# Maintenance Schedule.



## Nosrac (Oct 21, 2004)

I just got a copy of the service manual, it's recommended the regular oil/oil filter change every 12K or 6 months and the dealership suggested every 6K for oil change. 

Which schedule do you guys follow? sure enough there is no harm done by doing the oil change more frequently, but is it necessary? 

TIA


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## aussietrail (Sep 24, 2004)

Not sure if your service schedule is like mine, but with mine it suggests to do that every 10K or 6 months (whichever comes first). There is also a section which is labelled as "extreme use conditions" where the oil needs (or recommended) to be changed every 5K, this is for those of us who spend most of their time off-road or towing. For normal city driving changing the oil every 10K is more than enough, especially if you use Synthetic.


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## ValBoo (May 19, 2003)

Cold weather country like Kanuk, go with every 6000 Km...


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## Rockford (Jan 28, 2005)

Yep, I go 6k religiously on all my vehicles. 
For what it's worth, why not?
Is there such a thing as having oil that's too clean?


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## LEONGSTER (Apr 9, 2006)

"Extreme Conditions" can refer to several things:

1) Short journeys - where the engine is unable to reach proper operating temperature. 
This leads to condensation in the engine and possible corrosion from the acids formed from that condensation.

2) Stop-start traffic, long idling periods and high-load (off-road, lots of uphill climbs, towing, "dragging" the engine in the lower gears, etc). If you do a lot of city driving, this is actually considered 'extreme-use'.

3) Driving often with WOT (wide-open throttle), where you're constantly flooring the accelerator. This causes the engine to dump more fuel than it needs with the resultant increase in carbon deposits in the oil. 

4) Extreme low environment temperatures which slow down the engine oil's ability to circulate quickly after start-up. Wear here mostly occurs in the valve-train - timing chain, camshafts and camshaft journals.

After this, it's easy enough to determine which sort of conditions you drive under, and which oil service interval you should be using for your XY.


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## xtrailer (Mar 20, 2007)

BTW, has anyone installed the so called Milage Maxx Vortex Generator which suppose to increase gas mileage up to 30% and up to 35 more horsepower. It's being sold all over at eBay. Sounds silly that the item such as that will do what the say so I decide to so moe research before getting it.

So, if anyone has purchased it please do put your findings. Thanks.


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## aussietrail (Sep 24, 2004)

xtrailer said:


> BTW, has anyone installed the so called Milage Maxx Vortex Generator which suppose to increase gas mileage up to 30% and up to 35 more horsepower. It's being sold all over at eBay. Sounds silly that the item such as that will do what the say so I decide to so moe research before getting it.
> 
> So, if anyone has purchased it please do put your findings. Thanks.


I don't think this subject is related to this topic in any way. Please use the site search facility to locate existing topics covering this "dream device", look for Hiclone and/or Cyclone.


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## xtrailer (Mar 20, 2007)

aussietrail, you r right. I meant to throw that question into another post. My bad. Is there a way to move it or should I just create a new one?

BTW, previously didn't find anything about it. That's why I asked.


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## flynn (Jun 23, 2006)

Nosrac said:


> I just got a copy of the service manual, it's recommended the regular oil/oil filter change every 12K or 6 months and the dealership suggested every 6K for oil change.


Interesting. The maintenance schedule that came with mine for Jan 99 onwards says petrol engine 9000 miles (15,000 km) or 12 months and diesel 12,000 miles (20,000 km) or 12 months. The Nissan UK workshop manual says the same. 

The North American manual I've got gives two schedules, both a lot more frequent, either 3,750 miles/3 months or 7,500 miles/6months.

How come?


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## LEONGSTER (Apr 9, 2006)

Flynn, I wonder if there is a difference between the terms "Service" and "Maintenance".

With Mercedes for example, service intervals and maintenance intervals are two separate schedules. 

"Service" refers to oil changes, fluid top-ups, etc. "Maintenance" involves spark plug replacements, transmission fluid and radiator coolant flushing etc.


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## flynn (Jun 23, 2006)

L, those seem to be the oil and filter change intervals and there's not much else to do apart from inspection. Only other replacement in the diesel schedule is the cabin air filter and only lube required is the door locks and hinges. Plugs and air filter get changed at 18,000 miles/2 years on the petrol engines.

Remote possibility it could be down to climatic conditions or could be different oil specified but suspect it may just be a marketing requirement: i.e. the fleet buyers in the UK want long service intervals so they get them regardless of the engineering case.


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## LEONGSTER (Apr 9, 2006)

Highly plausible - the marketing strategy you suggested. 

Anyhow, here's a link to what's on offer by the Singapore distributor. They've held the distributorship for close to three decades now and have a decent reputation in the local motoring scene. Mind you, the margins they make on original Nissan parts is still pretty obscene.

http://www.nissan.com.sg/service/pkg_psg.pdf


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## flynn (Jun 23, 2006)

Hmm, Nissan are recommending four services in the first 12 months in Singapore but only one in the same period in the UK. Bizarre.


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## LEONGSTER (Apr 9, 2006)

The first 3 service sessions are free. The fourth is where the pain starts to kick in. 

Generally, the local distributor is doing a fairly good job, but to spend a couple hours at their workshop seeing how they operate is an eye opener. The major service for instance takes them just over two hours.


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## flynn (Jun 23, 2006)

The Singapore schedule includes changing the oil after the first 1000 km/ 625 miles in a free service which is the way it always used to be done. I recently bought a lawn mower with a Honda engine that specified changing the oil after just _5 hours _(sic) use. 

I wonder if some of the reported turbo failures in the UK are due to the extended oil-change periods. For the cost of 5 litres of oil, mine will get changed at 6000 miles methinks.

Reminds me of what a lot of makers did in the 60s and 70s to reduce the published servicing costs. They just replaced the grease-nipples with blanking plugs while the components were unchanged - with the result that they prematurely failed.


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## LEONGSTER (Apr 9, 2006)

I've always considered the first few oil changes in any new vehicle to be critical as this flushes out a lot of the particulate matter that may have been left behind during the assembly process. Also, to use a mineral oil until around the 10,000km mark as this helps to 'bed' in certain components.

Car makers these days will tell you it's okay to use a synthetic oil from new (of course they would!) as modern piston rings no longer need to be "bedded in" or "seated" unlike in the older engines. But I have found from personal experience an engine, gearbox and drivetrain that's been broken in the way I prefer produces many years of dependable service with good fuel economy. 

Where product longevity is concerned, I learnt in the 80s that certain electronic goods had chips that were programmed to fail after a certain number of operating hours. And as recently as last year, I was told by a local inventor over a couple drinks how premature component failure is actually built into some of his own products - to help with turnover. 

Consumer groups and to some extent forums like this one help keep manufacturers on the straight and narrow.

I don't know much about the turbo failures in the UK. Could it be poor cooling / lack of lubrication to the turbo bearings...?


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## flynn (Jun 23, 2006)

There was a recall in Oct 2005 to reprogramme the ECU after a spate of reported failures. Was before I got mine so hope it was all sorted. In some cases cars that had one failure had the replacement fail not long after so either the condition causing the failure had still been present or possibly they fitted poorly reconditioned replacements. Suggested causes have been failure of the power boost sensor and owners not allowing them to spool down before switching off when hot so that they're still spinning without an oil supply. Vauxhall/Opel, BMW and VW all had similar turbo problems around the same time. BMWs of course have variable service intervals so they can go to 16K miles/25K km or more before the first service, which sounds a little scary to me.


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## LEONGSTER (Apr 9, 2006)

flynn said:


> There was a recall in Oct 2005 to reprogramme the ECU after a spate of reported failures. Was before I got mine so hope it was all sorted. In some cases cars that had one failure had the replacement fail not long after so either the condition causing the failure had still been present or possibly they fitted poorly reconditioned replacements. Suggested causes have been failure of the power boost sensor and owners not allowing them to spool down before switching off when hot so that they're still spinning without an oil supply. Vauxhall/Opel, BMW and VW all had similar turbo problems around the same time. BMWs of course have variable service intervals so they can go to 16K miles/25K km or more before the first service, which sounds a little scary to me.


Indeed, there is a UK website which has some useful info on this:

http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/carbycar/index.htm?p_make=NIS&h_make=NIS&p_model= 518

Also, a diagnostic chart here:

http://www.jhdiesel.com/failurechart1.htm.

Fingers crossed.


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## GFB (Oct 16, 2006)

Flynn, just so that you do not feel alone - here in SA we have similar service intervals like you in the UK: 15,000 km or 12 months for petrol engined XT's. But then, this is just about the norm around here. 

Cheers


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## flynn (Jun 23, 2006)

Hi GFB, it's wacky isn't it? Identical cars and running under similar conditions with wildly different recommendations from Nissan for oil changes. 

Useful but scary chart L, hope I never need it.


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## GFB (Oct 16, 2006)

Wacky but also making one a bit uncomfortable!
The Nissan maintenance & repair manual lists a Schedule I or II depending on service conditions: 6000km/3months, or 12000km/6months... 
So, our 15000 km/12months are even outside this limits!

Must agree - probably marketing dictates it!

I like Leongster's advice about oil and "running-in" a vehicle.


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## flynn (Jun 23, 2006)

20,000 km or 12,000 miles for the diesel here yet they were having turbo failures. The UK workshop manual gives the same recommendations iirc : i.e. 12 month intervals. On a turbo supplier's site I noticed they stressed the importance of clean oil and recommended changes at every 2,500 miles.

Where's Jalal, what's the bid from Nissan Australia?


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## aussietrail (Sep 24, 2004)

Nissan Australia's recommended service interval is 10,000kms/6 months (normal use) OR 5,000kms/ 3 months (extreme use) whichever comes first in terms of kms or time of travel.

If you haven't done enough kms or was away on a trip overseas for the duration of 6 months, Nissan Australia insists that the car is still needed for servicing to change the oil at the very least or the warranty will be void.


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## flynn (Jun 23, 2006)

Thanks J. So the same as N America - twice as often as recommended by Nissan UK and Nissan RSA, but a lot less than Nissan Malaysia. Unless there's something magical about the Xts they ship to the UK so they can go twice as long between oil-changes, I think mine will follow the Aussie and Canadian schedules.


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## dollard (Jul 7, 2007)

*service schedule*

Now that I have had my X Trail 3 months the garage is sending me notices that my 6,000 km or 3 months service is due. As I only have less than 3000 km on it it seems like a ripoff. I can see if the 6000 comes before the 3 months it would be a good idea but not the other way around. I don't operate it under any of the more gruelling conditions-stop-an-go, dusty, towing, etc. The sticker they put on the windshield says an oil change is due at 6,000. Now I'll fret about it but I think it should be fine.


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## LEONGSTER (Apr 9, 2006)

Don't we all hate it when that service reminder comes from the dealer. Although...

If you use the car only for short journeys and the engine doesn't warm up properly there may be condensation in the crankcase. 

In which case, having that very first oil change may not be a bad idea. 

Also one thing to consider, engine oil has a shelf life when it's sitting in your engine.


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