2003 Pontiac Vibe 11429km Amsoil 0w30

[olympic]

2003 Pontiac Vibe 1.8l Base Model
Amsoil Series 2000 0w30
Dual remote filtration
OEM paper air filter
Unit: 93284 Kms
Oil: 11429 Kms 6857 miles
80%+ stop and go city driving
no make-up oil

Numbers on the right are from the virgin sample

Tin 0 0
Lead 2 0
Copper 0.2 0
Aluminum 3 0.9
Silicon 21 5
Iron 7 2
Chromium 0.5 0
Silver 0 0
Zinc 1250 1150
Magnesium 787 723
Nickel 0 0
Barium 0 0
Sodium 9 2
Calcium 2000+ 2300
Vanadium 0 0
Phosphorus 1100 1050
Molybdenum 0 0
Boron 19 60
Manganese 171 0
PHYSICAL PROPERTIES
Viscosity @ 100ºC 14.42 11.31
Water 0 0
Solids Glycol No No
Fuel Dilution No
OTHER PROPERTIES
Base No. 6.68 12.87
Oxidation 9.43
Nitro Compounds 0.00
Organic Nitrates 36.38
Oil Changed? No

Si and Vis jump out at me. They commented that I should change the oil and filter. What exactly does 14.42 Vis equate to in terms of oil grade? Wear, TBN and everything else looks good so should I really change it?

 

[Patman]

The viscosity is now a middle 40 weight oil, however I see no reason why this oil needs to be changed. The TBN is still very good, wear metals are extremely low, and there is no contamination in it.

Perhaps you should ask the lab exactly why they feel this oil should be changed, because it's a complete mystery here. If they are basing it on viscosity alone, that is not a good enough reason considering how good everything else looks.

 

[buster]

Some labs do want you to change the oil if it falls out of grade, but some accept +/- one grade either way. Wear metals are great but it's unusual for this oil to thicken out of grade with only 7k on the oil.

*How long was the oil in the car and when did you buy this oil?

 

[benjamming]

What is the oil history on this vehicle?

 

[Quattro Pete]

One year and already 93k km? And 80% of that city driving? Wow! You must do nothing but drive around town all day.

Silicon is a bit high but other than that, nice report. Seems like 10K miles would be no problem here.

 

[olympic]

Here are the labs comments from the bottom of the report:

COMMENTS RATING SYSTEM: A is LOW B is LOW to MODERATE C is MODERATE D is HIGH E is SEVERE

UF5875 - Tests indicate the need to CHANGE OIL & FILTER. Dust/Dirt (B).
Oxidation level (A). Nitration level (C). Maintain routine sampling.

So maybe it's a combination of the viscosity and nitration that caused them to say change it. I wasn't expecting miracles because of the way this car is driven. It's mostly stop and go driving but it operates 24/7 and does get in the occasional long hiway trip. It's a taxi in my fleet and operates mostly within city limits, averaging 200-300km/day. I believe this batch of oil has been in there less than 2 months and this is the first run of synthetic.

The Si could be typical Toyota gasket leaching and I know the air filter is approaching 50,000km where I normally change them. The streets in my town are quite dusty and the car does drive through alot of gravel back alleys so I guess it all adds up. I'm going to leave it until 20,000km(12,000mi) and sample again and see what happens, maybe the thickening will bottom out.

If I end up having to dump it I'm going to have to figure out another course of action. I can't justify the expense of the S2000 and DR filters to only get 10-15,000km out of it. Any suggestions on onother oil that may be able to hold it's grade better in such severe driving conditions? I can get ahold of any type of Amsoil, GC or Mobil 1. Thanks for the replies guys!

P.S-I just sent in the 20,000km sample on one of my hiway vans, I can't wait to see those results!

 

[olympic]

I called the lab(Metro-Tech in Calgary) and they confirmed that there is no harm in running this oil until the next sample date. They simply recommend that oil be dumped when it goes out of grade. Since it's the middle of summer a 40wt oil ahould be OK.

The 20,000km analysis should be interesting. I'm thinking the nitration will be the condemming factor at that point. When I remove the oil cap, I noticed that this engine seems to have alot of blow-by. Is this what causes nitration?

Since I already have DR filters on the car. Is there any harm in changing the oil and FF filter but leaving the bypass on for another 20,000km? Should I remove it and dump out as much old oil as I can? It's a $32CDN filter so I really don't want to replace it at half the recommended interval.

 

[Tommy2]

quote:

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Originally posted by Quattro Pete:
One year and already 93k km? And 80% of that city driving? Wow! You must do nothing but drive around town all day.

Silicon is a bit high but other than that, nice report. Seems like 10K miles would be no problem here.

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I believe he uses the vehicles as Taxi cabs.

-Tommy's SHO

 

[olympic]

I've decided that I'm going to sample at 20,000km, dump the oil and do a run of Mobil 1 5w30. Even if it doesn't last any longer atleast it's way cheaper.