# New Guy with a few embarrasing questions



## familyman928 (Aug 29, 2005)

As I said, I'm new here and have already learned a lot. I'm looking to start doing a lot more maintanence on vehicles after an insanely expensive routine maint. bill on my other car (VW Passat). My Altima has been running great and I have never had problem one with the car. I put very few miles on the car as I live close to work and will often bike commute. So, 3000 miles in the past year. 
However, due to the nature of my car running great I have let the time interval slip on the oil change. It has been one year and 3000 miles. Now while I don't put a lot of miles on the car, they are short trips (approx 5 miles) and I do tend to drive like I am Mario Andretti. 
Now since I had a pricey episode with my other car I decided to pay closer attention to my cars maint needs. I checked the oil and.....whoops quite low. I added a quart and this brought it up to the low line on the dipstick.
I also happened to notice that there is a low level metalic clicking noise at low RPMs. This is not noticable as soon as I increase the RPMs. Again the car seems to run great and no engine lights have come on.
I did search the forum and I am hopeful that this is simply the upper timing chain guide.
Is there a chance that I have significantly damaged my engine by running with such a low oil level?


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## familyman928 (Aug 29, 2005)

Also, forgot to mention, I am getting all of the needed things together to change the oil this weekend. So, 4 Quarts of 5W30 (anyone have any brand preferences) and an oil filter (again, any brand preferences?). What else will I need? I am planning a trip to my local autozone to get what I need. I am already planning on the Haynes manual, floor jack, 4 jack stands, and a catch pan. Help a newbie out. Thanks.


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## oh_well (Aug 27, 2005)

The low oil level is not good thing, especially when combined with the 'mario andretti' thing. I would investigate the root cause of the low oil (leak, burning) and get it corrected. I personally change oil and filter in my vehicles every 3,000 miles following the correct weight for the engine and mileage. 
I check my oil level weekly together with tire pressures. I have found this practice helps keep my car in great shape.


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## familyman928 (Aug 29, 2005)

Thanks for the reply. I am definately going to be keeping a closer eye on routine car maint from now on. I had been having the dealer do the service religiously up until last year. The car has had the full 60K mile service a couple of years ago. 
However, I am now looking to see what I can do myself to save some money and also to learn a new skill. Wrenching on cars is something I've always wanted to learn how to do. So, this forum has provided the boost to get off the fence and get started. I will be relying on you sages of the Altima to help me out with newbie questions. I'll be haunting this site as well as the Passat site in the future.


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## erik2282 (May 17, 2005)

ticking noise, not good at all, change oil before you burn something up or sludge the motor up or something...


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## LONDONDERRY (May 19, 2004)

familyman928 said:


> As I said, I'm new here and have already learned a lot. I'm looking to start doing a lot more maintanence on vehicles after an insanely expensive routine maint. bill on my other car (VW Passat). My Altima has been running great and I have never had problem one with the car. I put very few miles on the car as I live close to work and will often bike commute. So, 3000 miles in the past year.
> However, due to the nature of my car running great I have let the time interval slip on the oil change. It has been one year and 3000 miles. Now while I don't put a lot of miles on the car, they are short trips (approx 5 miles) and I do tend to drive like I am Mario Andretti.
> Now since I had a pricey episode with my other car I decided to pay closer attention to my cars maint needs. I checked the oil and.....whoops quite low. I added a quart and this brought it up to the low line on the dipstick.
> I also happened to notice that there is a low level metalic clicking noise at low RPMs. This is not noticable as soon as I increase the RPMs. Again the car seems to run great and no engine lights have come on.
> ...


familyman928
Following the maintaince schedule outlined in your owners manual is half the battle in having a great running car. I would reccomend having more oil changes every 3000 miles or 3 months which ever comes first. For my Altima, I use 5W-30 Mobile 1 Oil and a $7.00 Nissan oil filter. Buying the Haynes manual is a good idea. If its been a while you might want to tune the car up as well, just use Nissan parts, our Altima's don't like after market parts. As for the clicking noise, see if the oil change quiet its down. What year is you Altima, because after a certain year they removed the chain guides. 

Frank


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## familyman928 (Aug 29, 2005)

Thanks for the reply. It is a 1996 Altima, so it still has the chain guide. I agree, before I start taking anything off I'm going to see it the oil change improves things. BTW, is switching to a full synthetic a good idea for me? I have heard that if your car is older than 8 years or so, and you have been using mineral based oil, that switching to a full synthetic can remove some of the deposits around the gaskets causing you to develop a leak. Just weighing the pros and cons of making the switch. Have you heard of anyone having problems? Also, do you need to get a copper or fiber oil plug gasket when you change the oil in your car? Another thing I read that I wasn't sure of.

Thanks


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## LONDONDERRY (May 19, 2004)

familyman928 said:


> Thanks for the reply. It is a 1996 Altima, so it still has the chain guide. I agree, before I start taking anything off I'm going to see it the oil change improves things. BTW, is switching to a full synthetic a good idea for me? I have heard that if your car is older than 8 years or so, and you have been using mineral based oil, that switching to a full synthetic can remove some of the deposits around the gaskets causing you to develop a leak. Just weighing the pros and cons of making the switch. Have you heard of anyone having problems? Also, do you need to get a copper or fiber oil plug gasket when you change the oil in your car? Another thing I read that I wasn't sure of.
> 
> Thanks


I doubt change to a synthetic will cause any problems, I haven't heard anyone experiencing problems on this forum. You may want to ask that question as a seperate thread and see if one of the moderators replies. I made the switch a year ago and haven't developed any problems with my 96 Altima, and it has 186K miles on it. Nissan sells the copper gaskets for the plugs pretty cheap. I all so reccomend buying a nissan oil filter as well.

Good luck
Frank


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