned out well, better than expected. Good feeling doing an oil change that was so fast and easy.. and then writing a date 1 year from now for another change haha.. So long 3k changes..

 

Just some thoughts on the oil I did drain out..

 

I got one of those oil catch pans that you can then pour into other containers.. So yesterday I poured the oil into 1 quart containers to see just how much oil I did get out. (it was pretty nasty oil..)

 

Turns out I measured 5 and 1/2 quarts I drained out.. And I measured it precisely as I was curious,.. as the oil pressure is higher now.. and the car just feels 'lighter/peppier'.

 

That's a bit much , considering some small amount of oil is always going to remain in the engine.. a quart.. doubtful.. but some..

 

And our engines should have 5 quarts of oil.. So to pull out 5 1/2 quarts means that engine had close to 5.5 - 6 quarts in it.. Which is slightly over full..

 

Only logic I can come up with is when the shops change the oil they do it in a hurry.. don't quite drain it as well as I did (for as long).. and then with each oil change it gets slightly more oil than the last change.

 

I know too much oil is not good for the engine,.. Now this wasn't enough to do any damage etc.. but maybe it was enough overfull to create the effect I'm feeling with the proper amount of 5 quarts in it of Synthetic? Shrug.

 

I've read other people doing their changes on the 350 in particular.. and a few of them would talk about how they only got say 3 quarts drained and then people would ask if it's burning oil, etc.. So made me feel good about the car that it's def. not burning oil,.. and the proper amount is in now, and it has a great brand/type of Synthetic oil.

 

With how great and easy the 350 is to change oil on.. I wouldn't mind changing this cars oil ever 1k miles if I had to.. it's really quite a pleasure. really pays off to get all the proper tools/pans, funnels and such.. Made for a super clean change.. Got just a touch of oil on my finger as I pulled the drain plug off initially.. and that was it.. no driveway messes, etc.

 

TLDR: I drained nearly 6 quarts out of the car.. Could this be a reason that with the proper 5 quarts of Synthetic in it now it feels better, and why the oil pressure is higher now?

[Ekona]

What's a quart in proper money? How close to a litre?

[Chromatic]

What's a quart in proper money? How close to a litre?

 

1 Quart = 0.946353 Litre

 

I drained out close to 5.6 Litres

[Jp606]

That's a lot.. Should be 4.9L with an oil and filter change on a HR. A complete engine overhaul is 5.5L but there's no way you'd have got that all out.

[Ekona]

That does seem a bit high. You've probably gotten away without having any damage, but definitely worth treble checking any oil levels in the future.

[Darren-B]

If you want a bigger filter get a 'FRAM' filter, they are huge

[Chromatic]

That does seem a bit high. You've probably gotten away without having any damage, but definitely worth treble checking any oil levels in the future.

 

Well,.. It was more than "should" have come out.. but the engine is running great. I simply think it was a situation of a good drain (I left it for quite a while.. and warmed it up to full operating temp before drain).. and being slightly "over" full.. either through a mistake through the last oil change, or perhaps them adding just a little more with each change as oil takes a minute to really settle to properly measure accurately.. You really can't drop oil in it.. then look at the dipstick 5 seconds later.. and get a 100% accurate reading. As of now,.. when Warm, but after sitting 20 minutes or so It will be between Midway and the H point.. which is where it should be. I'll check it completely cold tomorrow just to see if it moves around any. However, I put 5 quarts (5 quarts is the US rating for the car.. precisely) in it. Oil comes in 1 Quart containers here (the most common) -- you can get 5 quart containers which are handy for cars that hold exactly 5 quarts like our own.. but the most common is a 1 quart container.

 

I poured a little into the oil filter from the 1st Quart bottle.. Put the oil filter on (didn't spill any ..) -- Then put the rest of that bottle in.. and 4 more 1 Quart bottles and that was that.

 

Which is why I wanted to go ahead and do the change myself as well,.. as it still had another few thousand it could have theoretically gone according to the Nissan service sticker,.. I like getting things like that to my standard, knowing it as done properly and so on. Especially since I switched it to full on Synthetic and will be going likely 12 months (7500 miles) whichever hits sooner.

 

My price per year for Oil + Filter .. Full Synthetic with the best filter (arguably) is $47.. The company who sent me this K&N High-Performance Oil Filter, HP-1008, .. accidentally sent me two.. So my next change will be $31 in Oil.. As I have 1 Quart remaining (6 Quarts was $40 online at the best priced reputable place). Of the Mobile 1, Full Synthetic, 5w-30. Thus, I simply need 4 Quarts next year.

 

At least I know this thing isn't burning oil.. And it shouldn't be at 27k miles.. frankly.

 

Unless we start talking Oil brands, HOA's, what's better or worse, etc.. I think we've/I've burned this topic out lol.. I consider it a "mod" haha.. Due to the car going Full Synthetic for the first time. (It ran Synth Blend it's whole life from Nissan every time prior.., with OEM nissan oil Filters.)

[glrnet]

What's a quart in proper money? How close to a litre?

.946 litres so on the refill Chromatic has put in 4.73 litres. on the draining it amounts to very nearly 6 quarts (5.919) Sounds to me like the last refill someone just tipped in 6 x 1 quart bottles.

[Chromatic]

What's a quart in proper money? How close to a litre?

.946 litres so on the refill Chromatic has put in 4.73 litres. on the draining it amounts to very nearly 6 quarts (5.919) Sounds to me like the last refill someone just tipped in 6 x 1 quart bottles.

 

Fair assessment.. Doing some conversions -- The 5quarts I put in of Synthetic equal 4.73 Litres.. (which is just what you came up with.. )

 

I got all sorts of conflicting information on forums,.. not sure how this is an area of debate it should be the same across the board via the manual.. But my manual says 5 quarts with Filter. Online I get all sorts of numbers for fill.

 

I called a few Nissan Dealerships.. a few local, and some across the country just to see if there were any discrepancies and all were 5 Quarts with Filter.

 

Which is 4.73Litres.. A touch more or less I'm sure is no huge deal.. but a quart more or less is potentially problematic.

 

The confirmation + the levels I'm getting from the dipstick now consistently, and the car driving better and oil pressure being higher than previous (but not overtly high (ie: Pegging out 120).. has me confident 5 Quarts with Filter is just what this engine needs and works best with. So I'm going to stick with it.

 

I *used* to call halfway between L-------------------H on the dipstick as proper.. but have since been reeducated that you want slightly more than Halfway.. no more than 3/4th's , but no less than halfway.

 

Of course everyone is going to have their opinion. I will do an HOA on the next change,.. and is the ONLY reason I may change this oil out at 3-5k one time just to see how healthy the engine is from my first HOA on it. But that still won't be for quite a while.

 

Thanks for your help.

Edited March 11, 2014 by Chromatic