2001 Chevrolet Tahoe 5.3L V-8 stock engine. 6 quart sump capacity. Schaeffer's #701 5W-30 synthetic blend API SN. NAPA Gold oil filter. Airaid open element NON-oiled air filter. Mix of highway and short trip driving during fall/winter months. 5,131 miles on oil, 105,282 miles on engine. Oil was changed at the signal of the oil life monitor, and saw service of about 4 months. This is the second run of Schaeffer's in this vehicle, and the first oil analysis performed. 6 ounces of Neutra #131 was used in the previous fill to purge the crankcase and run over 500 miles before changeout. Blackstone performed the test.
4FEB2012
Aluminum-2
Chromium-1
Iron-24
Copper-6
Lead-5
Tin-3
Moly-338
Nickel-1
Potassium-1
Boron-10
Silicon-17
Sodium-291
Calcium-1907
Magnesium-23
Phosphorus-845
Zinc-877
SUS [email protected]
cST [email protected]
Flashpoint F-405
Fuel-<0.5
Antifreeze-0
Water-0
Insolubles-0.3
TBN-1.6
Viscosity is definitely low, and Blackstone attributes this to shearing. I don't know how this family of engines behaves, whether oil shearing is common. There is some piston slap on cold start-up, but not as noticeable as some engines I've heard. I do have a virgin sample of the current fill of this same oil sent in for analysis to see what those numbers are. The cost of this oil was $5.65 a quart full retail.
01 Tahoe Schaeffer's 5W-30 5K
- Thread starter Rebel Rouser
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That's pretty low copper for a GM V8. Iron on the other hand is not so low.
Viscosity 8.7, TBN 1.6 - this oil is done.
As a whole, I'd say these results are nothing special. I think I'd look for something else, especially at the price you paid for this. You could get M1 AFE 0w30 at Walmart for roughly the same price.
I agree, the results are rather disappointing. Based on the piston slap these engines are known for, I had hoped Schaeffer's signature additives Mircon Moly and Penetro would have yeilded better results. The GM Oil Life Monitor is indeed accurate in this case. I will sample again at next changeout to see where things are trending.
I have had similar experience with #703 10W-30 shearing out of grade. I wish companies would stop saying they use shear stable viscosity index improvers, when they clearly don't. Just apologize and say it's not possible if energy conservation certification is required.
I love Schaeffer ATF, but their oil didnt really impress me. It does not do bad, but for the price you would think it would do better than OK.
If you want to run a syn, then I would try M1 HM...
One interesting note here for folks who have followed Schaeffer's products for a while is they are now apparently using sodium in the add pack of the SN 5W-30. I just sent in a VOA of the 5W-30 to confirm this after suddenly seeing high levels of Na in the last couple of UOAs in our Tahoe at work. I'll post that up when it comes in.
Thanks for the comments. I have posted the results of the VOA in that forum. Yes, sodium is used as an additive showing 280 ppm. The cSt viscosity@100C is 9.41, with a starting TBN of 6.9. Looking at the other numbers on the VOA, this fill may have actually been API SM. I don't have any old containers left to verify that.
I think this was in fact SN. The Calcium, zinc, phos, moly etc are low on the VOA, but read roughly as they should in the UOA. There is something about new oil that results in low numbers from Blackstone and I've noticed that trend for a number of years. Ca should be 1800-2000 or so and phos, zinc a couple hundred higher. I should have my VOA back in a few days and I'll post mine here as well.
Thanks for sharing your results-I really appreciate seeing them. Now I know the Na in our Tahoe isn't from coolant!
Originally Posted By: Rebel Rouser
2001 Chevrolet Tahoe 5.3L V-8 stock engine. 6 quart sump capacity. Schaeffer's #701 5W-30 synthetic blend API SN. NAPA
Viscosity is definitely low, and Blackstone attributes this to shearing. I don't know how this family of engines behaves, whether oil shearing is common.
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