Hello,
I have a 2003 Nissan Pathfinder 3.5 v6
I am so confused. I cannot get a satisfactory answer for this question anywhere.
The Nissan Pathfinder from 2001-2004 have the same engine and I want to use synthetic oil for my 2003 but my owners manual does not recommend it. Can I use synthetic? Why would they recommend not using it for the 2003-2004 models? The 2001-2002 models state it is ok. Below is the exact info from the manual.
2001-2002
Mineral based or synthetic type oils may be used in your NISSAN vehicle.
These oils must however, meet the API quality and SAE viscosity ratings specified for your vehicle. Do not mix mineral based and synthetic type oils in the engine at the same time.
2003-2004
NISSAN does not recommend synthetic type oils but recommends mineral based oils.
These oils must however, meet the API quality and SAE viscosity ratings specified for your vehicle.
Sorry about the length of post but I really want to get to the bottom of this. {black}:idontknow:
Thank you!
I would just listen to what the Nissan engineers wrote in the manual. They may have had a reason for saying that. Who knows, maybe there is no reason why it is that way, but at the same time if there is a reason you don't want to find out the hard way.
Thank you.
Keep in mind that was written 17 years ago and synthetic oils were different then.
That did go through my mind. So why were the early ones (2001-2002) ok and the later ones (2003-2004) not? Was Nissan just trying to get people in for more oil changes (money) or deliberately cutting short the engine life for monetary gain?
Aside from my being perplexed about it, I am going to say synthetic would be ok? Its not going to hurt the seals in the motor or something will it?
The 01/02 must have had some different components than the 03/04.
I would ask someone from Nissan's service department to be sure. (not sales or customer service ... one of the techs)
I did ask a Nissan service tech and he stated that synthetic was fine.
Thanks for your input.
You can absolutely run a synthetic 5w30 in that vehicle just synthetic oil wasn’t as commonly used back then
