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2017 Versa sedan engine oil capacity

36K views 18 replies 11 participants last post by  2016 Versa 
#1 ·
I recently first time (for the car, not for me) changed oil and filter in my new 2017 Versa MT sedan, right after the break-in period (1200 miles). I always drain oil while engine is hot. The drained oil, included from the filter, measured to 3 qt. For a new filter I was using Carquest Standard oil filter which is the same size as OEM from Nissan, and I added exactly the same amount 3 qt of new 5w30 oil, did not want to overfill.

Now, a few weeks latter, the dipstick shows oil level about 1/8" (2..3 mm) above the High mark. It means that 3 qt is about right amount of oil to use when also changing a filter. However, according to owners manual, oil capacity is 3 3/4 qt.

From my other cars experience there is always a small difference between listed capacity and actual capacity. But this 0.75 qt seems like a too big difference for such small engine oil capacity to start with. What is your take on this? Do you have the same 3 qt oil capacity for Versa sedan 1.6L engine, or you overfill? Thank you!
 
#4 ·
Keep in mind that oil filter may be the same on the outside and be vastly different inside and even more if using hi-mileage ones which contain a cartridge of additive in them. The anti-drainback valve efficiency will affect how much oil drains out of filter into the rest of the system if the filter is oriented sideways too and even the oil weight figures into that. Thicker oil does not drain back as fast or even at all in some cases.

Just sayin'...............I expect any exact same model car to vary easily up to a half quart different in oil level with exact same amount in them. Casting flash in head drainback ports/troughs can even change it a bunch.

Check the level more than once, often a tight dipstick seal can alter the oil level when pulling stick, it can apply suction to the tube on the first check to raise the oil.
 
#7 ·
Alright, I went ahead and did my oil and filter change after work. All of it went well except that I did forget to check the dipstick before starting... it was cold (its zero degrees outside here guys, zero) I was just getting home from work and I just drove right up onto my ramps, jammed a clean pan under there and spun out the plug and filter. Based on what I took out I was probably down a half a quart, but we'll get to that.

I did catch the first half-quart in a glass jar to look at. It was dark, real dark. Only 2536 miles on this oil but it might as well have been 5000, just as dark as any other time that I change oil.

I have only 2.75 measurable quarts to point at that came out of the car... if you account for what didn't readily drain out of the bottom of my large catch pan and give some allowance for what is still trapped in the old oil filter then we can maybe say I took out 3 quarts even, just barely.

3.5 quarts went back in to get just up over the top of the high side of the hash marks. I put 3 quarts in to start with, ran it for a minute to get oil into the new filter, then shut it off and re-checked and ended up adding just about another half a quart. Must have been a little low before I started the whole process but like I said I neglected to check before starting. Not really super unusual that some oil would get used up the first couple thousand miles, rings trying to seat and all and mine has spent probably too much time idling since I installed my remote start, which doesn't help the rings seat any but sure makes me more comfortable when I get in in the morning. (I'll have to remember to flog it tomorrow, to make up for the idling :grin)

There was a small amount of aluminum bits in the bottom of my drain pan after I poured the oil into the measuring containers. Not a ton but a few bits, what I would consider the usual for a new motor. Determined it was aluminum because my magnet would not pick up the chips.

Sadly this oil won't be in here super long, put in full synthetic of course thats all I use but I will be bringing the car to the dealership in another 2500 miles so I can get my service stamp in my maintenance booklet. They want to see the car every 5000 miles for oil changes, and I want my service book to have a stamp for each and every one of those intervals with no gaps or misses in case of warranty concerns down the road, but I don't want to go 5000 miles on oil changes, at least not the first few, so I'm going to split the difference and do my oil changes in the middle. So every 2500 miles I or the dealership will be taking turns draining out oil thats still probably good but better to have too many oil changes than too few. Oil is not that expensive and on this car its so easy to change there is no reason not to. With the extra idling I've been doing with the remote start I don't feel bad at all about changing the oil at 2500 miles, new motor or not.

I love that I don't have to first remove an aero pan to access the plug and the filter like on my old Honda. I say that, and yet I wonder if another MPG could be squeezed out of this car if there was an aero pan under the front end... meh. Not sure if I care that much.

Anyways thats my story, 3 quarts out and just about 3.5 back in put me a bit over the full mark. I'll check it after the drive to work and back tomorrow and let you know if it changes.

 
#8 ·
FYI, a qt of oil is 85% oil and 15% additives. Just because oil looks dirty does not mean it is dirty. A oil analyst is the only way to really tell. Usually dark looking oil is from suspended carbon particles which can be cause from running cheap gas. Gassy smelling oil is the worse as that can break down the weight of it and cause it to work more like a solvent than a lubricator.
 
#10 · (Edited)
You don't look at oil in a bottle to make judgement on it. It will look virtually the same with 2K or 10K miles on it that way. While not as scientific as an analysis by any means, you take a few drops on a clean white paper towel and let them spread and putting a couple drops on your fingers can help too. You are looking at basic level of brown changing to black in varying degree and the opacity of it, or how transparent it still is. How easily you can still see through it spread thin. Checking that way you will see endless differences that never show up at all looking at a great amount of it like in the bottle, the mass hides all that little detail. Thin, you can grade the condition all day long.

98% of the black is carbon particles from burned fuel leaking past pistons. There is zero difference in cheap gas or expensive in oil carbon content as far as my concern.

The first oil change in a new engine will always have greater size wear pieces in it. I often change at 200 miles on the first change than at 1000 then I go to whatever OCI I will use for the rest of the engines' life. I really don't care what the factory says there, the earlier change can catch serious issues before they develop to become damaging. But then I often ignore the factory on almost everything else too.

Oil not that expensive and using syn? Maybe one should do a cost study there. My figures taken at 15K miles a year and at my changes and oil type vs. 2500 mile changes there at say $6/qt. of premium (not nearly the most expensive) has me making $125 a year out of thin air as long as I do that, over the 'oil is not that expensive' viewpoint. Five years = $625. Ten years (realistic as I commonly run cars to 15 and even more than that) = $1250. On one car only, I do it with 4. That's $5000. We haven't talked oil filter yet either. Can't kill the cars and they are Fords with well over 200K miles on them, we'll see on this Nissan I have now.

Now, I'll be the first to say I don't use junk oil at first, I commonly change at every 5K-7K miles at first using better oil to make sure the engine long term has a better chance at 'going the distance', but I still never use synthetic even if they call for it. Once I hit around 75K I then shift to the more oil saver mode to save more cash.

I get the idea of overprotecting the car, I did it myself for a long while but at some point I pulled my head out. After many years now of rebuilding crap engineered OEM parts that break by simply looking at them and trying to figure out how to do virtually everything that can be done in a dealership shop on a shoestring and pulling it off 99% of the time it was only natural that I would bypass spending too much on maintenance goods too.

I pulled the aero cover off the bottom of mine as well as the engine beauty cover on top, stuff that just gets in my way. I make up for any small mileage loss by breathing harder on the windshield as I drive. Seriously, the first time something breaks on the car I will likely make a 1000 times the fuel loss there by simply rebuilding the broken part to work again, I've done it countless times on other cars.

You guys do what you will, I'm just saying there are all kinds of other things that can be done. Most people view me as quite eccentric but then they can't touch most of what I do all day long.
 
#19 · (Edited)
I use 3.2 qts. of oil for an oil/filter change in my '16. Being a Japanese manufacturer they probably measure oil capacity in liters. 3 liters = 101.442 oz., 3.2 quarts = 102.4 oz. just under 1 oz difference. The only oil change I've done on mine since I've owned it was about 5300 miles on 10w40 conventional oil. At that interval the oil was a dark honey color when I got some on my fingers. After seeing the color of the oil at that mileage I wouldn't be too concerned about it if it went 7000-7500 miles between changes. I had a car that ran 518K miles on the original engine and was never rebuilt, it never had anything but conventional oil used in it.
 
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