INFINITI Oil Changes: The Schedule Changes With the Model Year

With INFINITI you cannot carry one number from car to car. The same brand lists 5,000 miles or six months for a 2016 QX60, 7,500 miles or six months for a 2020 QX60, 10,000 miles or 12 months for a 2024 QX60 and 7,500 miles or 12 months for the 2025 QX60 with its new turbo four. We look up your model and year on INFINITI's own schedule site before we write the sticker. This page shows what INFINITI says in its own words, what the manuals list for oil, and why so much Northern Nevada driving lands on the severe-condition list.

At a glance

• 2024 Q50: replace every 10,000 miles or 12 months (INFINITI maintenance schedule)
• 2024 QX50 and 2025 QX60: replace every 7,500 miles or 12 months
• 2016 QX60 and QX50: every 5,000 miles or 6 months; 2020 QX60: 7,500 or 6 months, 5,000 severe
• Oil: Nissan Motor Oil 0W-20 SP or an equivalent synthetic 0W-20 GF-6A SP (2024-2025 manuals)
• Turbo models: change within two weeks or 500 miles of the oil indicator

INFINITI's numbers, model by model

Every row is copied from the engine oil and filter page of INFINITI's U.S. maintenance schedule site, which tells owners to check the oil level regularly between changes and to see the owner's manual for complete information. Newer schedules list the same interval for standard and severe driving, so on those cars the severe list does its work through the other items and through the oil control system.

The oil control system on the turbo fours

The 2024 QX50 and 2025 QX60 manuals describe an oil control system that calculates the oil and filter change interval from driving conditions. Freeway driving with no towing and little idling gives normal timing. Short trips, hot stop-and-go traffic, extended idling, towing, sustained high speed and frequent braking or mountainous areas bring the reminder on early. When the indicator appears, the manual says to change the oil within two weeks or less than 500 miles, and if the indicator resets prematurely, to change it within six months or 3,750 miles of the last change.

Mountainous areas is the phrase that matters here. Mount Rose, Geiger Grade, Kingsbury and Spooner are all a short drive from our bays.

Severe conditions, as INFINITI writes them

• Repeated short trips of less than 5 miles
• Repeated short trips of less than 10 miles with outside temperatures remaining below freezing
• Operating in hot weather in stop-and-go rush hour traffic
• Extensive idling or low-speed driving for long distances
• Driving in dusty conditions, or on rough, muddy or salt-spread roads
• Towing a trailer, using a camper or a car-top carrier

That list is from the 2024 QX50 Owner's Manual. Reno averages about 122 nights at or below freezing and 65 days at 90 F or hotter, with about 7.35 inches of rain and snowmelt a year (NOAA 1991 to 2020 normals), so freezing short trips, summer traffic and dust all apply to ordinary local driving. The manuals also say to replace the air cleaner filter and the in-cabin microfilter more often in dusty conditions; our cabin air filter service starts by showing you the old one.

What else INFINITI puts on the list

Coolant on current INFINITIs is Nissan's blue Long Life type, and the schedule site lists the first replacement at 105,000 miles or 84 months, then every 75,000 miles or 60 months. The in-cabin microfilter runs from 11,250 miles or 18 months on the QX50 and 2025 QX60 to 15,000 miles or 18 months on the 2024 Q50. AWD models add differential and transfer case oil inspections.

We check those levels, pull both filters, reset the maintenance reminder and tell you what we saw. A coolant flush uses a coolant matched to the blue type the manual names.