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Oil level and filter question

I just bought a 99 Altima 5 speed (posted about it last week) with 82,000 km. It runs well and is quite a bit smoother and quieter than my 94, which is great!

I've noticed though that the oil seems to be quite a bit overfull, and I wanted to ask if this is something I should do something about. When cold, the oil on the dipstick is above the top of the hashed area, by about the length of the hashed area plus a little bit. So if it takes 1 quart to go from the bottom of the hashed area to the top, then it's as if there's an extra quart and then some in there.

I've had the dealer put too much (IMHO) into my 94 the last 3 or 4 times I've been in for an oil change, but I had the service manager himself check it out last time and he considered that much oil to be normal and nothing to be worried about. He did drain some out though, strangely enough, and until the last year or so, it was always almost exactly up to the top of the range after every change.

My only other little concern is this -- a couple of times now when I've started it, I've had a bit of valve tap for about a second. The last time it happened was today leaving work, and it had just been running 4 hours ago. I've never noticed this in my 94, except on cold winter mornings, so this bothers me a bit. I checked the oil filter out because I suspected it might be a generic one, and it seems like it is -- it's white, not the blue colour that any Nissan filters I've ever seen have been. So could the cheapo filter cause the brief lack of oil pressure at startup? I seem to remember reading somewhere that real Nissan filters have a rubber flap or some kind of mechanism to keep oil in the filter after the engine shuts off, to prevent this kind of thing.

Maybe my best bet is to get an oil change at the dealer and take care of both issues all at once.

Thanks as always for any help.

Reply to
JM
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Get an oil change and forget about it.

Reply to
Meat-->Plow

All the Nissan OEM filters I have seen in the past couple of years are white. Honda uses blue. Does it say Nissan on it? An oil change and a new filter to see if the problem goes away would not be a bad idea.

I have noticed that a lot of dipsticks do not read exactly full when the engine is filled with the correct amount of oil. You might try an experiment:

Drain it, change the filter, then fill it with exactly the amount of oil specified in the owner's manual. Start it and and run it for a minute or so, at least long enough to get the filter filled. Turn it off. Wait at least three minutes for the oil to drain back into the pan. See where the level is on the dipstick. That spot is full. I would be almost willing to bet that it will not align with the full mark stamped on the stick. Take a nail set and make a mark or file a notch on the dip stick at that spot for future reference.

Reply to
E. Meyer

The Japanese Nissan ones are still blue and the right size.

The man that runs my local foreign spares place has been in the trade over 20 years. He used to work at the franchised Nissan dealer. He has not been impressed by the "Made in UK" Nissan OEM filters. They are white and small, just about the same diameter as the gasket. The rubber gasket is square section cut from piece of tube that clearly is not the same section all the way round - there is a sort of bulge at the mould line like an elastic band. It's not attached so it's easy to have it fall off while fitting the filter. Then it can get cut up by the sharp, slightly buckled and badly welded on location ring. He took to selling pattern ones but kept the genuine one for people that demand them. But he would point out the differences and how rubbish the Nissan UK ones are. Then he found a source for "Made in Japan" Nissan filters. he's happy, his cutomers are happy, one bought a 100! I just got 10. They are the size that they always were, the rubber seal is moulded with a "D" section and the base is rolled so it holds the seal in place. And they are blue.

-- Peter Hill Spamtrap reply domain as per NNTP-Posting-Host in header Can of worms - what every fisherman wants. Can of worms - what every PC owner gets!

Reply to
Peter Hill

Thanks for clearing that up, Peter. I was pretty sure the ones they've been putting on my 94 are the blue ones, and I have a few here that I bought for it as well that are blue. I suppose they are likely the same for 99 and 94.

Reply to
JM

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